Men’s water polo: CdM to host national water polo tourney

CORONA DEL MAR - Corona del Mar High has stepped up to the plate,

so to speak, and will host the United State Nationals Men’s Water Polo

Tournament Friday through Sunday.

The competition was originally awarded to the city of New York. The

September 11th terrorists attacks, the aftermath and the restrictions on

public events in New York resulted in the New York Organizing Committee’s

withdrawal.

“We had to scramble to find a world class facility to host the games

with only three weeks to prepare,” Andy Burke, a U.S. Water Polo board

member, said. “The CdM Foundation, the City of Newport Beach and over 100

volunteers have done a spectacular job pulling this together. U.S. Water

Polo was especially impressed (last week) in our walk through of the CdM

High School facility with 50 U.S. flags and red, white and blue bunting

that will be displayed for these games.”

The tournament will feature almost every veteran from the last three

U.S. Olympic teams, most of the current U.S. National players and some

ringers brought in from Europe and South America, according to Chriss

Street, the chairman of the organizing committee.

The games will run from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 8

a.m. to the bronze game at 3 p.m. and the gold medal game at 4:10 p.m. on

Sunday.

The event has been held every year since 1890, with the exception of

the banning of water polo due to excessive fighting in 1913 and four

years suspension of all U.S. National team events during World War II.

Tickets are available for $6 for adults and $4 for students during the

preliminaries and $8 for adults, $6 for students for the medal rounds by

calling (949) 644-9662 or on sale at CdM during the events.