Beauregard’s Just One of the Boys in Pool : Water polo: Marina sophomore is among increasing number of girls in sport now playing on boys’ teams.

Unlike one of her predecessors, Robin Beauregard hasn’t been punched in the face simply because she is female. Nowadays, the slights against girls who play high school water polo are more subtle.

“One guy was nice enough,” Beauregard said, “to tell me that he would hit me, even if no one else on his team would.

“Usually, they just grab your suit to get by you, and my suit happens to be a little longer than most.”

Beauregard, a Marina sophomore, is one of a growing wave of girls playing high school water polo. She is one of a few starters; another, Amanda Gall, is a senior at Empire League champion El Dorado.

Because of rising demand, many local schools have established girls’ teams, but they are not a priority. Often games are nothing more than exhibitions played before the officials arrive for the freshman-sophomore game.

Therefore, girls who have the ability and inclination to play the sport at a higher level, must tread water with the boys.

Beauregard, for one, does just fine. Despite being a sophomore, she is Marina’s primary two-meter defender, the most demanding defensive position in water polo. And Marina is not a weak team. The Vikings (16-11) are ranked No. 6 in the Southern Section Division II, they finished second to Esperanza in the Sunset League and will find out today who they will draw in the first round of the playoffs.

Water polo is a rough sport, with most of the contact under the water, out of view of spectators and referees. And Chuck Beauregard, Robin’s father, said at first he was a little worried about having his daughter mixing it up with the boys.

But Robin Beauregard has been playing the sport since she was 9, with the Golden West swim club--with boys and girls--so playing at Marina seemed natural. Besides, she had wanted to play since her brother, Michael, a Marina captain in 1992, played for the Vikings.

Last year as a freshman, she split time as goalkeeper on the varsity and as a full-time field player on the freshman-sophomore team. She made quite an impact--she was named the Sunset League’s most valuable freshman--boy or girl.

This year, three players expected to be on the team were unable to play, so Beauregard was one of several who were asked to step up. Beauregard is the only sophomore starter, but that has caused no resentment, Wright said.

“The guys treat her probably a little bit different, but they respect her as an athlete,” Wright said. “She’s a girl, but she can definitely hold her own.”

Support from teammates wasn’t something Sandy Vessey could count on when she played goalkeeper for Marina’s varsity in 1980 and ’81. First, her mother had to petition the school board for her right to play, then some never fully accepted her as part of the team. Vessey persevered, despite once suffering a punch in the face by an opponent, and twice was a second-team all-league selection.

Since married, Vessey Schneider played eight years for the U.S. national women’s team and now is in her first year coaching water polo and swimming at Santa Ana Valley High.

Times have changed, she said.

“I see my boys’ attitude toward girls who they play against,” Vessey Schneider said, “and none have ever taken the attitude that ‘She’s just a girl and what is she doing out here?’

“Those are the comments I heard all the time.”

Vessey Schneider, who has known Beauregard since she coached Michael as a freshman at Marina, has high expectations for the sophomore.

Vessey Schneider was among the coaches at a development camp for girls 17 and younger last summer in Colorado Springs, Colo., where Beauregard, 15, made quite an impression.

“When the coaches got together and ranked the 60 girls, she was No. 1,” Vessey Schneider said, adding that Beauregard could be one of the next great players for the U.S. women’s national team.

“She just needs more years of experience playing with older girls and a few more years playing with the guys,” Vessey Schneider said. “She’s got the strength, the speed, the size and the smarts.”

At 5 feet 9, 150 pounds, Beauregard is about average size for Marina, but she’s no weak link: she can bench press her weight. She’s an A student and uses her knowledge of the game to even the score against bigger, stronger opponents.

Still, sometimes opponents don’t guard her as closely as her male teammates.

Underestimate Beauregard at your own risk--she played shortstop and third base in Little League and she’s got a live arm.

“Most of the time it is a lot of fun,” Beauregard said. “Especially, if you score. Then you get to see the look on their face or the guy guarding you yell at the goalie because he says the shot should have been blocked.”