Pike Hasn’t Yet Begun to Reach His Peak : Water polo: Though he dominates the Southern Section record book, Corona del Mar goalie looks to win the 4-A title and play in college.

Every now and then, Corona del Mar High School water polo Coach John Vargas gets into the pool for some one-on-one coaching with Sea King goalie Robbie Pike.

Actually, “coaching” isn’t an entirely accurate description. Vargas, a member of the U.S. National water polo team, doesn’t get wet just so Pike can hear his instructions up-close-and-personal.

In fact, Vargas doesn’t do much talking at all in those situations. He’s too busy blasting shots past Pike, into Pike and sometimes through Pike.

“It’s not coaching, it’s humbling ,” Pike said. “I go one-on-one with Coach Vargas, and I can’t even make a save.

“He wants to score, he scores. It just shows you what the level of play is like in the Olympics and world championships.”

OK, so at this point in Pike’s career, he has problems against world-class players. High school players, however, are another story. Prep opponents don’t share Vargas’ success when it comes to getting the ball past Pike.

The next time the Southern Section water polo record book is updated, Pike’s name will sit atop the career saves list. In fact, Pike, a senior, broke the old record early last season and is on a pace to nearly double that mark.

Through Wednesday’s Sea View League game against Woodbridge, Pike had 181 saves this season and a career total of 885. The current record listed is 539, set by Matt Anderson of Santa Ynez from 1983-85.

If you didn’t know about Pike’s record, don’t feel bad, because he doesn’t. As far as Pike is concerned, statistics and records are nice, but CIF championships are what really count.

“I don’t even think (the record) got reported when it happened, which was fine with me because it’s not like I had done something all that important,” Pike said. “My personal goal has always been the same one my teammates have, to win CIF. We didn’t do that last year, so the record wasn’t any kind of consolation.”

Pike hasn’t needed much consolation during his career at Corona del Mar. A four-year varsity player, Pike has already played on two Southern Section championship teams and the Sea Kings are currently ranked No. 1 in the 4-A poll.

Four years ago, however, Pike didn’t seem a likely candidate to play on any water polo team, championship-caliber or not.

Before his freshman year, Pike expected to spend the fall in the Sea King football program. At nearly 240 pounds, he seemed better tailored for a football uniform than a Speedo.

But before he started classes at Corona del Mar, Pike began playing water polo for fun with friends who were working out in the Sea King summer program. “I couldn’t swim well at all, so I would stay in the shallow end where I could touch bottom and play goalie,” Pike said. “I didn’t know anything about playing the position, and I had no idea how hard it would be, but I liked it.”

It wasn’t long before Vargas noticed Pike’s natural ability, and soon Pike was working out with the Sea King varsity.

“Right away you could see he had the instincts and the athletic ability to be a good goalie,” Vargas said. “He also picked up the technical things quickly, which was a big advantage.”

Pike started a number of games as a freshman, when Corona del Mar won the 4-A championship, but Vargas didn’t guarantee him the starting job for the next season. A deal was struck--if Pike wanted to be the Sea King starter, he’d lose the weight.

“Basically, Coach Vargas told me, ‘You’re too heavy, and you’re not quick enough, so if you want to play you’re going to have to work for it’,” Pike recalled. “Once I started dropping the pounds, I could totally see what he was talking about. I felt so much quicker and just better all around.”

By the start of his sophomore year, Pike checked in at a trim 175 pounds. His improvement was significant enough that he earned All-CIF and All-Sea View League honors and helped Corona del Mar win a second consecutive 4-A title.

Today, Pike is 6-feet-2 and 180 pounds, and is expected to earn All-CIF honors for the third consecutive year when the season ends next month. San Clemente Coach Steve Yancey, whose team has faced Pike three times this season, calls Pike the top goalie in Orange County.

“There’s no doubt about that,” Yancey said. “He’s No. 1 in the county, and also one of the top two or three goalies in Southern California.

“Rob does a great job of taking advantage of his experience. He’s Corona del Mar’s quarterback out there, calling signals and adjustments, and he’s knows how to heal his defense’s mistakes.”

Pike is quick to point out that Corona del Mar’s defense doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. “A goalie is only as good as the six guys in front of him, and I’ve got six great players in front of me,” Pike said. “It’s easy to make saves when the defense always forces bad shots. Those guys make me look good.”

Pike would like to continue his water polo career in college, and California, UC Irvine and USC have shown interest. Vargas believes Pike has the potential and desire to play at the four-year level.

“He’s going to keep working hard because he knows he has to if he wants to compete in college,” Vargas said. “Robbie’s come a long way since he was an overweight freshman. I still score off him in our one-on-one drills, but it’s a lot harder than it used to be.”