DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:

Matt Russell plays at a water polo position, two meters, that requires strength. With all of the wrestling that goes on at two meters, it’s not a position for the faint.

But if there is one thing Russell is, it’s strong. He won’t let losing his father to a heart attack define his life.

Check his energetic demeanor and joyful personality. Russell is candid, even when talking about his dad.

Then check how the sophomore, as much as anyone on the Newport Harbor High boys’ water polo team, embraces the team concept that the Sailors talk a lot about.

Of course, plenty of teammates say this in plenty of different sports. The team concept is also where you get sayings like, “There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’ ” or “It was a real team win tonight.”

These clichés, however, do nothing to describe the bond that Russell has with his teammates. Their bond goes beyond wanting to see the team do well. It’s about wanting your friends, who happen to be your teammates, succeed.

Knowing this may help explain the big grin Russell had on his face after Newport Harbor beat El Toro, 9-8, in a CIF Southern Section Division I semifinal on Nov. 14. Russell had played a crucial part in the win, scoring a pair of goals from two meters as well as drawing two exclusions on the Chargers.

On his first goal, Russell pushed the ball in despite the charging El Toro double-team. On his second goal, which gave the Sailors their biggest lead of the game at 5-1, Russell scored a back-handed goal from two meters on a pass from Clinton Jorth.

“It was all just a big blur of everything put together,” Russell said. “What can I say? My coach showed me the tape and I looked back on what I did, and I said, ‘Wow.’ I felt I really improved. I looked at my first goal and I was amazed. What I had trained for had all come together, and now I could do a shot like that.”

Russell, the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, knows he will probably have other big games in the future. For him, it was a bigger thrill to know that the Tars and their four senior starters — Jorth, Colin McKibbin, Brandon Parole and goalie Myles Christian — were now one game away from capturing a CIF championship. The Sailors would win the title with a dominant 11-3 victory over Northwood on Nov. 17.

“For me to let them down, it wouldn’t happen,” Russell said. “It couldn’t happen. I wasn’t going to let these guys down. This team bond that we have, I think it gives us the fire to do things we could have never done before.”

But another thing Russell knows is that the team bond doesn’t break down once the players are out of the pool.

Russell has needed the bond since two summers ago. In July, 2006, the two-meter man was playing in the 16-and-under Junior Olympics at The Claremont Colleges.

Russell and his teammates drove back to the Newport Beach area after a game and were at a party at another water polo family’s house, the Shermans’. Russell came home and went to bed.

Suddenly, Russell was awakened at 3 a.m. by his mother, Laura. What came next was a blur, just like the goals against El Toro.

Russell’s father Kevin, 47, had suffered a heart attack in his sleep.

“I come home from the party and you think everything is great, and I woke up in the morning and my whole life just turned around at that moment,” Russell said. “My mom woke me up, she had called the neighbors. It was pretty terrifying. My next-door neighbor was doing CPR on my dad, and I had my mom crying in the background and they’re calling the hospital. Everything was happening at once. It was like a bad dream.”

Kevin Russell passed away because of that heart attack, and Matt Russell would end up not finishing play in the Junior Olympics that year as he dealt with his loss. As his freshman year approached, he was preparing to join the Newport Harbor frosh-soph team.

But Coach Jason Lynch had different ideas, telling Russell he would be a part of the varsity. He spent the year gaining experience from being on the varsity level, but also contributing for the frosh-soph team.

Part of the reason Lynch was comfortable making the call-up was that Russell was so mature, even for a freshman.

“Matt brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm,” Lynch said. “He’s just so solid as a person. He doesn’t really get flustered because he’s already dealt with so much ... He’s done a great job. You tell him something one time, and it gets done. He doesn’t usually make the same mistakes twice.”

Maybe it was fitting that it was Russell, who had lost his father just months earlier, who scored the game-winning goal in the Newport Harbor frosh-soph’s 4-3 championship game win over El Toro in the Gray Lunde tournament last October. Lunde’s family has also been through a lot; Lunde was a Newport Harbor High freshman water polo player who died in 1995 of a heart ailment.

But Russell fit in on varsity, too. Nick Yeager, who was a senior a year ago, has been like an older brother to Russell. Yeager’s dad, John, and Lyle Davis have been like father figures. Davis’ son, Trevor, plays basketball and volleyball for the Sailors and is also one of Russell’s good friends.

Russell also said Newport Harbor assistant coach Corey Delahunt, who coached Russell on the 14-and-under and 16-and-under teams, has been a great influence.

This summer, Matt Russell was again at the Junior Olympics, this time at the 18-and-unders in San Jose. It was then, on the one-year anniversary of his father’s passing, that his teammates spoke up.

“It had been a year to the day from when my dad died,” Russell said. “All of the guys were being really nice to me, saying ‘Are you doing OK?’ They were caring for me. They were wondering if I needed any help, needed someone to talk to.

“That’s a team,” he said. “Those are guys I want to spend time with. Those are my best friends, because they’re willing to take care of me out of their own time.”

Russell has split time at two meters this year with juniors David Linden and Zach Osadche. He had just 12 goals going into the semifinal win over El Toro, although he had another big goal — also against El Toro — in the championship game of the South Coast Tournament in September.

Osadche has been dealing with a knee injury on and off this season, giving Russell a chance to contribute.

“It’s been an honor for me to play, especially as a starter, with the group we have,” he said. “If Zach didn’t hurt his knee, I think he’d be playing above me. I was fortunate to see an opportunity and take it.”

But really, one gets the sense that Russell is just happy to be on the team.

“Every one of these guys is like my family,” he said. “I love all of them, really. They’re helpful to me in every aspect of my life.”

Russell is doing just fine in all of those aspects of his life. He just got his driver’s license, which means he can take his younger brother Scott, 12, to school. And he does his best at home to help his mother, Laura, who works in sales.

“She’s the strongest women I know,” he said. “She works, and she takes care of me and my brother. All of the things a normal mom does, she does without a husband. She’s had the help of her mom and dad, and friends. A lot of friends.”

A team effort, for sure, just like when the Sailors won the CIF title. Russell loved every moment of it, even if he wishes his dad, Kevin, could have been there.

“Of course, I would have loved to see what his reaction would have been when we won CIF,” Matt Russell said. “But I know that he was looking down on me. I know that he was there with me the entire time.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].