Water Polo Hoping for a Big Splash

Water polo is one of those Olympic sports that’s forgotten in the United States by all but the most devoted fans from one Summer Games to the next. U.S. and international water polo officials are intent on changing that.

Starting Sunday at La Canada High, USA Water Polo will launch a series of clinics and exhibition games throughout California that will match the U.S. men’s national team against a team of international all-stars. Those events will be a prelude to the launch next month of the FINA World League, in which the world’s top teams will vie for $400,000 in prize money.

Bruce Wigo, USA Water Polo’s executive director, acknowledged both plans are ambitious. But with a push from Ratko Rudic, hired 16 months ago to be the men’s team’s first full-time coach, Wigo agreed it’s time to take the big plunge.

The planned clinics and exhibitions, Wigo said, are “probably one of the greatest things that has happened in water polo in the 10 years I’ve been executive director. We’re getting national team players out there to work with kids and getting some of the best players in the world out there too. The national team is going to have some great competition and the kids have a chance to learn from the best.”

Participation fees will vary, depending on whether there’s a clinic, a game, or both. The tentative schedule includes appearances in Villa Park, Anaheim, Claremont, Tustin, El Toro and Commerce, and runs into July. Seven players from European professional leagues have agreed to play for the all-stars, including Sydney Olympic gold medalists Tamas Marcz and Zolt Varga of Hungary.

The FINA World League has eight teams. The U.S. will play two games against Croatia and two against Russia in June and July at the national training center in Los Alamitos before traveling to Europe for games in Russia, Croatia and Hungary. The U.S. ends its schedule with two games against Hungary in Moraga, Calif. The finals will be played Aug. 1-4 at Patras, Greece.

“People have been talking about this as long as I’ve been in the sport,” Wigo said. “FINA looks at this as an opportunity to create publicity and promotion, and the idea is to try to create an American water polo league on the model of the leagues in Europe.

“Instead of our best players going to Europe, we can keep them here and bring the best Europeans here. We have to start now, and if we have a few bumps in the road, we just have to get past them.”

On the Brink

UCLA alumnus John Godina, the world’s top-ranked shotputter last season, says he’s primed to break through the 71- to 72-foot barrier, even though he has been bothered recently by tightness in his back.

“The training base over the last six months has been so good, that if there was ever a time when something big would happen, it could be in the next few weeks,” said the three-time world champion, who will compete in the Oregon Track Classic today at Portland.

“In 1995, I had a really big period of about two months and the next three or four years I spent trying to catch back up to that performance. Now I’ve caught up and I’m at that level and expecting at some point in the near future, because of experience, flow and technical prowess, that everything is going to take off again.”

Suzy Powell, another UCLA alum and the U.S. women’s discus record holder since her throw of 227 feet 10 inches last month, will also compete in Portland. She, too, thinks she can improve, thanks in part to the competition she’s getting from Seilala Sua, Kris Kuehl and Aretha Hill.

“I think that has made everyone get better, because no longer is 205 or even 210 an acceptable mark,” she said. “It’s good to know there are three other girls in the country who are working just as hard and want the same things you do, and that forces you to train harder and focus more.”

Here and There

Milena Glusac of Fallbrook was added to the field for the New York women’s mini marathon, June 8 in Central Park. Glusac won the U.S. half-marathon, 20K and 25K titles last season. Jeanne Hennessy, this year’s 25K champion, has also entered, as has 2000 Olympian Jen Rhines. Deena Drossin of Mammoth Lakes previously entered the race, which carries a $30,000 prize.

Shawn Crawford, the 2001 indoor gold medalist in the 200 meters and U.S. outdoor champion, ran a personal-best time of 9.94 seconds in the 100 last weekend at Osaka, Japan. That equaled the world’s best 100-meter time this year, clocked last month by Tim Montgomery of the U.S. and Frankie Fredericks of Namibia. Crawford also has the world’s fastest 200-meter outdoor time, 19.85 seconds, recorded April 12 in Pretoria, South Africa. He will compete today in Portland.

Sydney pole vault gold medalist Stacy Dragila cleared 15 feet 13/4 inches (4.62 meters) to set a world-best women’s mark last weekend at the Modesto Relays. However, she missed an attempt at 15-93/4, which would have broken her outdoor world record of 15-91/4, set last June.