Water polo players only dream of sleeping in

How dedicated are the young athletes of Tribe Girls Water Polo? They're in the pool hours before most teenagers would even think about rolling out of bed, especially during the summer.

"They practice from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Monday through Thursday for eight weeks, with good attendance," said coach Rich McKeown. "It's the middle of summer when they could be sleeping in and they're coming to practice. They've got their sights set on having a good year this year."

Tribe Girls Water Polo is an independent club team based in Fallbrook that competes in the Greater San Diego Water Polo League. McKeown, who along with Sean Redmond coaches varsity girls water polo at Fallbrook High School, started Tribe in 2015.

"One big reason this squad exists is to be a feeder program for the high school," said McKeown. "It's not the only reason. Part of it is just to play water polo, just like playing summer baseball or summer football."

Eighteen girls signed up for summer water polo and the large turnout prompted McKeown to form two Tribe teams, an 18-and-under squad and a 16-and-under team. The majority of the girls played on both teams, and most will be competing for Fallbrook High during the upcoming school year.

The summer season ran from May 21 to July 18, with 18-and-under games being played on Monday nights and 16-and-under games on Wednesday nights. To get even more time in the pool, Tribe would scrimmage against the co-ed 14-and-under F.A.S.T. team, and also against teams made up of male and female alumni from Fallbrook High.

"We drew great benefit from scrimmaging," said McKeown. "They got us game ready. The F.A.S.T. team has boys, and 14-year-old boys are pretty tough."

The 18-and-under Tribe team went 3-2 while the 16-and-under squad went 4-1 in summer league play.

"Most of the teams that we play are kind of like all-star teams (from different areas)," said McKeown.

The Tribe 18-and-under team featured only two 18-year-olds and one newly-turned 17-year-old, meaning the majority of team was age 16 and younger.

"Our team was very young, so the fact that we were that competitive in the 18-and-under is pretty good," said McKeown.

Anna Draves, a junior at Fallbrook High, and Gabby Vazzana, a senior, were co-captains of the 18-and-under team. Draves, 16, was also captain of the 16-and-under squad.

"She's definitely a team leader," said McKeown of Draves. "As she goes, the team kind of goes. She plays offensive hole-set for us. It's the person that's closest to the cage (goal) in a set-up offense. So they draw the toughest defenders of the other team and draw double-teams. It's like being a center in basketball. She's one of our top offensive weapons.

"Gabby is our set defender," continued McKeown. "On the other end of the pool, whoever the opponent's best player is, we put Gabby on her. She's really an outstanding defender. She always leads the team in steals and blocked shots."

The 18-and-under squad had a pair of thrilling victories. The Tribe defeated Carlsbad 3-2 when Paris Dowden scored on a shot she released just before the buzzer went off to end regulation. Sophia Wallace gave the Tribe a victory over Coronado when she fired in the first goal in sudden-death overtime.

"Paris is our fastest swimmer and she's just a sophomore," said McKeown.

The 16-and-under team won its first four games. The Tribe edged Southern 9-8, routed the Stars 10-3, defeated Carlsbad 7-6 and topped Pacific 10-7.

"That was a big game when we played Pacific because we were 3-0 and they were 3-0," said McKeown. "We were the only two undefeated teams left in the 16-and-unders and we beat them to become the only undefeated team at 4-0."

The 16-and-under team lost its league finale to Shores, which, like Tribe, finished the summer season 4-1.

"In the 16-and-under games I try to get as many minutes as I can for the less-experienced players," said McKeown. "That's another reason I'm so happy the 16-and-unders did so well because that's a good sign for our future."

Another good sign for the future was the summer league play of goalie Naomi Wood.

"She's only played one year of water polo and is coming on strong," said McKeown of Woods.

McKeown credited the girls for the hard work they put in during the summer, when the focus was conditioning.

"These girls are working on having no weak spots, and everybody's going to be tough," said McKeown. "All summer they worked on swimming and legs. Basically, water polo can be broken down to swimming – eggbeater, how high vertically can you hold yourself out of the water and stay out of the water – and then ball handling, shooting and passing.

We didn't ignore ball handling, but we spent most of the summer on getting tough. We swam and we worked on our legs."

McKeown also liked the team play exhibited during the summer.

"They were winning games not because of individuals, but because of team commitment," said McKeown. "It's a team sport. You can either wait 10 years for someone to join your team who is 6-foot-4 and super fast and really strong, or you can play a team game and beat anybody any way."

Early wake-up calls followed by hard work in the pool – a "summer vacation" embraced by the dedicated girls of Tribe.