Pooling His Assets : LeRon Ellis, Mater Dei’s 6-10 Center, Keeps Fit With Water Polo Team

On the water’s surface, at the what-you-see-level, LeRon Ellis looks no different than any other water polo player who gasps for air and flails his arms.

But what lies under the water is a completely different matter. There lurks the rest of LeRon Ellis, 6-feet 10-inches tall, senior center of the Mater Dei High School basketball team, defending Southern Section 5-A champion.

There also lies LeRon Ellis, blue-chip recruit of that little ol’ basketball factory known as the University of Kentucky.

So it may come as a surprise or shock that Mater Dei’s Mr. Basketball is, for the moment, the leading scorer on the Monarch water polo team.

Ellis has scored 35 goals from the two-meter position and has helped the Monarchs to a 7-7 record this year.

That record pales in comparison to the school’s basketball success, but consider that water polo is in just its fourth season at Mater Dei.

The Monarchs have known losing seasons in each of their three years, and humiliation, such as the 20-2 loss to Loyola two years ago. But with Ellis in the water, things are looking up.

“Without him you could probably take away four or five of our wins,” said Jim Robison, Mater Dei coach. “I think we really have a chance to finish above .500 this year.”

Incidentally, Mater Dei beat Loyola this year, 11-10, with Ellis scoring three goals.

Ellis started his water polo career while living in Oregon and attending Park Rose High School.

“I took to it pretty quick,” Ellis said. “I guess it’s because a lot of the principles of basketball apply to water polo. So it was pretty easy to pick up the strategy.”

The two-meter position that Ellis plays is similar to the post position he plays on the basketball court. It is the focal point of the offense, and those playing it do so with their backs to the goal. Two-meter players, like centers, are depended on to score and receive special defensive consideration.

Special consideration means a rotation of defenders to harass and hang all over the “hole” man. The hanging part is all legal. A defender may grab an offensive player’s arm, usually his wrist, as long as the ball is still in his hand.

But in Ellis’ case, this sort of strategy takes a long turn. His unusually long arms make it difficult--make that next to impossible--for a defender to lock his wrists. Usually the best they can do is go for the elbow.

“I don’t think my height gives me any special advantage, but the lengths of my arms do,” Ellis said.

In a recent Del Rey League match against Notre Dame, the player guarding Ellis was not quite 6-0. This isn’t unusual because Robison estimates that the average high school player is 5-9 or 5-10.

But buoyancy is a great equalizer. The Notre Dame defender, little more than an insect-like distraction for Ellis on a basketball court, hung all over Ellis, locking his elbow and holding him scoreless through the first quarter.

When the ball came to Ellis at the start of the second quarter, the little one again locked the elbow. Ellis grunted as he tried to free his right arm. Suddenly he spotted something--his left arm.

He nonchalantly slipped the ball to his left and fired it in the goal. The defender, who had practically put his entire body on Ellis’ right arm, could only stare.

“He can do things other players can’t just because of the way he is built,” said Brian Breen, Mater Dei captain.

Breen has been a four-year varsity player and was one of the players who persuaded Ellis to go out for the team.

Not that a lot of arm-twisting was necessary. Ellis had played his freshman and sophomore years at Park Rose, and after transferring to Mater Dei intended to play his junior year for the Monarchs.

But the hassles of relocation took most of his time and he stuck to basketball.

“I really did want to play,” Ellis said. “But there was just too much to do. I promised myself and the players I’d be out my senior year.”

And so here he floats.

Gary McKnight, Mater Dei basketball coach, said he does not mind Ellis playing. Neither does Eddie Sutton, who will be Ellis’ coach at Kentucky next year.

Mind? Judging from the physical benefits, perhaps they should encourage more of their players to take the plunge. Since the start of the water polo season, Ellis has gone from a plump 223 pounds to a lean 215. Also, the constant movement of his feet against the water is strengthening his ankles.

Ellis was bothered by ankle injuries last season--his first high school basketball season without water polo.

“In Oregon I never had problems with my ankles,” Ellis said. “The water makes them strong and still keeps them loose. . . . I just feel so much better this year on the basketball court. My cardiovascular system is much stronger and my body feels great. It all comes back to water polo.”