For Mark Maizel, Mother Does Indeed Know Best

But for the strong will of Linda Maizel, Mark Maizel might today be another former high school quarterback, one of a legion.

Instead, he is one of the top five water polo goalies in the country, has an outside shot at securing one of two goalie berths on the 1988 Olympic team, and is in line for 1992.

Until the summer before he entered Villa Park High School, Maizel, who is here playing in the U.S. Olympic Festival and also plays at UC Irvine, wanted only to play football. He had never so much as tried water polo.

But that summer in a pickup game, Maizel broke his ankle, and his mother, Linda, put her foot down.

No more football, son.

Maizel figured he’d outwait her, or that his father, Harold, would intercede. So he kept practicing, went through initiation and got the required haircut. But Mom finally won out when Maizel brought home the release papers that had to be signed for him to play.

She didn’t sign. And she suggested he try water polo.

“I didn’t have much of a choice,” he said Sunday after helping his South team to two victories in the first day of water polo competition. “At first it was a controversy, but things sure have turned out for the best.”

Maizel was the star of his team’s second victory Sunday, a 6-5 win over the North in Koury Natatorium, finishing with 14 saves--including several in the final two minutes and one that prevented a tie at the buzzer.

Maizel is playing for the South team here, one of the many California players who are distributed among the other regional teams in an attempt to balance them. Greg Wilson of Laguna Niguel and a UCI teammate of Maizel’s also plays for the South, and scored a goal in each game Sunday. The South beat the East, 7-5, in its first game.

Being on the South team is not an assignment he minds, though it means he will play against five UCI teammates--Tony Bell, Mike Doting, Mike Halphide, Julian Harvey and Dan Smoot--when he meets the West team.

“It’s fine,” he said. “I get the hometown crowd.”

Maizel and three of his UCI teammates--Doting, Bell and Wilson--all red-shirted last season, and will return as seniors this fall.

The four decided to redshirt, apparently, as part of a plan to form an ideal team in their final year.

“We all got time to develop our skills and the younger guys got time to develop their skills,” Maizel said.

The idea, was to create an opportunity to win the NCAA title, which UCI almost did in 1985, finishing second to Stanford.

“Right now, what I’m looking forward to is the fall season at UCI,” Maizel said.

Maizel is one of about 30 players who form a pool for the senior national team. About 17 or 18--a fluctuating group--play on the “A” team, with the remainder playing on the “B” team. Maizel is one of three goalies who usually play with the “B” team who occasionally rotate onto the “A” team, which will eventually become the Olympic squad.

Craig Wilson, considered the best goalie in the world, is a certain choice for the Olympic team. Rick Azevado, an assistant coach for the U.S. junior national team who is here evaluating players, ranks Maizel somewhere around third to fifth among U.S. goalies.

“It depends on what day of the week, what time of the day and who you talk to,” said Maizel, who is content enough to wait.

Steve Schroeder of Newport Beach and Robert Carver of Fullerton, both of USC, each scored a goal in the North’s loss to the South.