LJ g water polo: 'Daughters of Dungeon'

By Ed Piper

You talk to Summer Broekema and Claire Andrews and their ilk, in quiet pool-side interviews, and you get the idea they're the nicest, kindest people in the world.

But then you enter the "tank", so to speak, as I have in the past two weeks, to watch these La Jolla High water polo players up close in competition, and, well--

Let's say, the picture I have of them is fuller now. More rounded. The kitten, yes. But the kitten has claws.

A vivid image I have, writing the day after La Jolla finished sixth against top Southern California talent in the two-day America's Finest City tournament at Coronado, is this: Claire Andrews, defending close to the goal, sprawled out horizontally in the water while waiting for the time when she will have to spring into action and start clobbering.

These girls are physical. They pound. And they get pounded. There's no one-way street there.

Listen to the seemingly meek, mild Broekema, one of Coach Keller Felt's two starting goalies: "I'm a really competitive person. I guess that's something you wouldn't know about me if you just met me."

I'm thinking at the time, Oh, yeah, right. Like you're a real killer.

Now, I believe. "Daughters of Dungeon" I came up with. I'd call them "Daughters of Death". They deal death blows to their opponents. But I don't think that would go over too well.

"Madams of Mayhem." Now, that fits. Life in the pool is a battle.

The Vikings won their first 13 games this season, finally stopped by Bishop's in their only loss of 18 games until this weekend. They stand 18-3, with the remainder of league and CIF playoffs ahead.

And there's another thing. Water polo is a secret society unto itself. To the consternation of all of us reporters, they don't publish their teams' statistics. It's maddening. Hard to get the news of their triumphs out.

Part of that bond in the "secret society" is bearing almost unimaginable workouts without telling others outside the "circle of trust" (go watch "Meet the Fockers"). Monday and Wednesday mornings, "5:15 a.m. on the deck, 5:30 in the water," fellow assassin Nicole Bertrand told me. Those are workouts for pure conditioning, in addition to the regular daily practices in the afternoon!

I gained a glimpse into the inner chamber, and it is full of horrors. Lexi Atwell dunking, and being dunked, then coming up for air, sputtering water out of her mouth, and immediately resuming her chase for the ball. Karlie Canale, ditto. Leslie Rendon-Morales, check. Kira Bruno, the same.