Ready for work

Bryce Alderton

One area the Costa Mesa boys water polo team agrees upon after

last season is reestablishing a winning attitude to a once proud

water polo program.

A way to strive toward winning includes conditioning and weight

training, something the team did a lot of during the off season, said

Bob Shupp, who enters the second year of his second run as the

Mustangs’ water polo coach.

“Our goal from (the outset) was about reestablishing an attitude

of winners and to do what winners do,” Shupp said.

He coached water polo at Mesa from 1977-85, then left to spend

more time with his children as they grew up and coached briefly at

Orange Coast College before taking the job at Mesa for the 2001

season in an attempt to mold Mesa into a winner once again.

“One thing we agreed upon was that winners work and that’s why we

put in the hours,” Shupp said.

During the summer the Mustangs spent 4 1/2 hours lifting weights

and swimming in preparation for their first game against host El

Modena Sept. 17.

“We’re going to be in very good shape,” Shupp said. “These kids

are committed to do the conditioning and have the ability and

attitude to improve every day. Those will be our strengths. I want to

give the kids a chance to be competitive again and build winning

program and I think we’re at the beginning of that process right

now.”

Shupp expects the Mustangs to add to last year’s win total (five)

as Mesa moves into the Golden West.

Youth will be served for Shupp’s Mustangs as Mesa doesn’t have a

senior, but he has confidence in his juniors, sophomores and

freshmen.

Team MVP from a year ago Brian Tipton is Shupp’s most experienced

player his “go-to-guy.”

“(Tipton) is a great team guy who does whatever is necessary,”

Shupp said.

“He is basically my alter-ego because we think alike. I get set to

bark out orders and he beats me to it. He is the logical leader and a

great kid.”

Joining Tipton will be part-time starter from a year ago and

sophomore Evan Spencer, along with starting sophomore goaltender Matt

Jaroslawski, junior Chris Darnas, sophomore Anthony Owicz and

freshmen Chris Medina and Kyle Thorsness. Shupp speaks highly of both

Medina and Thorsness.

“Kyle really has some talent and he might be as good of a player

I’ve ever had even going back to the late 1970s,” Shupp said. “He’s

very raw, a good natural swimmer and has a good game sense. I’m

really blessed to have him.”

Both Medina and Thorsness had no previous game experience until

they practiced against teams such as Edison, La Quinta and Woodbridge

this summer.

The Mustangs scrimmaged Edison three times a week while facing La

Quinta and Woodbridge three times.

“(Medina) is a diamond in the rough,” Shupp said. “He’s not very

big and not really fast but he is a quick study and has a degree in

personal and team responsibility.”

With only 11 players in the program as of Sept. 3, Shupp remains

uncertain whether he will be able to field more than one varsity

team. He said he would need about 16 or 17 players to field two

teams.

Nonetheless with each passing game, Shupp said his team gets one

step closer to greatness.

“We keep crawling one rung at a time on that ladder,” Shupp said.

“We’re much better now than at the end of (last season).”