Premier talent coming to CdM

STEVE VIRGEN

If you want to see the who’s who in men’s water polo, check out the

exhibition games that will be on display locally this weekend,

including a stop at Corona del Mar High.

The U.S. men’s water polo team, which includes former UC Irvine

standouts Ryan Bailey, Dan Klatt, Jeff Powers, Omar Amr and Genai

Kerr, will play host to Mladost, the top club team from Croatia, for

three games, beginning at CdM tonight at 8.

The U.S. team, coached by Ratko Rudic, will be missing a few

players as it will be without Tony Azevedo, Brett Ormsby and Jesse

Smith. Azevedo plays for Stanford, coached by former CdM head man

John Vargas.

Azevedo is the type you can’t stop, you can only hope to contain,

while Ormsby and Smith are the go-to stars for UCLA and Pepperdine,

respectively.

Mladost is regarded as one of the top international men’s teams

and should definitely give the U.S. team a workout. Mladost is a

seven-time winner of the European Cup of Champions, an international

club tournament.

The teams will also play Saturday at 7 p.m. at Capistrano Valley

High, then Monday at 6 p.m. at Long Beach State. Admission will be $5

for adults, and $3 for students.

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Meanwhile at Costa Mesa High, assistant boys water polo coach Tim

Postiff is plenty prepared to take over for Bob Shupp, who is in his

final year before retiring. Postiff is in line to be the head coach

next year.

Postiff, who is the school’s girls water polo coach, has been

learning from Shupp, but the assistant has also been providing

lessons for the head coach.

“He does know some parts of the game better than me,” Shupp said.

“There are a few things that the old dog can teach the young guy,

too, but Tim will take this program to the next level. With Tim

Postiff here next year, we won’t skip a beat.”

Costa Mesa is one of the top teams in the Golden West League and

seems to be inching closer to perennial league favorite Saddleback.

The Mustangs will also return a solid team next year, as they will be

led by two-meter man Kyle Thorsness, who is a sophomore this season.

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One of the areas of concern Postiff will be handling next year

will be Mesa’s opportunity to reach a higher level in Orange County

water polo. Entering quality Orange County and Southern California

tournaments would be helpful, but that has not been possible for the

Mustang this season, Shupp said.

“If we can get somebody to let us into a couple of good

tournaments and maybe have somebody put us on their schedule, we’ll

get better,” Shupp said. “We don’t get to play the better teams. We

could play with Laguna Beach this year, but they didn’t want to have

anything to do with us. It’s tough to rebuild a program when you have

those challenges.”

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Aside from speaking his mind, Shupp has also left a high standard

at Mesa for Postiff to follow. Shupp has called off scoring goals in

the fourth quarter when the Mustangs have a big lead and he even told

one of his players to come out of the game when crosstown rival

Estancia was down a man because three of their players were ejected

Tuesday.

Shupp’s standard was also shown earlier this season. A boys water

polo player, who achieved success in swimming last spring, missed

practice time and did not perform the same amount of training as his

teammates. Shupp asked him to make up what he missed by swimming

after practice, but the player refused. The player is no longer on

the team.