Hack attack for CdM
Brendan Hack first took up water polo as an 11-year-old. He said he was a big kid back then and his parents felt water polo could help with his conditioning, for another sport.
Hack grew up playing baseball. There is one aspect of baseball he never warmed up to as a kid.
“I didn’t really enjoy running,” Hack said. “I wanted to try [water polo], just to see what it was like, because I really hadn’t played any other sports. Once I started playing in games and realizing how much fun it was, just the physicality of it and how much constant activity there was in the game, it kind of made me realize how boring baseball was compared to it. I just devoted my time to water polo and stuck with it ever since.”
Hack is 17 now, and at 6-foot-2 and 235 pounds, he’s a force as Corona del Mar High’s two-meter man. There’s a reason why his good friend, Mika Grasso, created an almost life-size cardboard facsimile of Hack for last Saturday’s Battle of the Bay rivalry game at Newport Harbor.
The day before, Grasso told Hack to look out for something special. Once Hack saw what Grasso brought to the contest, he laughed. The image was one Hack took as a senior picture, and it’s of him in a blue Speedo, wearing black sunglasses, and with his white dress shirt unbuttoned.
The photo calmed Hack’s nerves down before the huge game in front of around 1,000 fans. He came up big for the Sea Kings.
Hack scored two of his game-high three goals in the fourth quarter, including the eventual game-winner in CdM’s 7-6 triumph. The victory marked CdM’s second in a row against the Sailors in the annual Back Bay match, and the program’s first at Newport Harbor in Coach Barry O’Dea’s 11 years in charge.
“We knew that Barry had never won there, so that was really one of our focuses, winning that for him,” Hack said. “We kind of took that to heart and used it as motivation to win that.”
There was also added pressure for CdM, ranked No. 4 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll.
“Every other fall sport [at CdM] had won the Battle of the Bay,” Hack said, “so it was up to us to cap it off for the fall season.”
Hack delivered for CdM, and if you looked at the cutout of Hack, you would have expected him to play well. The cutout had “HACK” on top and “ATTACK” on the bottom. The Sailors tried slowing him down with a drop defense and it didn’t work.
Back in March, it was more like “Hack-a-Hack” and the move actually stopped Hack. He said he suffered a serious injury, his left eardrum ruptured after an opponent elbowed him with a cheap spot.
“I saw the elbow coming, so I turned my head, just so it wouldn’t hit my face, and then it hit me [in the ear],” Hack said. “Next thing I know I’m out for 2½ months. [I] miss swim season. They put like a little patch on [the eardrum] to promote the growth in it. It’s just a long process. You need to let it work its course.
“I knew that I’d be [back] before school ended [in June]. It wasn’t really [as if my water polo career was] over. It was how much time it will take to get back into shape.”
Hack made his way back. While he couldn’t go in the water, he lifted weights with his teammates and did some cardio. O’Dea said he made sure Hack ran.
The season is still early for CdM, and O’Dea said Hack is in great shape and is moving well.
The Sea Kings (8-3) are going to need Hack to perform during the two-day S&R Sport Cup at Woollett Aquatics Center, if they plan to reach the finals in the tournament for the second straight year. The tournament starts Friday, and if the Sea Kings can win their first two matches, they will most likely face powerhouse Studio City Harvard-Westlake (9-0) in the semifinals.
Harvard-Westlake is the same program that eliminated CdM, 13-2, in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs last year. Hack remembers the setback, as well as the 22-7 loss to Harvard-Westlake in last year’s S&R Sport Cup finale. Both came in the same pool.
“We’re looking to see where we match up at this point of the season with them,” Hack said of facing the two-time defending section champion Wolverines, who have won 46 straight matches dating back to 2013. “No, [we’re not intimidated by them]. They’re high school guys. We’re high school guys. It’s just about who wants it more.”
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Brendan Hack
Born: Oct. 28, 1997
Hometown: Newport Beach
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 235 pounds
Sport: Water polo
Year: Senior
Coach: Barry O’Dea
Favorite food: Barbecue
Favorite movie: “Hot Rod”
Favorite athletic moment: “Scoring that game-winning goal against Huntington Beach in the South Coast Tournament [on Sept. 25]. It was the quarterfinal game, and we had played them the week before and lost to them by two.”
Week in review: Hack recorded three goals, two coming in the fourth quarter, lifting the Sea Kings to a 7-6 win at Newport Harbor in the Battle of the Bay rivalry on Saturday. Two days earlier, Hack produced three goals in CdM’s 15-3 win against Woodbridge in a Pacific Coast League opener.
