Silver stings for U.S.

The sting is still fresh, less than a week after a last-minute goal prevented the U.S. women’s water polo team from capturing gold at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

“Right now, it still hurts,” said first-year Golden West College women’s water polo coach Kyle Kopp, who was an assistant coach on Guy Baker’s U.S. women’s national team.

On Aug. 21, Belgium scored in the final seconds to take a 9-8 victory over the U.S. in the gold-medal match.

“As a coach, I know how hard these women worked toward this goal and I know just how hard it is to win a gold medal, or any Olympic medal, for that matter,” Kopp said. “It’s such an accomplishment to win silver, but right now, it stings. It will take some time to get over the loss.”

Kopp didn’t have much time to settle back in Huntington Beach upon his return from Beijing, though, as he began season preparations Monday with his Golden West women’s water polo team. A Sept. 4 season opener looms up north against American River.

He was one of six current or former Golden West College water polo coaches or athletes with the U.S water polo program at the Beijing Games. Baker is a former Golden West athlete, U.S. women’s team member Patty Cardenas played at Golden West before moving on to play at USC in 2006, Heather Moody and Bernice Orwig are assistant coaches with the U.S. women’s team and also assistants to Kopp at Golden West, and Ryan Brown is a former Golden West men’s player who is an assistant coach with the U.S. men’s water polo team.

In 2002, Cardenas was named California Community College MVP and Community College Southern California MVP during a season that ended with Golden West winning a state championship.

Kopp played with the U.S. men’s team at the Atlanta Games in 1996 (seventh-place finish) and at the Sydney Games in 2000 (sixth place). He was also an assistant coach for the U.S. women’s team when it won a bronze at the Athens Games four years ago.

Women’s water polo was introduced to the Olympic Games at Sydney in 2000.

Kopp said what was most gratifying about the U.S. women’s team’s accomplishment in Beijing was the fact that the squad won the silver medal with 10 first-time Olympians on its 13-member squad.

The average age of the U.S. team members was 24 1/2 , he said.

The U.S. women’s team has been a dominant force on the international scene this decade and has been in the medal round of every major tournament played in the last nine years, Kopp said.

The U.S. team, which went undefeated last year, won the World Championships in 2007 and was considered the favorite to win the gold in Beijing.

“Going into the Olympics, they say on paper that we were the favorite, but in reality, anybody could have won the gold medal,” he said. “That’s how incredibly tough it is at the international level.

“We started with these kids eight or nine years ago in our pipeline and two years ago began residential training with them. From a coaching standpoint, the most gratifying thing is that 10 of these women played in the Olympics Games for the very first time. To achieve what they did in that environment, in that arena the past few weeks, is extremely gratifying.”