DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:Van Hiel reaps from hard work

At the start of almost every Corona del Mar High girls’ water polo quarter this season, sophomore Heather Van Hiel has lined up for the sprint.

Van Hiel covers the 12-yard distance with ease. She’s won about 95% of the sprints this year, Coach Aaron Chaney said.

Twelve yards away is nothing to Van Hiel. Try thousands of miles.

That’s how far from the Back Bay she was last summer, when Corona del Mar was playing in places like New Zealand at the Pan Pacific youth tournament.

At that point, Van Hiel wasn’t starting for the Sea Kings, which was hardly surprising. An incoming sophomore with no varsity experience, she was on a summer team that included eight incoming seniors.

Coming off the bench was fine for Van Hiel. Yet, it wasn’t good enough to be satisfied with that.

“My main goal was that I wanted to improve as much as I could,” Van Hiel said. “To get to that point, I had to just work my butt off in practice.”

The Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week did just that. No one on the Sea Kings’ roster worked longer and harder in preparation for the high school season.

She started Corona del Mar’s first game of the season against Long Beach Wilson. Two months later, the regular season is winding down, but the sophomore remains firmly entrenched in the Sea Kings’ lineup.

The progress was further cemented on Feb. 3, when she made the all-tournament team at the prestigious Irvine Southern California Championships. Van Hiel scored two goals in the quarterfinals against Whittier, and two more in a semifinal win over Agoura.

In the championship game, she had a goal, two assists and a steal against Foothill, the tournament champion.

“I’ve got a lot of girls on my team who work hard, but she was over and above,” Chaney said. “She’s really focused during practice, no talking, no nonsense. It’s, ‘I’m here to do what I’m supposed to do.’

“I thought, ‘How can I not give someone like her an opportunity to play?’”

Van Hiel has swam for the Harbor View Dolphins youth team since she was little, under the guidance of longtime coach Ted Bandaruk.

She has always been fast in the water. But good water polo defense can be a whole different animal, and this season Chaney has asked her to play defense against some of the CdM opponents’ top goal scorers.

Paige O’Brien is CdM’s primary two-meter defender, but Van Hiel has also played the position. So she also has worked hard in the weight room, adding some muscle without losing her trademark speed.

“It’s just so great to see someone grow and improve continuously,” senior teammate Cari Levine said. “She never stops.”

Now Van Hiel, who has also worked extensively on her shot, is one of her team’s most consistent goal scorers. She scored in five of CdM’s six games at the Irvine tournament.

“Her assets are really her speed and quickness, and also her body balance in the water,” Chaney said. “She should be getting out-muscled guarding two meters, but her balance makes her able to spin around the offensive person.”

In part, Van Hiel has learned her relentless training from her friend Camille Hewko. Now at Cal, Hewko was the 2006 Newport-Mesa Player of the Year who helped lead the Sea Kings to last year’s CIF Division II championship, their fifth consecutive Southern Section crown. Older sister Holly, a senior who used to play water polo but now solely competes for the Sea Kings’ softball team, has also been an influence.

And, there are also players on the current team to look up to.

“I get inspired by [senior goalie] Kate Murphy,” Van Hiel said. “She works really hard, and she’s been playing really great. She has a good attitude, and I like that.”

At times this year, Chaney said he’s questioned whether the younger Van Hiel is really having fun playing the sport. She said she is, but continues to work hard because she knows no other way.

“Practice is practice,” she said. “It’s good to have fun, but you’re there to work on everything. You want to focus and concentrate on things you need to work on. I feel that’s really important.”

After playing on the CdM frosh-soph team last year, Van Hiel tried out for the United States Women’s Cadet National Team, for water polo players born in 1991 or later. She was an alternate, and plans on trying out again next month.

“I’m excited to try out again,” she said. “I feel like I’ve improved a ton since then. A huge, mass amount.”

People have noticed.

HEATHER VAN HIEL

Hometown: Newport Beach

Born: June 2, 1991

Height: 5-foot-4

Weight: 110 pounds

Sport: Water polo

Position: Driver

Coach: Aaron Chaney

Favorite food: Mexican

Favorite movie: “Lords of Dogtown”

Favorite athletic moment: “Going to Australia and New Zealand last summer, and competing against teams from there.”

Week in review: Was named to the all-tournament team at the Irvine Southern California Championships, where Van Hiel had one goal and two assists in the championship game against Foothill on Feb. 3.