GIRLS’ WATER POLO:Five years, five titles for Chaney

Not many coaches have a track record like Corona del Mar High girls’ water polo coach Aaron Chaney.

Chaney has coached the Sea Kings for five full years. Over those five years, CdM has accumulated a 124-31 record that would make Phil Jackson blush.

And, for five consecutive years, Corona del Mar has held up the CIF championship hardware at the end of the season.

“I feel fortunate,” Chaney said. “I’ve got a good group of kids who work hard and are dedicated. They make sacrifices to the team and work hard.”

To illustrate his point, he pointed out what the Corona del Mar girls’ sports accomplished during the fall season — a state champion in cross country, a section champion in tennis and a state regional semifinalist in volleyball.

“Other coaches sometimes complain about girls’ teams because they’re not committed, or they have other things going on,” Chaney said. “We’re really lucky at CdM. We have girls who want to work hard.”

But to solely credit the athletes would be doing a disservice to Chaney. The 50-year-old Irvine resident has an encyclopedia of water polo experience in his mind.

Much of that can be credited to the work he does as a referee, where he has called everything from last month’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s water polo championship matches to the games at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

“He puts so much preparation into everything he does,” said CdM senior water polo player Cari Levine. “He helps us prepare in and out of the water, and helps our team bond. I think he makes us not only better water polo players, but also better people.”

Chaney has been around water polo for about 35 years, he said, since he was in eighth grade in Honolulu, Hawaii. A driver, he played water polo through college; in his senior season of 1979, Chaney helped UC Santa Barbara to the NCAA title.

After playing in Australia for about eight months, Chaney returned to Honolulu, where he coached boys’ water polo for 19 more years at the private Iolani School. Over the last five years of his tenure there, he also coached girls’ water polo.

He originally came to California with the intent of preparing for the 2004 Olympics. After coaching at Villa Park for less than a year, the CdM job opened up when former coach John Vargas left to coach at Stanford.

Chaney said the school had decided to split the boys’ and girls’ jobs up, and he decided to try his hand at coaching the girls’ team.

“I chose the girls partially because the boys conflict with [refereeing] the men’s NCAA season,” he said. “But I just find more enjoyment in coaching girls right now. I did 19 years of coaching boys.”

In addition to working as an official at the Olympics, Chaney has also been a referee at the World Championships in 2001, 2003 and 2005. He is invited back in March for the next one, to be held in Melbourne, Australia.

He said seeing some of the best water polo players in the world gives him a leg up while coaching the Sea Kings.

“I travel with the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams, and I get to talk to the coaches,” Chaney said. “I definitely pick up on new skills and strategies. Just traveling overseas and watching European teams, I learn other things. I think it’s a huge advantage.”

But all that experience doesn’t come off as arrogance for the CdM players. In fact, the opposite is true, said senior Katie Indvik.

“What sets him apart is he really takes care of us, and not just in water polo,” Indvik said. “Before practice, everyone comes into his office to talk to him. He’s just a really reasonable guy.”

Instead of Sea Kings players splitting off to join other summer club teams, the vast majority stay on the Corona del Mar team. And Chaney always makes sure that the team is entered into the most competitive tournaments.

“The whole team’s a family,” Indvik said. “A lot of us have been playing together for years in junior polo, and we all feel really comfortable together around Chaney. He just really gets us excited to play, and excited to work hard.”

Corona del Mar moves up from Division II to Division I this season. Levine said she and the Sea Kings are excited for the challenge.

“We have a lot of seniors this year [nine], and this is our fourth year with him,” she said. “We know when to be serious with him, and when we’re working hard, we’re down to business. But we can have fun, too. I think everyone has a good relationship with him.”

Chaney said that when he originally moved to Southern California, he figured that he’d go back to Hawaii after the Olympics. That was two-plus years ago, and he’s still here.

After all, it’s hard to complain when CIF titles roll in year after year.

“It’s been fun here,” Chaney said. “I’m hanging around and enjoying it a little longer. I’ve been in this thing for 35 years and I’m still learning.

“That’s the fun part.”