Standing on the ledge of the pool during Tuesday’s practice,
Coach Andy Been said he has a new outlook for the upcoming
season.
Gilroy – Standing on the ledge of the pool during Tuesday’s practice, Coach Andy Been said he has a new outlook for the upcoming season.
That doesn’t mean the Gilroy girls varsity water polo coach isn’t going to yell until he’s blue in the face, it just means he’s going to have more fun while shouting. And he hopes referees know that it isn’t being directed at them.
“Yeah, I’m a maniac,” Been admits with a smirk.
But if things go to plan this year, the coach will have good reason to let his emotions fly. Been believes this is the best team he has directed in his five years leading GHS.
“Our aspirations are high, I hope we don’t fall down,” he said. “I think we’ve got a chance to step into the top tier. It’s the deepest, best team (I’ve had).”
Leading the way for Gilroy (8-8-1 overall, 4-4 TCAL in 2006) will be last season’s top scorer, senior captain Jenny Ailes. Ailes had 53 goals last year, 39 more than the next highest scorer. Junior Megan Collett had 14 goals in 2006 and with Kelly Been, the previous year’s third leading scorer, as well as all-TCAL goalie Talia Lauber, Gilroy has a sold foundation to put the team in the hunt for a TCAL title. The Mustangs have finished fifth in the league’s standings the last four years and will face stiff competition from last year’s league champ, Santa Catalina, as well as Salinas and San Benito.
Been said part of his approach for a successful season this year will be making things fun for his players, such as a game of chicken to start practice Tuesday.
He also has his hole defender, Lauren VanHerk, back from a broken hand that kept her pout of pivotal games at the end of last year. With Ailes being one of the most dangerous scorers in the Tri-County and Collett providing the sprinter Been needs to push the pace of games, this year’s squad has hopes that extend into the Central Coast Section playoffs.
“It depends who we go against,” Been said. “We could go one or two rounds (deep in CCS). We could stay with any team this year.”
BOYS WATER POLO
Varsity boys water polo coach Tom Clark will have his share of headaches this season, but that’s not to say there isn’t talent on the 2007 roster.
The coach has four starters returning and a group of accomplished swimmers he coaches on the Gilroy Gators club team. It’s just that not many of them have experience being dragged below the surface of the water while swimming and handling a ball at the same time.
“A lot of these guys are new ones,” Clark said. “They need to be stronger in the water – a little more fire, work harder with a little bit of meanness.”
Not that Clark wants his Mustangs to play dirty, he just wants the intensity to be at a higher level than that of their opponents.
Four players that will be counted on to set an example for others will be returners Kyle and Corey Nettleblad, Eric Boe and Daniel Shields. After losing Austin Gubrud to graduation, Shields will be counted on to provide much of the scoring for the Mustangs (6-6, 2-4 in TCAL in 2006). He was second on the team with 22 goals last year.
