Rituals pave the way to tourney
By Bryan Chu
May 11, 2006 9:00 p.m.
Lounged in a plush recliner seat in a Brentwood beauty shop,
redshirt junior Kelly Rulon sits and enjoys getting a pedicure.
UCLA women’s water polo coach Adam Krikorian sleeps in one
day every season. He drives down to Manhattan Beach while listening
to Pearl Jam and has lunch with his wife.
Redshirt senior Thalia Munro packs her bag twice and runs
through a mental checklist.
“I do a lot of visualization,” said Munro, who will
be in search of her third championship ring when the Bruins head to
Davis for the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
“Off the top of my head I can tell you who scored on me,
how they scored on me, and I go over those things again like a
checklist so this time, they don’t do it again.”
Members of the third-seed UCLA women’s water polo team
have their own rituals, but they will all have one goal starting
today in a first-round NCAA Tournament match with sixth-seed
Hartwick: defending their national title.
Asked if he will conjure up a motivational speech, Krikorian
shook his head.
“There’s nothing more that needs to be done,”
he said. “Over the past month we’ve been on the same
page. They’re motivated and they have the right
attitude.”
If the Bruins (26-4) need any motivation for this weekend, they
got it this past Saturday and Tuesday.
On Saturday, Krikorian and members of the women’s team
watched the UCLA men’s volleyball team win its 24th national
championship title. Krikorian hopes they can be next.
“The one thing (watching the men’s volleyball team
win does) is provide inspiration,” Krikorian said. “I
told them, “˜If you watch that final, you can see them playing
with confidence and pouring with that attacking, aggressive
attitude.’ That’s what we need to bring.”
If UCLA is to go on and successfully repeat as national
champions, the team will have to go through Hartwick in the first
round. This game would be followed by a likely matchup with
second-seed Stanford and top-seed USC in the championship game.
The Bruins hold a 1-2 record head-to-head with the Cardinal
(22-4) and split with the Trojans (25-2) after a 10-7 victory in
the third-place MPSF Tournament game two weeks ago.
Many are considering this year’s tournament the most
wide-open ever: USC strung together 25 straight wins and then
dropped two games in a row to Hawai’i and UCLA.
Stanford went on to win the MPSF Tournament that same
weekend.
“This year is closer than any year that I’ve seen
before,” former Olympic coach Bill Barnett said.
The postseason has finally arrived, and Krikorian believes his
team has finally come together. So today, on Saturday and then
Sunday, the Bruins will do the same thing they’ve always
done.
They will all wash their hands with the same bar of soap ““
the one they took from the Best Western hotel during their first
road trip in Santa Barbara ““ for three more matches.
Munro will put on a brand-new cap.
Krikorian will be wearing his traditional blue adidas shirt,
khaki pants and black sunglasses.
Rulon will warm up by swimming a 200 freestyle and one length
each of breaststroke and backstroke.
It’s all about repetition and consistency.
They’ll think to themselves ““ same thing as last
time ““ “national championship.
