After finishing the season third in its division, the Oregon men’s Water Polo team is fine with how the season ended. With only two tournaments scheduled during its season, the polo players said it is hard to come together and compete with so few matches and so little rest in between.
“Our whole season is tournaments,” team coordinator Matt Baumann said. “We have a regional placing tournament and a regional tournament.”
The regional placing tournament pits teams from the Northwest Division of Club Collegiate Water Polo against each other, and the teams compete to determine who earns what seed in the regional tournament. Oregon traveled to Pullman, Wash., on Oct. 5 for this year’s seeding tournament. The Ducks haven’t had much success in Pullman this year — in any sport.
Facing Washington in the first round, Oregon sank the Huskies, 10-5. Then the Ducks cruised to a victory over Western Washington and beat Washington State to set up the fourth and final round game, a showdown with in-state rival Oregon State.
The Beavers prevailed, dropping Oregon to 2-2 on the day, and earning the Ducks a third-seed berth for the important regional tournament.
The regional tournament was where the winner of the division would be determined, and was held in the familiar setting of Corvallis.
Again the Ducks squared off with Washington, but Oregon came up short. Next up was the Beavers, and again Oregon couldn’t come up with a win. In the final game, Oregon matched up with Western Washington, and the Ducks swam to victory.
When all was said and done, Oregon finished third in its seven-team division. Included in the Northwest division are Oregon State, Puget Sound, Western Washington, Washington State, Washington and the Ducks.
“We had a pretty good season,” said Baumann.
And with that, the 2002 fall season started and finished in a heartbeat.
However, the team has a spring season to look forward to.
“We attend open tournaments throughout the spring,” Baumann said. “We don’t have any championship goals, and in the spring we play at open tournaments for fun.”
Baumann said the demanding conditioning and physical play often go overlooked in water polo.
“Conditioning is a huge factor in playing well,” water polo team member Anthony Tran said. “We are really well-rounded athletes, we stay above water for the entire time and swim with someone against us, pushing us down.”
Think hockey, but with the ice melted and with no sticks.
“The refs don’t call what’s under water,” Baumann said. “There is a lot that goes on.”
Kicking, grabbing and swimsuit-pulling are a few of the tactics used by the players to gain every advantage that they can.
“When a player has the ball, his arm is an extension of the ball,” Baumann said. “They can pretty much maul you, to an extent, and they grab and hit.”
There are limits, of course. There are regular fouls, and flagrant fouls warrant a 20-second penalty, in essence providing a power play for the opposition. Three of those fouls, and you’re done for that game and the next.
Then there’s the conditioning.
“For the first two weeks, we work only on conditioning,” coach Jeff Lee said. “Warm-up laps, team laps and leg exercises. After that, we scrimmage”
Those leg exercises consist of emptying out a five-gallon jug full of water upside down with your legs while it drains out — under water, of course. The players also tread water for 15 minutes, without using hands.
“People forget how tough it can be,” Tran said. “People give you crap about wearing a Speedo, but they don’t know what they are saying. Go swim 100 yards full speed, let’s see what they have to say after that.”