Four Bruins to appear in new event

By Pauline Vu

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

When Nicolle Payne heard the news over the phone, she walked
back to the dining room where her family was eating dinner, smiled
at them, and started screaming.

When Robin Beauregard heard the news, she went to the nearest
pay phone, called her parents, and again, there was more elated
screaming.

And when Catherine von Schwarz heard the news, she … well, von
Schwarz admitted with a sheepish smile, she doesn’t remember
what she did.

“She was so excited she forgot,” Beauregard said
with a laugh at a press conference at the National Aquatics Center
in Los Alamitos, Calif.

In October of 1997, after years of struggling, after years of
watching one Olympics after another go by, women’s water polo
finally became an Olympic sport.

“Every year an Olympics came around, women’s water
polo got its hopes up and was disappointed,” Payne said.
“But our sport has gotten so popular. They couldn’t
deny us much longer.”

Not that the powers that be ““ the IOC and La Federation
Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA), the international
governing body for water sports ““ didn’t try to keep it
from happening.

“They said it was too small, they said the sport
wasn’t developed enough. They gave every excuse,”
Coralie Simmons said.

When the players heard that women’s water polo would
actually be in the Olympics, it was even more uplifting because
they were beginning to think the sport would never make it.

“When the Olympics were in Atlanta ““ in our home
country ““ we thought it was going to happen,” von
Schwarz said. “When it didn’t we were bummed. It
didn’t seem like it would ever happen.”

It was rumored that FINA also didn’t like the idea of
women playing a contact sport.

“They’re not used to women being so
aggressive,” Simmons said.

But with the Olympics in Sydney this year, the Australian
National Team, an international powerhouse, fought to get
women’s water polo in the 2000 Games ““ and were
successful. They even got the Australian Olympic Committee to build
a brand new pool to host the women’s games.

This year’s Olympics will have six teams vying for the
medals. Australia has an automatic berth by right of being the host
nation; Kazakhstan will go as the Asian champion; the Netherlands
will go as the European champion; and Canada won the spot for the
American continent. Thus the final two teams, Russia and the United
States, had to place in the top two at the Olympic Qualifying
tournament to earn the remaining two spots.

Russia did this by beating Italy and the United States did so by
beating Hungary 6-5 in the semifinals of the qualifying round.

The U.S. National team has 17 members but will cut its roster to
13 by July 3. At the moment, the team includes four Bruins ““
two current and two former ““ as well as coach Guy Baker, the
head coach of both the UCLA men’s water polo and
women’s water polo programs.

The graduates are 2-meter defender Catherine von Schwarz, the
first female in UCLA history to graduate with four national
championships, and Nicolle Payne, the national team’s
starting goalie. Playmaker Coralie Simmons and 2-meter defender
Robin Beauregard have, respectively, one and three years left of
college eligibility. They are among the leading scorers on the U.S.
Team.

As evidenced by its Olympic presence, women’s water polo
has come a long way. Most of the members of the national team
played on the boys’ varsity teams in high school because
their schools had no girls’ teams.

“No one knew what water polo was when I was growing
up,” said von Schwarz, who was raised in Maryland. “Now
you have eastern high school championships. It’s amazing how
fast it grew in 10 years.”

When UCLA first had a women’s water polo team in 1995,
there were a total of four Division I programs. Now there are over
50, and next year the sport will be an NCAA sport.

After the sport became an Olympic competition, the national team
finally began getting serious funding to help U.S. women’s
water polo succeed. Before, players had to work another job while
training with the team.

As soon as she heard it would be an Olympic sport, Beauregard
decided to go out for the national team. Before that, joining the
team hadn’t been an option.

“I was really focused on school,” she said. “I
didn’t think there was anything in water polo
then.”

Everyone is aware of the impact they could be making on the
sport in the United States.

“It could be huge,” Baker said. “I think the
U.S. making the Olympics is a big step. It’s good for the
sport, but if we could medal, the growth potential is
enormous.”

And with only six teams in the field, the United States has a 50
percent chance of medaling. Not only that, but the team’s
potential impact on the future of women’s water polo only
makes them hungrier to win.

“The team is motivated by that,” Baker said.
“It’s part of their legacy to have a big impact on the
sport.”

They’re motivated by that ““ and the fact they are
simply playing in the Olympics itself.

“It’s been, obviously, a dream forever,”
Simmons said with a smile. “To be able to experience it, to
be able to finally go to the big event is so exciting.”