Boys swimming: Bionic Brad

Steve Virgen

Brad Dillman says he is thankful he now appears “normal” after a

lower back surgery in the summer of 1999, that resulted in titanium hooks

and screws replacing vertebrae. Yet, the Newport Harbor High junior,

whose stomach had caved in because his lower spine stuck out, is actually

far beyond normal.

Before and after his surgery, he could have easily continued his high

school experience without the competition from sports. Dillman, however,

never surrendered and provided inspiration for his teammates while he

played for the Sailors CIF Southern Section Division I champion boys

water polo squad. And he currently thrives in his influential role with

the swim team.

“He’s got every reason just to turn around and walk out the door,”

said Brian Kreutzkamp who coaches the boys water polo and swim teams.

“He’s had an excuse since he walked in the door. Some of these guys don’t

make it (through the program) with no excuses. It’s pretty inspiring that

he’s made it this far.”

Dillman began to notice back problems after an accident occurred while

playing flag football as an eighth-grader. When performing his blocking

assignment as a center, another player accidentally collided into his

back. He lost feeling in his legs for one minute.

After the incident, his back and legs would ache just from five-minute

lengths of standing or walking. As a freshman at Newport Harbor, he would

always have to lean on the wall or some sort of support because the pain

was so harsh.

He realized he could not play football, the sport he loved most. He

also couldn’t continue his specialty sports: canoeing and kayak. When he

was 13 and 14, he competed in national championships while on the Newport

Aquatic Center’s canoe and kayak team.

He wanted to maintain fitness and his competitive drive and he found

his place in water polo. The water provided safety for his weak back,

while the difficulty of learning a new sport combined with rigorous

training delivered Dillman a challenge.

“I really didn’t know what I was thinking, I just kept going every day

after school,” Dillman said of his first dealings with Newport water

polo. “Next thing I knew I was in swimming. There’s fun parts to it, but

without a doubt, (water polo is) the hardest sport on campus.”

After his freshman year and attempting to strengthen his back through

physical therapy, Dillman received the tragic news he had the worst case

of spondylolisthesis -- just above the buttocks, when one vertebra slips

forward on the one below it, leaving less room for the nerve roots, thus

leading to immense pain, then paralysis.

He endured a six-hour surgery at UCI Medical Center where titanium and

bone grafts were used to return strength to his back. Following the

surgery he spent most of the summer in bed and in a back brace.

“I remember when I was at home recovering,” he said. “I actually

missed being at the pool, which is probably insane. I remember when the

other guys were getting their letters at the dinner at the end of the

season. I thought I would like to get that some day.”

Dillman’s doctor never demanded for him to stop playing, but stated

obvious risks that could occur from water polo and swimming. But, Dillman

would not quit.

Through rehabilitation, he strengthened his back and also continued to

learn more about water polo. His relentless hustle and fearlessness soon

became his trademark. He has never showed signs of quitting.

“(Some people) can’t handle the program,” Kreutzkamp said. “They can’t

handle that many hours of work, the pain and the discipline. You put that

all together with what he’s had to go through health-wise, it shows that

he has a really big heart.”

As a sophomore, Dillman didn’t compete in water polo after the

surgery, but this year he became a CIF champion. This swimming season, he

continues to improve, yet remains humble.

“I’m not the best swimmer out there,” Dillman says. “There are people

that have been doing this since they were a fetus. I just had to race

Aaron Peirsol the other day. But, what I get out of it the most is the

discipline and I’m in shape. I know I’m doing the hardest sport in the

school.”

Though he is gaining the most out of playing water polo and swimming,

Dillman wonders what if when it comes to football.

Sometimes he daydreams snapping his chin strap on his helmet to

prepare for a football game. Some days he aches for the hits that might

have been, the touchdowns that could have been.

“There isn’t a day that goes by,” he says. “Where I don’t think about

what I could’ve been doing or how tall I could’ve been or anything else I

could’ve been, had I been able to have normal movement in my back.”

Dillman instead tackles the challenges of everyday life, the trials

that come with the tests of a titanium backbone.