Every day after school, the Girls’ Varsity Water Polo team trains and conditions in Cathedral’s on-campus pool. Mr. Brett Ormsby, Algebra 1A and U.S. History teacher, coaches the varsity team. Coach Ormsby started this year’s season with high expectations.
He said he wants the team to make it a step further than it did last year. Last year’s team lost to La Jolla in the CIF semi-finals, finishing third in league. This year, Coach Ormsby says, “I expect to at least step up to second in league and make it to CIF finals.”
To meet these goals, the team is working to build a good conditioning base by lifting weights, swimming, and doing leg workouts. The athletes also spend time on tactics every day, including front court offense, front court defense, man up/man down situations, and court attack.
To prepare for league opponents, the team does game planning, including watching videos, finding tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses of their opponents. Then, the team works on coming up with how to limit their strengths and expose their weaknesses.
This year’s team has a lot of outstanding freshman. Coach Ormsby said, “It is a very young team; in fact, there was a time during our game against UC this week in which all 6 field players in the game were freshman, which is pretty amazing.”
9th-graders are a force on the tem. Jeannine Edwards is the starting center, and Kelsey Blacker is the starting center defender. Gabi Herrick and Sarah Lewis have both started on the perimeter in some games. Cheyenne Brady and Makana Edwards have also been great contributors to the team as freshman.
So far this season, the team has been playing in tournaments and non-league games. Coach Ormsby said, “We use those to focus on ourselves and what we need to improve on.” Next week, the team will start their league schedule, which will help the players know where they stand. They have done very well in their tournaments and non-league games so far this season.
The team has had many great wins so far this season. Their best win was coming against Riverside Poly. Coach Ormsby said, “We trailed 8-3 in the third period and were able to come from behind to win 12-11.”