Barnett Back and Now He’s Behind the Camera

Bill Barnett is not retiring as a water polo coach at Newport Harbor High, despite rumors to the contrary prompted by his prolonged absence from the Sailor boys’ team’s bench this season.

For two weeks, he was in Australia, helping the U.S. national men’s team by videotaping tournament games.

When he returned last week, instead of manning the coach’s chair for Newport Harbor’s game against Irvine, he again manned the video camera.

At last week’s Southern California Invitational, Barnett again taped most of the games, but he did sit next to Sailor Coach Brian Kreutzkamp during the championship final against Long Beach Wilson. And at a South Coast League matchup between El Toro and San Clemente Thursday, Barnett was once again taping the game.

“I am not going to step down from coaching,” Barnett said. “My main emphasis will be with the girls, but I’ll also help Brian with the boys.

“Brian and I will be co-coaches with the boys and girls.”

Barnett, a former U.S. national coach, has been a fixture for 34 years at Newport Harbor, where his teams have won 10 Southern Section boys’ titles and finished as runners-up eight times.

Last year, he led the Newport Harbor girls’ team to its first section championship.

Many of his players have earned all-league and all-county honors (Eric Lindroth and James Bergeson) and college scholarships, and some have played on U.S. Olympic teams, such as two-time Olympian Kevin Robertson.

ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS

It was every meet manager’s nightmare.

With a little more than two minutes remaining in the second quarter of the Southern California Invitational championship final Saturday, the power went out.

At the time, Newport Harbor was leading Long Beach Wilson, 5-4.

It was nearly 20 minutes before play resumed. And even then, the clock was not working properly and someone had to shout the time left in the game.

Becky Brumm, wife of Foothill Coach Jim Brumm and co-meet manager with Irvine Coach Greg Gray, had her own take on the situation.

“Why couldn’t it have gone out during Foothill’s [semifinal] game?” Becky Brumm said. The Knights lost to Wilson, 11-2.

“[The delay] is a disadvantage for both teams, but one team managed to turn it to their advantage.”

Once play resumed, Wilson scored two goals to end the second quarter, then added seven more in the second half to win, 13-10.

Kreutzkamp didn’t want to blame the delay for his team’s loss, but it was apparent the Sailors seemed less enthusiastic after the 20-minute break.

Said Becky Brumm: “In hindsight, we should have had a backup. All the breakers went out. I would have loved to throw it all in the pool. . . .

“But I’ve done a lot of games and tournaments, as long as my husband has been coaching, and sometimes things like this happen.”

VARGAS RETURNS

Corona del Mar Coach John Vargas says it’s good to be home after touring with the U.S. national men’s team last month. He recently returned from Australia, where the U.S. team finished sixth in the FINA World Championships.

He wasn’t off the plane from Sydney for more than 24 hours last week before he was back on the deck, coaching the Sea Kings.

“The field level between where I was and where I am now is miles apart,” said Vargas, who also is the head coach for the national team. “And my problem is that I’m trying to make up for lost time, which is not fair to the kids.

“You have no idea how nice it is to be back,” he said. “At one point [with the national team], I was running four workouts at the same time and spending eight hours on the pool deck every day.”

The national team is currently on hiatus but will return to workouts in February.

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If you have an item or idea for the boys’ water polo report, you can fax us at (714) 966-5663 or e-mail us at erik.hamilton@latimes.com

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Southern Section Polls

BOYS’ WATER POLO

Division I--1. Long Beach Wilson, 2. Newport Harbor, 3. Foothill, 4. San Clemente, 5. El Toro, 6. North Hollywood Harvard Westlake, 7. Villa Park, 8. Irvine, 9. Capistrano Valley, 10. Santa Ana Valley.

Division II--1. Servite 2. Corona del Mar, 3. Los Alamitos, 4. Laguna Beach, 5. Saddleback, 6. La Habra, 7. Esperanza, 8. Buena Park, 9. Marina, 10. University.

Division VI--1. Rowland Heights Rowland, 2. La Verne Bonita, 3. Chino Hills Ayala; 4. Palos Verdes Chadwick, 5. Brea Olinda, 6. Los Altos, 7. La Verne Damien, 8. Western, 9. Cerritos, 10. Cerritos Gahr.