 |
Former Wilson High coach rebuilding water
polo team
Eric
Boyum
Long Beach State
men's water Polo has been underwater for almost a decade. The team has
not finished better than sixth in conference play since 1991. This includes
four seasons in which the team finished ninth--dead last in the Mountain
Pacific Sports Federation.
This was under long-time
head coach Ken Lindgren. This March, Lindgren called it quits after 24
years as skipper. Frustration from a declining amount of scholarship money
for recruits and the losing became too much. It was time to hand the ship
over to a younger, hungrier replacement.
Enter current head
coach Ricardo Azevado, who played at LBSU for Lindgren from 1979-80.
"Coach Lindgren
did a lot for this program,î Azevado said. ìI think in the early 90's the
financial crunch hurt more than anything else. I think in the last few
years there was some discontent on his part about the whole situation."
With Lindgren accepting
an coaching position with the U.S. Womenís National Team and by continuing
to work part-time at CSULB in President Maxsonís office, the coaching change
was a win-win situation.
Azevado brings five
California Interscholastic Federation championships from Woodrow Wilson
High School and a reputation as a coach who gets the most out of his players.
"Being a Long Beach
resident all of his adult life, Ricardo has a great sense of the local
community," LBSU Athletic Director Bill Shumard said. "He is respected
in the national and international circles of water polo. This gives him
a combination of factors to make him highly successful."
Translation: Azevado
will get recruits from the talent-rich area of Southern California and
land some international players who have an opportunity to go to school
in the United States. And he will get them to come to The Beach despite
having only one-and-a-half scholarships.
Realistically, can
Azevado establish a water polo powerhouse at LBSU? It wonít happen overnight,
especially not with deep-pocketed schools such as Stanford and UCLA fielding
teams with as many as four scholarship players.
"I have 21 former
players playing Division I from Wilson, but they are all at UCLA, Stanford
and California," Azevado said. "Hopefully I can start getting some of those
types of players here." |
|
|
|
![[news]](http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/Icon/news.gif)
![[opinion]](http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/Icon/opinion.gif)
![[sports]](http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/Icon/sports.gif)
Fall
99 ISSUES
DAILY
49ER HOMEPAGE
|
|
