WATER POLO : MORRIS FINDS HIS MARK : San Clemente Water Polo Player One of Nation’s Best

Watching Greg Morris, a San Clemente High School senior, during a water polo match, you find it hard to imagine that just four years ago, he wasn’t a very good swimmer.

“I was horrible,” Morris said.

“He was pretty terrible,” Chuck Morris, Greg’s father, agreed. “What he’s done, he’s done all by himself.”

What Morris has done is become one of Orange County’s best high school water polo players. As the Tritons’ hole man (like a high post center in basketball), Morris controlled the pace of play, averaged five goals a match and attracted a lot of attention this season.

Water Polo Scoreboard magazine, in its October issue, called Morris possibly the best prep water polo player in the nation. South Coast League coaches called him the league’s most valuable player. And he has been called a top recruit by Stanford University, which has one of the country’s best collegiate water polo programs.

On Friday, during a Southern Section 3-A semifinal match against El Dorado, Morris got another call.

But this one was for unsportsmanlike conduct, and it earned him an ejection from the game in the fourth quarter. The Tritons lost the match, 12-7, to finish the season at 24-6.

“It was tough on him,” said Triton Coach Steve Yancey, who added that Morris was frustrated with a call and let the official know in a less-than-polite manner. “After playing so well all year and ending on that note, it’s a big disappointment.”

El Dorado’s defense keyed on Morris, double-teaming him and trying to exhaust him. The plan was effective. The Golden Hawks virtually shut Morris down--he scored one goal--and thereby rendered San Clemente ineffective.

It was a frustrating day for the Morris family. Shortly before Morris was ejected, his father was ejected from the pool deck for commenting on the officiating.

“I felt bad,” Chuck Morris said. “I hope I wasn’t setting a bad example, but I was frustrated with the calls.”

The senior Morris was head coach at University High School from the time the school opened in 1970 until 1983, when he stepped down to coach the freshman-sophomore team. He made the move so he wouldn’t be coaching University while San Clemente was playing, freeing him to watch his oldest son, Tad, and Greg, then a freshman, play water polo.

Despite his father’s involvement, Greg didn’t plan to play water polo. Until age 12, he concentrated on such sports as volleyball and basketball.

But when he was in eighth grade, Morris, now 6-feet 4-inches tall, grew about six inches. Whereas older athletes would be grateful for the height, it was a problem for him.

“I grew too fast,” he said. “I had aches and back problems and knee problems.”

So, weak swimmer or not, he jumped into the pool for relief and has been there ever since.

“I decided this was the sport I wanted to play, and I like to be the best at whatever I do,” Morris said.

He joined the South Coast Aquatic Team and began working on his swimming and learning the subtleties of water polo. His father offered some advice, and Morris also learned from watching his father’s University teams, with such players as Peter Campbell, who later was a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic team, and his younger brother, Jeff Campbell, a national team player. But Morris’ development was self-motivated.

“I’ve coached a lot of excellent polo players,” his father said. “But I’ve never seen a boy work as hard as he does.”

The hard work and four to five hours of practice a day paid off. When he was a sophomore, Morris was selected to the U.S. junior national team. Last season, as a junior, he was a third-team All-American and an all-Southern Section player.

This year, Yancey thinks Morris is a strong candidate for Southern Section 3-A player of the year.

Morris has also excelled at academics; he has a 3.8 grade-point average. Besides Stanford, UC Irvine, UCLA and UC Santa Barbara also have expressed interest.

The day after the loss to El Dorado, Morris was working on his college applications. But pretty soon it will be back to the water, this time for relaxation.

“I’m just going to grab a board and head for the beach,” Morris said about his postseason plans. “I enjoy being in the water. It gives me energy.”