A Southern Slant : Tennis, Water Polo and Volleyball Dominated by Schools Close to the Beach

The Southern Section Monday announced the playoff pairings for three fall sports--water polo, girls’ tennis and girls’ volleyball.

There were few surprises.

The players’ names change from year to year, but little else does. Right here on the peach-colored draw sheet for the 5-A volleyball playoffs is the No. 1-seeded team, Newport Harbor High School.

And on a gold sheet for the 4-A water polo playoffs, Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar are the second- and third-seeded teams.

And here, on this light green sheet of paper, Laguna Hills is the No. 3-seeded team in 3-A tennis.

Schools in south Orange County--that area south of the 55 (Newport-Costa Mesa) Freeway, including Newport Beach--wield considerable power in the three sports.

This is not to say that only south county teams and athletes excel in these sports. Two of the most notable exceptions have been the Sunny Hills and El Dorado championship water polo teams.

But south county teams have been more successful than their north county counterparts. This is especially true in volleyball and to a lesser degree in tennis and water polo.

In the 16 years of Southern Section girls’ volleyball, only four north county schools have advanced to the 1-A through 5-A division finals. None has won a title. Eighteen south county teams have reached the finals, and seven have won.

In water polo, Newport Harbor has won seven 4-A titles since divisional championships began in 1974. Corona del Mar has won three and Sunny Hills two.

This season alone, at least one south county team is among the four seeded teams in the Southern Section playoffs for all three sports, which begin today.

There appears to be a number of reasons for this continuing success. Coaches in the three sports agree on several common threads to which their success is tied. Among the most prevalent are:

An extensive club system outside the schools in the south county.

Community and parental support and familiarity of the sport.

Long-time rivalries between south county schools.

Long-time coaches in the sports.

The single-most important reason, though, may be the clubs, which offer a number of teams based on age and skill-level.

The Nellie Gail Tennis Club in Laguna Niguel, the Orange County Volleyball Club in Newport Beach and the Newport Water Polo Foundation form springboards for players to gain exposure and experience in their sports at an early age. Instruction is often more intensive than in-school programs.

“I’ve been at USC since 1976,” said Chuck Erbe, the Trojan volleyball coach. “In that time, I’ve never seen a player make it to college by just playing on her high school team. Never.”

In many cases, coaches say, the parents of current players also participated in the sport and often still play.

Rivalries, such as the one between Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar in water polo and volleyball, greatly increase interest and participation. Since 1974, the schools have met three times in the 4-A championship water polo game. In volleyball, the teams draw about 1,000 in Sea View League volleyball matches.

Jack Hodges, Laguna Hills tennis coach, said strong recreational programs in south county feed the high school programs. “There are more people playing and more people teaching,” he said. “You don’t have to go far in this area to find good courts with good instruction. Heck, a lot of people have courts in their backyards.”

Heading into the playoffs, Laguna Hills is 18-0 and the two-time Pacific Coast League champion.

“Girls in our area all know each other (through club play and tournaments),” Hodges said. “It’s almost like if you haven’t heard the name, it usually means she doesn’t move in the same competitive circles.”

Mark McKenzie, Irvine volleyball coach, agrees.

“On all the top teams in the 5-A and 4-A all the girls play on clubs,” McKenzie said. “It would be very unusual to find more than one kid not playing on a club.”

North county volleyball teams operate at a disadvantage because few of their players compete for a club, according to Esperanza Coach John Reid.

“Esperanza has won 10 straight league championships,” Reid said. “That’s great, but every year we usually get beaten in the first or second round by a south county team.

“It’s unfortunate we don’t have a club situation (in the north county). The younger kids, who can’t drive, need a big commitment from their parents to make the drive three times a week. So, it’s not as popular to join a club. And because of that there will always be a disparity in talent and strength of teams.”

Reid also sees a lack of support that south county teams receive.

“I think what plays a major part in their dominance is that they have boys’ and girls’ teams,” he said. “Beside the fact that boys attract the girls, the girls attract the boys, there’s a respect factor that goes with it. There are no boys’ teams north of the Garden Grove Freeway, and so at those schools, volleyball is perceived just being a girls’ sport. Kind of has a GAA stigma.”

On The Times’ 1986 all-county volleyball team, only one player, La Habra’s Robin Seabrook, was not from a south county school.

In water polo, south county teams have the added benefits of a number of pioneers in the sport, including Newport Harbor’s Bill Barnett, who also is the U.S. national team coach, and Ted Newland of UC Irvine, who started the Newport Water Polo Foundation in 1959.

Members of the U.S. team often work out at Newport Harbor, and many national and international tournaments are held there.

“Water polo isn’t like basketball or football, where you get to see the greatest teams play all the time on TV,” Newland said. “In Newport, it’s there. You see good water polo. Therefore players get to learn and appreciate it at an early age.”

Indeed, Newport Harbor has become a major center of water polo in the United States. It’s what Brooklyn is to basketball players and Eugene, Ore., is to track and field athletes.

“I get all my kids to watch them (the national team) play. So do the other coaches,” said John Vargas, Corona del Mar coach and a national team member himself.

“The parents really support the sport and put up with the kids working out for four hours a day,” he said.

Often parents have participated in the sport themselves and have handed it down to their children.

“A lot of the reason you have better players in the south is because the kids are aquatic-minded. They’re raised in the water,” said Barnett, who has coached at Newport Harbor since 1966. He has also been the national coach for four years.

“Coaches can be the greatest in the world, but without the players, without the right genes, forget it. I guess there are a lot of good swimming genes in this area.”

Al Gasparian, Golden West College volleyball coach, said: “South county is like the South Bay (the Santa Monica Bay). That’s because there are beaches. Kids are brought up around these kinds of sports. They see these top athletes who are playing volleyball on the beach. Kids up north go to the park and see the top athletes playing sports like softball or soccer.”

Adds Hodges, the Laguna Hills tennis coach: “There are a lot of parents who were tennis players. The beach area is a tennis-playing community. A lot of people have grown up with the game. It fosters that interest.”

Another factor is having a longtime coach who has established a solid foundation for success.

Water polo coaches say this is especially important.

Said Corona del Mar’s Vargas: “The better coaches are the ones who have learned and are still learning from the national and college coaches like Newland and Barnett. For me, I able to keep up with the latest (techniques and strategies). I know the effective stuff like pressure defenses, rebounding off of a bad shot and so forth.”

Reasons and opinions may differ on the subject, but it all boils down to a considerable number of victories by south county teams.

“To me it’s just a self-perpetuating thing,” Barnett said. “Once you get success it stays with the program.”

Times Staff Writers Barbie Ludovise and Steve Lowery contributed to this story.