Santa Ana Valley girls’ water polo team learns to swim, and win

It’s not unusual for a high school team to be honored by the local city council or school board for winning a championship, and that’s what happened last week for the Santa Ana Valley girls’ water polo team. They showed up at the board of education meeting to be recognized for winning a second consecutive Southern Section Division 7 championship last month.

What surprised many in the audience was the revelation they heard after a question was asked by a board member: “What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome?”

The stunning answer: None of the seven players knew how to swim when they showed up as freshmen at Santa Ana Valley.

Their veteran coach, Fred Lammers, said, “Literally, they cannot swim. If you throw them in deep water, you better be ready to jump in.”

“All of the girls, when they get here in the ninth grade, we’re learning how to open our eyes under water and blow bubbles,” he said.

Santa Ana Valley’s team is made up mostly of Latino students who don’t play club water polo, so Lammers, the coach for 12 years, said he has to teach everyone the basics, and swimming comes first.

Liz Silva, the team’s senior captain, said she didn’t know how to swim when she arrived. Lammers taught her the fundamentals, and the rest is water polo history.

“This is one of the bravest, most courageous acts they do, come out for swimming knowing, ‘I could die at this sport,’ ” Lammers said. “I consider it quite a compliment these kids say, ‘I can do this.’ When we advertise to join the water polo team, ‘You don’t have to know how to swim.’ I never ask that question because I know the answer, ‘They can’t swim.’ To say I’m proud of these girls is an understatement.”

Asked what it’s like to teach the sport from scratch, Lammers said, “It would be the equivalent of getting a basketball player that doesn’t know how to walk.”

Rich Corso, head coach of the nationally ranked California women’s water polo team and a former Studio City Harvard-Westlake coach, said he has never heard of a high school water polo team winning a championship with players who arrived not knowing how to swim.

“That’s epic. That’s unbelievable,” he said. “What an accomplishment.”

Lammers said, “It’s pretty satisfying. You don’t stay in coaching with the hours they give you this long if you’re not getting something out of it.”

The Hamilton brothers

Sitting on a podium and answering questions after a crushing defeat is no easy task, but it’s part of sports tradition, and for sportswriters, seeing how athletes respond in a moment of adversity reveals plenty about a person’s character.

Isaac and Daniel Hamilton wanted to be anywhere but in the media room Saturday in Ontario after Bellflower St. John Bosco’s 62-61 loss to Mission Hills Alemany in the Division III Southern California Regional final. But the way the brothers handled themselves should make their parents and classmates proud.

Daniel, a sophomore, said he wanted to apologize to Coach Derrick Taylor, blaming himself for trying to block the final shot of KJ Moffett with 1.5 seconds left along the baseline instead of taking a charging foul.

“That means he’s learning,” Taylor said. “In the future, he’ll do the right thing.”

Isaac, a junior who scored 32 points, looked disappointed and emotionally drained, but he calmly answered questions, reinforcing his growing reputation as one of the best college prospects for 2013.

“They’re sensational kids,” Taylor said.

They’re classy kids, too.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

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