Words motivate Sea Kings in bid to defend CIF crown

Bryce Alderton

The aura of confidence swirling among Corona del Mar High girls water

polo players can partly be traced to notecards and paper bags.

Coach Aaron Chaney, delving into his collection of motivational

tools, gave his players “colorful” cards and instructed them to write

two positive things about each of their teammates at various times

throughout the season.

The activity takes about 1 1/2 hours and every player goes home

with 20-something cards full of accolades.

Chaney said the girls “really like” the drill and it’s one of the

reasons why the Sea Kings (23-7) seem to be coming together at just

the right time. They hope to be at their peak in tonight’s CIF

Southern Section Division II championship game against familiar

Pacific Coast League rival Laguna Beach at 8:15 at Belmont Plaza in

Long Beach.

“You can’t do the same thing all the time,” said Chaney, in his

fourth season guiding a program gunning for its fourth straight CIF

championship, its third consecutive crown in Division II. “I want

them to be confident when they play.”

The top-seeded Sea Kings have acted the part of late, outscoring

their three playoff foes, 35-10, after claiming the program’s fifth

straight outright league title in undefeated fashion (4-0).

CdM is 15-0 in playoff games under Chaney, who values attitude and

mental strength as much as physical prowess in the pool.

At the start of the season, Chaney began selecting motivational

quotes from a variety of disciplines, some not sports related,

laminated and attached them to the walls inside the team room.

The quotes relate to “where the team is during the season,” Chaney

said.

The team meets and players raise their hands and tell Chaney what

they think the quote means.

Chaney chose one quote per week during the regular season and one

before each playoff game.

He chose the quote, “Just for today, act as if were impossible to

fail. Just remember my A, B, C’s; [with the acronym: Always behave

confidently],” before CdM’s CIF semifinal contest Friday against

Peninsula.

The Sea Kings, who featured three players starting their first CIF

semifinal, jumped to an 11-3 lead and finished with a convincing 12-6

victory.

Sophomore Cari Levine, one of the aforementioned trio starting for

the first time in a CIF semifinal, matched senior Jordan Anae for

team-high scoring honors with three goals apiece while junior Chelsea

Lyman and sophomore Katie Indvik each added one goal.

Anae, whom Chaney said visited Cal and has scheduled a recruiting

trip to USC, leads the Sea Kings with 69 goals while junior Camille

Hewko and Indvik each have 45 goals.

Hewko leads the team with 20 assists while Indvik has 18. Katlin

Kubas leads the Sea Kings with 51 steals while tallying 20 goals and

10 assists. Levine has 19 goals, 17 assists and 34 steals to her

credit.

The Sea Kings, who have practiced in board shorts the past two

weeks because Chaney said “it makes them feel faster” in the water,

make it difficult for opponents to score with senior goalkeeper

Brittany Fullen guarding the cage.

Fullen, the reigning CIF Division II Player of the Year, has

amassed 234 saves this year, including 15 in the semifinal win over

Peninsula.

One of Chaney’s favorite quotes comes from Anatole France, who

said, “I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the indifference of

wisdom.”

Chaney said Fullen derived the intended meaning first during the

team’s gathering.

The Sea Kings defeated the No. 2-seeded Breakers, 7-3, for the

league title Feb. 9, when Fullen stopped two penalty shots from

Laguna’s two-meter standout Addison Doud.

Doud has amassed 120 goals to go with her 43 assists for the

Breakers (20-6).

During its 15-game postseason winning streak, Corona del Mar’s

smallest margin of victory was three goals and it has outscored

opponents, 187-72.

Laguna Beach has won its last two games by a combined three goals.