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Hatcher takes over as Warrior girls water polo coach

Fallbrook High School’s girls water polo season will begin November 20 with a 6:45 p.m. match against Cathedral Catholic in the Inaugural Coach Draz Girls’ Water Polo Classic at La Jolla High School’s Coggan Pool. The Warriors will have their third head varsity coach in three years, but new coach Michael Hatcher expects to bring some stability to the position.

“The water polo program for girls has kind of been unstable with coaches off campus,” Hatcher said. “Hopefully I can bring a little stability.”

Bill Richardson was the last girls water polo coach who was also a high school faculty member. Scott Forest’s final season as the Warriors’ head coach was 2004-05, and Erin Esbensen coached Fallbrook for the 2005-06 season. Esbensen stepped down to start her family and will likely give birth to her first child during the 2006-07 girls water polo season.

Forest is still the director of Tribe Water Polo, and Hatcher is one of the coaches on that club. “I’ve gotten to know the core,” Hatcher said of his Fallbrook High School players.

Those players include three seniors and two juniors. Hatcher expects approximately 20 freshmen and 15 sophomores to try out for the program. “It’s awesome. Really looking forward to it,” he said.

“Michael’s a guy we’ve been trying to get involved in our water polo program for over a year now,” said Fallbrook High School athletic director John Hayek.

Hatcher played water polo at Fresno High School, where he was the varsity goalie for three seasons. He earned second team all-league honors as a goalie, although swimming might be considered his stronger sport since he earned a trip to the CIF Central Section finals in the 100-yard breaststroke as a senior in 1996 and then finished fifth in the CIF meet. Hatcher, who also competed in the 200-yard individual medley, left Fresno High School as the school record holder in the 100-yard breaststroke. Hatcher’s water polo playing experience also included participation with a local club.

Hatcher then attended college at Fresno State University, which had no men’s swimming team and had men’s water polo only on the club level. He continued his water polo playing career on the college club team. He also began his high school water polo coaching career in Fresno, spending two years as the junior varsity coach of the Sunnyside High School boys team and then one year as the JV boys coach at Fresno High School.

Before joining the Fallbrook faculty, Hatcher spent two years at Sacramento’s Valley High School, which does not have a water polo team. He earned his teaching credential during the first year and then taught in 2004-05.

An opening at Fallbrook High School brought Hatcher south in 2005. “I applied for every job from San Diego to Santa Barbara,” he said.

Fallbrook High School selected him for an interview and offered him a position. “I liked the small town kind of feel to it and the community support,” he said.

He has subsequently seen that community support, including attendance at road matches, through his water polo interest. “The parents are super supportive,” he said. “It’s just so much more parent involvement and community involvement than I have experienced.”

Hatcher began teaching chemistry, including honors chemistry, at Fallbrook High School, but there were no coaching openings for him at the time. Hatcher believes that worked out for the best. “I wanted to spend a year getting acclimated to the school and the area,” he said.

Esbensen’s decision not to continue as coach created the opening which allowed Hatcher to coach water polo. “He was ready to take over the position,” Hayek said. “I think he’s really liked Fallbrook; he’s very involved in the school community.”

Hatcher had worked with Esbensen prior to being named as the new coach on September 8. “I think Michael will do a fine job,” Hayek said.

“I’m just excited, and I can’t wait to get started,” Hatcher said.

 

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