"Seven years of bad luck, the good things in your past"
Stevie Wonder, "Superstition"
By Ed Piper
Over the past month (three weeks in August are dubbed "Hell Week" preseason workouts), La Jolla coach Tom Atwell has taught me some of what he calls the "superstitions" of water polo:
--Viking team members don't choose their cap numbers until after their first scrimmage. (Frustrating for a sports reporter who wanted to laminate a roster card to carry in his pocket to cover workouts in the early preseason.)
--They get to wear their regular swimsuits, instead of Speedos, during Hell Week.
--Part of the admitted "secrecy" Atwell and other area water polo coaches maintain around their programs, he doesn't post team statistics or game results.
"It's true," said Atwell the Friday of week one of workouts. "If Cole Atwell is scoring 60 percent of our goals, or Cole Raulston has 17 saves (in goal), they (opposing coaches) would know." (They can come in person and scout the team at games.)
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