High School Male Athlete of the Week: Reed Stemler excels at his job for Newport Harbor water polo

Reed Stemler is not the flashiest player for the Newport Harbor High boys’ water polo team, but then that’s not what the job of center defender requires.

At 6 feet 1 and 200 pounds, Stemler is also not overall physically imposing, and the senior doesn’t really have a “tough guy” act.

“I don’t like to mess around with people,” Stemler said. “I like to keep my distance and just hang out. Other people can do whatever they want; I’m just going to do my stuff.”

Stemler knows his job well. He’s been on varsity for three years, and has held down the starting set guard spot for the last two. But it was even before that when coach Ross Sinclair knew that Stemler was going to be a star.

Try Stemler’s freshman year, as Sinclair watched him attack swim sets.

“Outside of what you see in a game, like what you see in training, he’s an animal,” Sinclair said. “He’s been an animal since day one. I mean, that’s why I brought him up to varsity. At first he was with the lower workout group, then I watched him swim long course and I was like, ‘Who is this kid? He needs to be up with the varsity group.’ Next thing you know, the rest is history.”

In two years as starting set guard, Stemler can count on one hand the amount of times he’s fouled out of a match. That’s called discipline and intelligence, while going up against some of the top two-meter men in the country at the high school level. Stemler and senior goalkeeper Blake Jackson, both of whom have committed to USC, have combined to form the backbone of the Sailors’ defense during their time as one of the two best programs in CIF Southern Section Division 1.

Newport Harbor (10-1) lost to the other best program, Studio City Harvard-Westlake, 11-7 in the final of the South Coast Tournament on Sept. 21 at Newport Harbor High. The Sailors were shorthanded, without senior starters Makoto Kenney (broken finger) and Tommy Kennedy (sore back).

Newport Harbor got Kennedy back for Wednesday’s key 7-4 win over Huntington Beach in a Surf League opener, while Kenney returned for Saturday’s 13-10 win over San Clemente. The Sailors could see Harvard-Westlake again at the Elite Eight tournament next weekend, which the Wolverines host. Harvard-Westlake and Newport Harbor are the top two seeds.

Stemler looks forward to another chance to beat Harvard-Westlake, which defeated the Sailors 5-3 in last year’s CIF Southern Section Division 1 title match. He is the ironman who never seems to come out.

“The whole weekend, we just had like five underclassmen who stepped up [at the South Coast Tournament],” Sinclair said. “It was frigging awesome … but I think Reed was the anchor for us. He allowed us to really simplify the game, slow the game down and get organized on defense. He’s an insane counterattacker out of the back pool. He just has an endless motor. If you have seven Reeds, it’s going to be really hard to play four quarters against that. It’s just an insane work ethic. I mean, I appreciate it, but I don’t think people realize it.”

Stemler, Jackson, Kennedy and senior center Ike Love have been playing together since they were 9 years old, roughly half their lives. Kenney came along a year or two later. The bond is easy to see.

“It’s almost like we have non-verbal communication at this point,” Jackson said. “I can tell if he’s reaching around, when I need to come out or when I need to call help back. The chemistry is great, especially between me and Reed but also all five of the seniors.”

Stemler, Love and Kennedy helped the Team USA men win gold at the UANA Youth Pan American Championships, held in Trinidad & Tobago in August. Not bad for Stemler, who didn’t have a family background in the sport. His older sisters Katie and Lian, both of whom went to Corona del Mar High, were a volleyball player and ballet dancer respectively.

Reed Stemler started his water polo career at attacker, but one day that changed. He can credit his good friend, Jake Liechty, who graduated from Newport Harbor last year and now plays water polo at UC Irvine.

“We were playing in a 14-and-unders game,” Stemler said. “He was like, ‘I don’t want to guard this game. Reed, go guard.’ I was like, ‘I’ve never guarded before.’ He threw me in, and from that point on, I was just a defender. I liked it. I like just getting the position and defending and all of that.”

Statistics are not the cornerstone of Stemler’s game, though he had a steal and a field block in the win over Huntington Beach and a nice assist to Eli Liechty in the South Coast Tournament final. His thing is more positioning, angling his body so the opposing center can’t get a good shot.

“When I go into a game, I sort of take it a little personally,” he said. “You’re trying to attack my goal, and I’m going to do everything possible to stop you. If I have to take an ejection, I’ll take an ejection. I’m not letting you score. I’m just trying to make the guy as tired as possible, just so that he gives up.”

The Sailors know that Stemler never will.

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Reed Stemler

Born: April 30, 2002

Hometown: Newport Beach

Height: 6 feet 1

Weight: 200 pounds

Sport: Water polo

Year: Senior

Coach: Ross Sinclair

Favorite food: Steak

Favorite movie: “Pulp Fiction”

Favorite athletic moment: Winning a gold medal in Serbia with the U.S. cadet men’s national team at the 2017 Darko Cukic Memorial Tournament.

Week in review: Stemler’s stellar defensive play helped the shorthanded Sailors reach the final of the South Coast Tournament before falling 11-7 to Studio City Harvard-Westlake on Sept. 21.

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