Swimmer plays water polo to spend more time in pool with water polo

Swimmer plays water polo to spend more time in pool with water
polo

By Mark J. Dittmer

Daily Bruin Contributor

Megan Oesting swam twice last Wednesday. She swam again on
Sunday. In between, she almost went crazy.

The cause of the insanity was too much time out of the water. If
you take a fish out of the water, it flops around violently until
it can go back in. Oesting is able to restrain herself from such
physical spasms, but she has the same intense desire to be in the
water.

"That’s where I’m most comfortable," says Oesting, a fifth-year
senior on the UCLA water polo team, who has already completed four
years with the swim team. "It’s so peaceful to me, it’s like my
element. You jump in, and it’s like a big hug."

A list of priorities that has being in the water on top has
caused Oesting to go to certain extremes for swimming, and it has
led her into some unlikely situations.

For instance, there was the long lay-off she took between the
end of her swimming career last year (after four years, her
eligibility in the sport is over) and the beginning of her water
polo career later that year. A layoff of … one day. Oesting has
become a two-sport athlete, all in the name of spending more time
in the water.

Now, one year later, she has excelled at both sports, so much so
that she would make Bo Jackson proud. Oesting has 13 goals this
season, the second highest on the team. She has changed herself
from a complete beginner into a main contributor with the same
speed with which she shoots through the water – very fast.

"She puts fear into our opponents with pure speed," Bruin head
coach Guy Baker said. "There’s no one that we compete against that
has her speed."

Baker can also attest to the speed of her improvement.

"She’s probably improved 100 percent since last season," he
said. "Last year she was a swimmer playing water polo; now she’s
becoming a water polo player that swims very well."

Still, Oesting has more to learn about the game than many of her
more experienced teammates. This puts her in the position of
seeking the wisdom of the more experienced and veteran
freshmen.

"I have 20 coaches on this team," Oesting said. "During practice
I can ask anybody a question that I have, and I have plenty of
them."

Lately, most of Oesting’s questions to her many coaches deal
with ball skills. In her swimming career, ball handling was a
distant set of skills used by people on land in other sports. Now
she is working to catch up to her peers.

All of Oesting’s work comes back to how much she loves being in
the water. During the fall of this year, Oesting played water polo
before classes in the morning, and coached swimming at a nearby
high school in the evening, usually getting home around 8:45 at
night. Everyone has their own priorities, and Oesting’s are as
clear as the water she swims in. If air wasn’t necessary, Oesting
might spend most of her time underwater.

"Swimming is everything to me," she said. "When you’re swimming,
you’re in your own world. It’s all under your control. You can do
anything you want, and there’s so many things going through your
head. It’s wonderful."

PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin

Megan Oesting’s affection for the water has no bounds.

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