By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
It was the middle of Hell Week but the defending champion and
preseason No. 1 UCLA men’s water polo team looked like they
were taking it easy.
The freshmen were swimming the Dirty Dozen ““ one lap, one
pool pull-up, one pushup, and keep doing that until you’ve
hit 12. The veterans leaned against the wall at Men’s Gym and
helped the rookies out by counting laps.
And true freshman Albert Garcia managed to give the vets a piece
of his mind in between pull-ups.
Lazily watching this, senior two-meter man Dave Parker discussed
the team’s upcoming Wasko Tournament at Pepperdine University
on Sept. 2.
“It’ll just be good initial test so we can see where
we’re at after two weeks of Hell Week,” Parker
said.
The Wasko games against Cal Baptist (of the NAIA conference),
UCSD and Pepperdine are just scrimmage games, and the Bruins are
expected to win the event for the second year running.
The competition isn’t about to roll over ““ UCSD went
to last season’s Final Four and Pepperdine redshirted its
best players last year for the express purpose of turning out a
better team this year. Still, the most exciting part of the Wasko
is expected to be an exhibition game between the U.S. National Team
and the Romanian National Team.
That’s because UCLA senior two-meter man Sean Kern will be
playing for Team USA.
“It’ll pump us up,” Parker said.
After the Wasko far tougher competition will be found in
UCI.
Besides showing the team what their twice-a-day practices have
been accomplishing, the Wasko will provide the Bruins a chance to
get some game experience before matching up against the
Anteaters.
“It’s a good time to get in better game shape and
gear up for that first game against Irvine,” head coach Adam
Krikorian said.
The Bruins have been preparing since last Tuesday, when Hell
Week started.
They’re daily practices haven’t been easy, with one
as early as 7 a.m. and the second running three hours in the
afternoon.
“It’s been tough, but now that we’re seniors,
we’re used to it,” senior team captain and playmaker
Adam Wright said.
“(Hell Week practices) are the same as always. A lot of
swimming, a lot of weights, a lot of hours, not much rest in
between,” Wright continued. “When you’re a
freshman you think, “˜My God, this is
overwhelming.'”
He says this sitting in a plastic chair on the pool deck while
watching the freshmen, who are about on the 10th lap of their Dirty
Dozen.
No wonder Albert Garcia looks so mad.