International waters

It started with a visit during the junior European
championships, recalls Anna Pardo.

Coach Jovan Vavic approached Pardo, who was playing for Club
Esportiu Mediterrani at the time, and told her he was recruiting
for USC.

Armed with a business card, a USC magazine and examples of
successful foreign Trojan players such as Aniko Pelle (Hungary) and
Sofia Konoukh (Russia), Vavic began recruiting the 18-year-old
Pardo.

“I haven’t even heard about stuff like this. I was
shocked that someone wanted me to play for their U.S. team,”
Pardo said. “He called me once in a while and talked about
good reasons to come.”

Dutch national team member Iefke Van Belkum, who was named MPSF
Player of the Year this season as a sophomore, remembers getting
e-mails from former Hawai’i team manager Karin Vanhos to come
to the U.S.

She couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

“I couldn’t do a combination of school and water
polo (in the Netherlands),” Van Belkum said. “Getting
to come here is so important because I know you don’t make
money playing water polo for the rest of your life. A degree in
America means so much.”

A decade ago, seeing an international player competing in U.S.
collegiate women’s water polo was an anomaly. But because of
water polo’s increased popularity globally, a steady stream
of foreign influence, and the perks of attending an American
college, international players are swarming to the states.

“It’s all about opportunities,” said U.S.
Women’s National Team coach Guy Baker. “It’s a
great time in their life and they get a chance to experience a new
culture and play a sport they love. How can anyone pass that
up?”

Thousands of miles away

The perks may be present for international players, but trading
in familiarity for uncertainty is no easy decision.

“I wasn’t sure,” Pardo said. “I was
thinking, “˜What am I doing?’ Here’s this guy from
the U.S. telling me to come to USC. Are you kidding? I thought it
was impossible.”

Pardo weighed her options with her parents, Alberto and Teresa.
Her biggest qualms were not about stepping into a country with vast
differences culturally. Her biggest worry was leaving home.

For Van Belkum, getting into Hawai’i wasn’t as
difficult. She breezed through the SAT and passed an English
test.

However, her safety net was continuously reminding herself that
if she couldn’t adjust, she would have the option of
returning to her homeland of Leiden, Netherlands.

“You don’t know how it’s going to work
out,” Van Belkum said. “You have to try once or else
you’ll regret having not tried.”

She made her decision to become a Trojan in January 2004.

It wasn’t easy getting there. Pardo was faced with
preparation and paperwork.

“It was a headache,” said Pardo, who will graduate
with an International Relations degree this summer.

Pardo’s parents call her every day. They constantly check
the USC Web site to keep track of how their daughter is doing. Her
parents constantly ask her about school. Pardo diverges and talks
about how much water polo consumes her life.

“I don’t think they realize how important (water
polo) is here and how much I think about water polo in and out of
the pool,” she said. “Sometimes, it’s tough,
though. Sometimes I just want to go home, but I chose
this.”

European front

The deluge of international players has always been a mainstay
at USC.

Vavic, a 42-year-old native of Yugoslavia and 10-year veteran
coach of USC, has been coaching in some fashion for nearly two
decades.

The fiery coach has racked up the frequent flyer miles, making
trips to Serbia-Montenegro, Hungary, Australia and Italy during the
summer. He’s a regular at the World Championships every two
years. Since the 1999 season, Vavic has had at least two
international players on his team, with the 2002 squad having the
most ““ six.

“I have good connections in Europe because I’ve
played over there,” Vavic said. “Many of my friends are
coaches and they have a good understanding of what I’m
looking for.

“You look for the best players here and when you
can’t get them, then you have to get them somewhere
else.”

Coach Michel Roy has followed in Vavic’s footsteps since
taking the helm at Hawai’i four years ago.

Roy, who has spent more than 25 years as part of Canada’s
water polo program, including 17 as a professional, has a Treo
cellular phone bursting with so many international numbers it seems
like he has a transcript from a foreign film.

He’s had to use every one of them. Three years ago, Roy
recalled, he flew in about 20 Californian athletes, not the top 40
players, but those in the top 60. Out of those 20, only one or two
athletes signed with Hawai’i.

“The top athletes in California will not come to
Hawai’i,” Roy said. “It might be the school or
just too far away from home. So it’s difficult to recruit
Americans in the top 40, which is very sad.”

Roy has used the system of recruitment, however, to his
advantage.

California has three types of tuitions ““ in-state,
out-of-state and international. But in Hawai’i, there are
only two ““ international and in-state. When Roy brings in
international players, it’s like bringing in out-of-state
players, so it’s much cheaper. The school, therefore, needs
to give only a 75 percent scholarship ““ tuition, room and
board (the players pay for their food).

“We have no choice,” Roy said. “If we want to
compete that’s the only thing we can do.”

This season, Roy has nine international players on his roster
““ two from The Netherlands, six from New Zealand and one from
Canada. Former New Zealand National Team coach Peter Szilagyi (now
the Hungary coach) was instrumental in bringing Roy his
players.

The international trend is burgeoning, and it doesn’t seem
to be losing steam anytime soon.

“It’s definitely more evident today that more
players are from Europe,” UCLA senior and women’s water
polo player Thalia Munro said.

Aside from coaches tapping into their connections overseas,
players make phone calls back home. Players often have such
positive experiences in the U.S., they relay the perks to friends
at home. Interest soars.

“You get two girls that come here, and they tell the rest
how good it is,” Van Belkum said. “The other girls just
want to come. They ask, “˜Are there more
spots?'”

Mixing of Waters

There are some mixed reviews over allowing international players
to compete in U.S. collegiate water polo.

Hawai’i may be getting the brunt of it.

“I’m international myself so of course I think
so,” said Roy on whether he thinks it’s a good thing to
have international players coming to the U.S.

“A lot of people think negatively of us. … It’s
almost racist. But you know what, (having international players)
helps this country to be a better country. It helps everybody and
all the players. There are new styles, new techniques to be
learned. It helps everybody.”

Many coaches and players feel the integration of foreign players
will evolve the game of collegiate water polo. Questions still loom
on whether there will be setbacks.

“If they take a scholarship away from a player here, then
I personally don’t think that’s right,” former
U.S. Women’s National Team coach Bill Barnett said.

Many coaches are forced to recruit internationally because top
American players continue to attend the top three water polo
schools ““ UCLA, USC and Stanford. That has changed. Many
coaches such as California coach Rich Corso know the perks of
players from overseas ““ more experience, maturity and
fundamentally sound.

“If you need someone to make a quick impact, you go
Euro,” Corso said.

Nevertheless, the sharing of technical and tactical knowledge
between foreign and American styles is evident and has changed the
game.

“It makes for better competition,” current U.S.
Women’s National Team player and former Bruin Natalie Golda
said. “I think it helps players that want to play for the
national team and see how other teams perform.”

Golda added that if American players are given the opportunity
to play in European leagues, there shouldn’t be any bickering
involved if the roles are reversed.

UCLA coach Adam Krikorian sees it as a positive step to breaking
boundaries.

“I think it’s a sign that women’s water polo
is growing throughout the world,” he said. “Some of
these countries are accepting finally that women can play sports.
Some of the countries like Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro have the best
men’s teams in the world, but I’m just assuming they
don’t accept women playing a sport. It boggles my
mind.”

Unwritten rule

Sure, it’s competitive and difficult to meet the academic
requirements to enter schools like UCLA and Stanford, but coaches
have their theory on why schools like UCLA don’t need to
recruit internationally.

“It’s an unwritten rule in the past years that if
you want to be a part of the (U.S. national team), you have to go
to UCLA,” Roy said.

The connection is Baker, who was a UCLA coach for both the
men’s and women’s programs. Baker receives direct input
on UCLA players from Krikorian, who was also a former player of
Baker’s in 1995. In the 2004 Olympics in Athens, seven of the
15 players on the U.S. team were former Bruins.

When asked if he has heard about this unwritten rule, Corso was
quick to dispel the idea.

“I’ve never heard that before,” Corso said.
“If a prospective student athlete says that to me, (I would
say) the thing we can offer is education and Olympic-caliber
talent. No girl has talked to me about (having to go to UCLA to be
on the U.S. national team) and I’d be shocked if it were
true.”

Some things never change

Stored deep in his e-mail inbox, Krikorian sees the number of
files accumulate.

“There’s probably around 150 to 200,” said
Krikorian, who paused to think how many e-mails he has collected
from international players pining to play for UCLA.

It’s become routine for him. Drag. Drop. Unread
folder.

“It’s too much to handle, to be honest,” he
said. “I get multiple e-mails a day from kids from this
country and out of country that want to play water polo for this
program.”

Sometimes one gets away. While sifting through his
ever-accumulating “to read” list recently, Krikorian
came across an e-mail from Van Belkum. The current Hawai’i
player, who had a tremendous season leading the MPSF conference in
scoring, showed interest in playing for the Bruins.

“I didn’t even respond to her,” Krikorian
said. “She’s like the best player in the country right
now.”

Missed opportunity?

“In a way, but I have a lot of good players. So, what I
don’t get internationally, I feel I can convince to come here
to UCLA,” Krikorian said.

The opportunities for an American player to meet requirements at
Stanford, which is ranked fifth in the 2006 edition of U.S. News
& World Report for top undergraduate colleges in the nation,
are difficult enough for anyone, let alone for an international
player.

Current Cardinal two-meter defender Nancy El-Sakkary has been
the only international player to have been able to meet the
academic guidelines at Stanford. A member of the Canadian national
team, El-Sakkary is an electrical engineering major, and both her
parents have graduate degrees.

“There are hundreds of great players every year that are
interested in playing in college and a very small percentage
can,” Stanford coach John Tanner said. “We don’t
intentionally go looking elsewhere.”

During his seven-year tenure as coach of the UCLA women’s
program, Krikorian has only had one international player ““
Kelly Heuchan from Australia (2000-02).

Although he sees the positives of an expanding collegiate game,
Krikorian does not foresee himself recruiting internationally.

“I prefer to have Americans and develop our kids over
here,” Krikorian said. “I want to see the U.S. win a
gold medal.

“I think, as an American, we love to see our national
programs do well and our Olympic team do well. That provides more
opportunities on the collegiate level.”