Warde Renews a Love-Hate Affair : UCI Water Polo Player Sits Out Season, Comes Back Strong

Tom Warde realized he was suffering from burnout. And, as the symptoms grew worse, he knew he could ignore them no longer.

Warde had started swimming competitively at age 7 and discovered water polo during his freshman year in high school. During his sophomore season at UC Irvine, however, the game he loved was becoming a game he loathed.

He dreaded going to practice--twice every day. He even found the charge was gone from the competition.

“I kept thinking of all the things that I could be doing instead of being in the pool,” Warde said.

So he quit after his sophomore season.

But Warde was mature enough to know he wouldn’t be satisfied with going to school and watching reruns of “Gilligan’s Island.” He knew he couldn’t quit water polo, live the life of leisure and still live with himself. He would have to stay in shape and do something constructive with his free time.

Warde was determined to fill his days with a mixture of exercise and worthwhile endeavors that would anesthetize the inevitable pangs of guilt that would follow his “retirement.” He volunteered to write letters for Amnesty International, worked 6 hours a day as an adaptive physical education teacher for retarded children and learned to surf.

“My uncle had been involved with Amnesty International for some time and I finally signed up one day at a U2 concert,” Warde said. “I wrote letters to different countries who were jailing people for ridiculously minor reasons.

“Working with the kids was very rewarding, too. And I really got into surfing. It was something I’d always wanted to do, but this was the first time in my life I had the time to learn.”

All in all, a noble effort at filling the water-polo void . . .

But it didn’t work.

He still felt guilty.

And he even started to miss playing water polo.

“I guess what I missed most is what might have been,” he said.

Warde, a second-team All-American at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, said he never would have returned to the Irvine team on his own, though. But when Coach Ted Newland--in a most uncharacteristic move--wrote him a letter saying he would be welcomed back if he chose to return, Warde jumped at the chance.

“I was shocked,” Warde said. “That’s not like Coach Newland at all.”

Newland insisted that he’s very aware of the feelings of those around him--though he admitted that no one is likely to start calling him Mr. Sensitive. Newland said he recognized Warde’s waning enthusiasm before Warde quit and also saw the longing in his eyes as Warde watched his teammates compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships last season.

“When he came to tell me he was quitting, I wasn’t that surprised,” Newland said. “I felt something was amiss before that. Then, when he showed up at the NCAAs, I thought maybe he was still interested.

“I saw that he had kept himself in good shape. So I decided to drop him a note and let him know that he was welcome to come back. I think he wanted to come back all along, but the note kind of cemented things.”

Irvine’s opponents have regretted Warde’s decision ever since. Warde, a junior driver, leads the Big West Conference in scoring with 76 goals.

And Warde, 21, keeps gaining momentum. In a 3-game stretch last week, he scored 12 goals. In 4 games over the weekend against Pacific 10 powerhouses--No. 1 Cal, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 USC and No. 5 Stanford--he tossed in 12 more.

Warde, who scored 63 goals to lead the Anteaters as a sophomore in 1986, has an outside shot at becoming the third Anteater to score 100 goals. Gary Figueroa established the school record of 110 in 1977. Mike Evans, the player that television analyst John Naber kept calling “Instant Offense” during the Olympics last summer, scored 102 in 1983.

“For the first few months, I was really out of condition,” Warde said. “All that surfing didn’t help that much. But now that I’m back in shape, I’m faster than I’ve ever been and I’ve got more endurance, too.

“Don’t ask me why . . . “

Newland thinks he knows the answer.

“He’s always been a very gifted offensive player but he’s stronger now,” Newland said. “He did a lot of (weight) lifting while he was away. He has a better knowledge of the weight room than anyone I’ve ever coached. He understands how to get the most out of his lifting. He reads a lot about lifting and diet, too.

“And there’s no discounting the fact that he’s enjoying it more now and that makes it easier to work harder.”

As a result, Warde is averaging more than 3 goals a game and the Anteaters, who figured to be in a rebuilding phase this season, are ranked No. 6 in the country.

“If we had him the year he was out, we could have won the NCAAs instead of finishing third,” Newland said. “But I don’t resent what Tom did. Young people have to find out what they want to do with their lives.

“Tommy has very good introspection. He knows where Tom is coming from. A lot of people try to hide from themselves. He tries to find himself. And I think that’s very healthy.

“It should be a real joy to work out and to play. If you don’t enjoy it, don’t do it.”

So guess who’s having the time of his life?

“Water polo is in perspective for me now,” Warde said, “and it’s more fun than ever before. Even when I’m heading for that second workout of the day and I’m so tired, I can convince myself that it’ll be worth it in the end.”