July 29, 2023 • 29 mins
Tim Cates catches up with 4x Olympic medalist and Hall of Famer Brenda Villa about her journey from LA to Palo Alto to representing the United States in four different Summer Olympics. Brenda is the most decorated player in the history of women's water polo. She is now the head girls water polo coach at Orange Lutheran HS and a student in the MCAA program at Concordia University Irvine.
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(00:00):
From Commerce to paolo alto to goldmedal. What a journey it's been for
four time Olympic winner and now headcoach at Orange Lutheran and their women's water
polo program. She is Hall ofFamer Brenda Villa, and she joins us
now on episode sixty three of theMasters in Coaching podcast. Let's go Well,
(00:25):
welcome into episode number sixty three ofthe Masters in Coaching Podcast. Thank
you for listening, thank you fordownloading, Thank you for watching all the
platforms that we are on. iHeartRadio. Of course, we recommend to download
just real easy. Hit the thumbbutton right there and you can like it.
So excited to talk to this week'sguest. You talk about one of
the most decorated guests we have talkedto here on the podcast. One of
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the most decorated athletes in women's waterpolo history, having won four Olympic medals,
a gold, two silvers, andlebron leading goal scorer in Olympic water
polo history thirty one goals. Intwenty eighteen, she was inducted into the
International Swimming Hall of Fame and theUS Water Polo Hall of Fame. A
native of Commerce, right here insouthern California, went to Stanford, won
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a national championship there, high decoratedas Olympian water polo player. Retired and
now coaching and going through the Mastersprogram. Brenda Villa now joins US.
Brenda, welcome, Thank you forjoining us. Thank you. I was
excited when I got I got theask because sports has been my life and
now that I'm coaching, it's howdo we share what we've learned and what
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we're hoping to continue to learn fromthis program? Tell our listeners where you
at right now coaching and what you'rekind of doing. Yeah. So I'm
the director of aquatics at Orange wasduring high school, so I am the
head coach for girls water pool.I help on the admin side the boys
water pool, and then for swim. I helped, but like Minimal,
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I just I couldn't stay away.I wanted to have more time with my
athletes. So it's I just finishedmy first year. It's great eight.
I'm also like an assistant coach onthe USA Cadet team. I'm involved on
a lot of different committees, whetherit's water pool, women in sports.
Just I can't say no to things, it seems like, but I also
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want to make sure that a voicewith somebody that has my upbringing is in
the room to continue to like payit forward, like everything that I was
able to achieve through sports. Talka little bit about that you grew up
in commerce, you grew up nextto a swimming pool and that got you
in the water, that initially gotyou that love for aquatics, and talk
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a little bit about that story andhow you got into water polo. Yeah.
Well, I mean, I thinkwith all youth sports, it's it's
access and opportunity. And for someonethat was growing up in a lower income
household, aquatics I think would havebeen out of reach if I didn't grow
up across the street from a pooland also in a city that provided free
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access. So my mom didn't playsports growing up as from Mexico as my
dad is, and she wanted us, my older brother and I to learn
to swim. So it basically startedas water safety, learned to swim,
I cat. My mom ca't swim, so she signed us up for some
lessons and we loved it. Soit was easy for us to go to
swim practice to play all these sportsbecause we lived across the street from a
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Rosewood Park in the City of Commerce, So that got us our jump start
and since then, like that's neverleft me right, the knowledge that if
I didn't grow up there, Iprobably would not have had these opportunities.
So for me, that's why Isay I continue to say yes to a
lot of things because I want thatvoice in the room when sometimes it seems
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like you sports, it's just abusiness. So it's like, how do
we kind of keep the human elementinto it where we think of like water
pool and samina as a water safetysport that that can say lives. Yeah,
initially you're playing boys water polo becausethere isn't a girls water polo.
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When did that change? When didyou see that there was a girls volume
girls water polo available and able toplay that. Well. It's interesting because
at my club like ten and hundredand twelve and hundreds was co ed,
but by fourteen there was enough girls, so we also did some all girl
competitions. It just happened that Iguess my city was more progressive in the
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sense with having girls water pool andnot in the area the larger area,
right, So when I then Iwent to high high school, it was
like okay, either you play onthe boys team, or you don't play
in high school. But that wasn'tever something that I thought about. And
I think it was because I grewup with the boys that would be on
my high school team because we playedten uk at twelve U cooed and they
knew I could play. So itwasn't like they were seeing me as a
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girl, right, they were seeingme as an athlete, like, Okay,
this girl can play, Like wedon't care. Let's just did you
want to use water polo? Atwhat point did you realize you could use
water polo as a tool, asa key it is, there's something that
can take you to the next level, to college, to Stanford, you
know. I think it was eighthgrade or the summer before going into high
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school, I was featured in likeSports Illustrated for kids, and then I
got this like really cool note froman Olympian that went to Stanford. And
this was about a couple of summersbefore the ninety six Olympics. Right,
so women's waterpol is not on Olympicsport, but my freshman year that year,
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I think it went varsity like ninetyfive. So it was just perfect
timing for me, right, Liketo reap all the benefits of Title nine.
Like I was walking into like,oh, now we're offering this,
now we're offering that. So itwas easier, not easy, just easier
to start dreaming about these things.So I think that's when I kind of
bean like, oh, maybe thisis what's going to help me. Because
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for me from the get go,my parents were like, the only thing
that kept me from practice would belike if I didn't finish homework. So
my parents always knew that education forsomeone that's first generation would be a keto
unlock opportunities. So for that andlike, you love this, but this
is great, but not if youdon't do your schoolwork. So it was
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easy to do both because I enjoyedboth. You talk about those doors opening
to play at the collegian level atthe same time as you're going through the
door open to play as an Olympianas well. The water polo becomes an
Olympic sport. When you find thatout, how determined were you to get
to that level to play and representteam USA and the Olympics. Well,
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it's interesting because I was on thenational team as it was announced that it
would become an Olympic sport. Andalso at this time there was a lot
of older women that had retired thatwe're now thinking of coming back. So
here I am right and rightfully sorightfully so they've waited their whole lives for
this. Sure. I was inhigh school sixteen seventeen, this is you
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know, it's been announced. They'relike what, And then Okay, I'm
going to college. And then Ineeded to take time off from school to
train and try and make this team. So there were a lot of hard
choices to make as an eighteen yearold because nothing's guaranteed, right, So
here I am. I have totake to like a leave of absence from
school to trade. My parents werelike, you're crazy, like what are
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you doing? Like education likes gettingpaid for like what are you doing?
Like no, And my college coachreally doesn't want me to stop. He's
thinking about the team. And thenmy national team coach can't guarantee I'll make
it. So here I am sittingon a pool deck having these tough conversations
and just crying because I want someoneto make it for me. But at
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that point I knew that of courseI would go back to school if I
didn't. However, it turned outlike school I would be finish. So
then it was just a matter oflike, okay, I want to be
a part of the first ever,Like let's go for this, see what
happens, and it worked out inmy favor. What was that like when
you found out you made the team. It's so our coaches have like these
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one on one meeting, so likeyou walk in and there's a coaching staff
and me tell you whether you makeit or not, And up until that
point you kind of know what yourchances are a little bit but not much,
right, So it was just anincredible feeling. It's like you don't
believe it until you get there.You made it, not once, but
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you went to four Olympics, butit wasn't until the fourth time, Brenda,
that you guys won the gold medal. And I heard you talking about
it in another interview about how youknow you win silver twice, you win
a bronze, but you personally andI'm sure the team felt this way in
the program for the women's water poloprogram kind of felt like maybe we know
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we need to get back and weneed to win that goal. How much
did that that kind of sit inyour stomach that you wanted to get back
and win that goal. I meanthat was the dream of becoming an Olympic
champion was born on the podium ofthe first ever in Sydney, when we
wanted a silver medal, right,like qualifying, we weren't favored to win
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a medal and you're so young,you don't I wasn't, And it was
such a new Olympic sport, right, so it's not like you grow up
thinking about becoming an Olympic champion whenit just became that. So there it
was like, oh, we're happyto be there. Oh, yes we
meddled, Yes we knew we werethis good. And then in that moment
when we lost and we were onthe podium and I see the Australians celebrating,
I'm like, I want to beat the top. So that was
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something that fueled me for a longtime. And I think after Beijing it
was a horrible feeling to not behappy with the silver medal. So I
didn't want that to be my lastimpressions of such a great story with the
waterpol like I love this board.It was so good to me and I
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didn't want that those images and thosememories to be the last I'm like,
I'll go for it one more time. What the what the heck? And
and yeah it turned out. ButI think there was a lot of there's
a new coach, There was alot of I was tested in so many
ways that helped me grow and appreciatedifferent things. So I think it was
definitely a blessing to have had thosemany Olympic journeys. You retired after the
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twenty twelve Olympics. You guys getgold and you retire from from professional water
polo and competitive water polo? Wasit just the right time? Is there
no better way to go out thanas a gold medal winner? Yes?
And you know back then it's sonew. I just I had given so
much time to waterpool. I wantedto eventually like be a mom, started
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family, get married, do otherthings, and quite honestly, like it
doesn't pay very well. Right likethen you think about then and now and
just now it's easier, Like Iwish I would have done like the MCAA
while I was training, right like, I had a little bit of time,
I probably could have done it.But it just this hybrid online learning
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wasn't what it was back then sosure, I just think it didn't make
sense to continue to give put mylife, my other life on hold,
to keep training. And it helpedme that my firstborn was born like two
weeks before the real Olympics, Sohere I am in the thick of a
newborn watching the women playing reel.So there was no way that I was
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thinking, oh I could be there. Why did I Why did I not
continue? Right? So it justthe timing worked out and it was time.
What was coaching? I know you'restill you're still active with the sport,
and you mentioned working on different boardsand but coaching itself, is that
something that you thought right away onceyou stopped playing and competitively that's what you
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wanted to get into. You know, you mentioned that you're starting a family,
getting married, But coaching is isthat something you kind of always thought
you'd wanted to do? You know, it wasn't I think back in the
day at one point I wanted tobe a lawyer, and then I just
kept playing and it just didn't workout for me. The thing that sparked
my biggest interest or like my passionis getting water safety swimming into communities like
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under resource communities that are not ordon't have access to aquatics. So I
think that's where I was like,I would really love to help with that.
So then that's what led me tocoaching. So I was coaching very
development level for like the first tenyears, and then I did high school
coaching up north in northern California CastileaSchool, which was great, but it
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wasn't like an athletic school, likewe got great athletes, but it wasn't
like like the treating the league herein southern California, right, So it
was what it was. I didboth. I was developing and then I
was working with high school girls andmentoring, so that's what I liked.
And then then it was like,oh, you do like coaching, but
you like other things, but twoboth, So it's it's one of those.
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I think it's the mentoring piece thatreally draws me to coaching and just
trying to help that age group ofhigh school girls like navigate sports and the
world, like getting out of thewater. What was there coaches or a
coach that you looked up to asa mentor that you're trying to be for
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those young ladies now, and whatdid that what did that coach or coaches
mean to you. I think it'sa lot of a bit of a lot
of my coaches. So I hada swim coach, not even a water
pole coach, that was very influentialin my life in high school. A
female, She was a Latina.She did a lot of things that like
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my mom couldn't relate from her livedexperience with me, like I want to
go to college and stuff. Solike I was really drawn to this coach
and she was just some coach thatsupported a water pole player, and sometimes
you don't see that. So forher, it was like, you need
to swim to make you a goodwater pol player. Let's let's figure it
out. So like I've always appreciatedthat that here was someone that didn't have
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to do that, but saw thatI was better at the other sport and
one sport would help me. Sofor me now when I coach, it's
it's more than than the sport,right, It's like, who's this human?
How do I help this person?And it's not black and white and
it's not all the same thing forevery single athlete, So it's like communicating
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that and building that trust. Mycollege coach JT. I mean, I
would never have known like thought this, but like we constantly are in communication.
Like when I was living up there, I saw him like once every
two weeks. We have Right afterI tired and moved up north, we
had coffee like every week. Itwas like someone that is easy to talk
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to about my life vision and plansand I could talk to him for an
hour and he would summarize it intothree sentences. He's like, friendly,
this is what you told me inthe sole hour of me blabbing. So
he's someone that I that I've turnedto right And then even my assistant,
she was an assistant then, butnow there's social coach who was an art
wine, Like we have a differentrelationship. But I was a player that
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always needed to have good relationships withcoaches. So I'm still in contact with
them, and I know some playersdon't need that, but I reflect back
and I knew that I competed betterwhen I had a strong connection with my
coaches. So I still tap intoeven Adam Kaquarie and the national team coach.
Now it's like I'll reach out andbe like, hey, stats,
what do you what do you lookfor? Or like this game footage or
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like what's that defense? Or justwhat are you doing in practice? So
it's great to even have that.Or my first Olympic coach of three years,
I'm like, hey, I'm gonnacome to your practice. I want
to see what you're still doing.He's like, don't worry, Brenda,
Like my brain is still working andyou would learn some things that my practices.
I'm like, I know I would, so I want to watch you
in action. So that's awesome.Yeah. Well, as far as building
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a culture for a water polo teamin a program, well, what is
that different than maybe other sports andhaving to build a culture in football or
a baseball team or a basketball program. What is it like for you to
what are you looking to do whenyou build your program? You know,
I think now going through the MCAprogram, you learn that some things are
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not different right in all sports,even though they're completely different, but they're
not in the sense where you haveto build trust. You have to like
set your rules, your non negotiables, you and I think even now I
feel like before not so much,but I do believe that you have to
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let your team know like who youare, like what you stand for,
what your values are. I thinkat some point it was it seemed like
it was like you should coaches shouldattach themselves from that. You know.
It's even like with the hugging orthe high fight. There's all these like
rules in place, which I understand, but it's also like your athletes need
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to see the human side of youalso. So I think for me,
it's like that's what I want toThat's how I start building my culture.
And I think that being at likeOh Lou, like I've seen like Rodsterm
and the football coach in action andlike how his players love him and how
there's hugs and how there's respect andhow there's love and that's okay. And
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I think at high competitive sports sometimesthat gets lost. And that's the world
that I was in for so long, right, But I think as I
got older, I learned to alsobe able to bring that in and then
still be competitive as as anybody.Yeah, So I've seen that out of
Lulu and and it's and it's reallynice. The sport of water polo,
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where is it now compared to whenyou were growing up going through it high
school, college, the Olympic level? Where are we at now? Because
I asked that because I've got threegirls that played lacrosse and based here in
Los Angeles, and it's a it'sa niche sport out here compared to what
it is on the East Coast.Whereas to go the East coast, you
know, is kind of you areout on the West coast where is vol
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volleyball, lacrosse, different sides ofthe country. But what about water polo?
Where where is it at? Rightnow? It's grown, It's growing,
not as as big as like lacrosseblew up on the West coast.
You imagine that's a sport that wehave kept an eye on closely because like
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we would love the opposite explosion,right like, we want it to explode
on the East Coast and across theUS, and and it's happening, just
probably not as fast as some ofus want. The most recent development that
I think will help us with thatgrowth is in Texas, waterpool became a
UIL sanctioned sport. So before itwasn't like a sanctioned sport like people played
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it, but now it is.So we've seen that growth and we figure
if we could get Texas in themiddle there, like maybe it'll continue to
grow. You think about there's alot of college programs, maybe more women
than men. And we think aboutall the Olympics. If you think about
the Olympics up until in Tokyo,it went to ten teams for women,
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twelve for men. For a longtime it was eight teams for women's twelve
for men. So the equity pieceisn't great there, but at least it's
grown, which then means there's twomore spots, which means there's two more
Olympic teams, which allows that manymore growth to drink about becoming an Olympian
and getting in the sports. Sowe see these it's growing, It's just
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it's slowly, but I'll take it. How about it, oh Lou,
how's the program from when you tookit over to where it's at now?
And what are your kind of yourgoals, your short term goals to get
it to whatever point you want toget into. Yeah, you know,
I think, ohlu in the lastfew years went through a lot of changes,
a lot of coaching changes. Sonow my in my first year,
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my goal was to be like,Okay, let's let's settle in, let's
get to know each other, let'sbe composed, let's play. And we
had a great season. Yeah,you want a championship, right, Yeah,
I mean I walked into a lotof talent and it was a great
way for the program to know meand me to get to know the program
and then kind of put my touchon it. So then now the goal
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is how do we grow it?Because it's not the numbers are not where
I want them to be. Sothis summer we started like a club team
affiliated with the school, which isan open club, but it's gonna help.
It's gonna keep the girls playing togetherand hopefully then adding younger age groups.
So that's where we are. Wewanted to grow a little bit.
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The boys wand D one the girlswand the open division. So there was
a good culture and with two newcoaches, so I think we can only
build up from there. How aboutthat grassroots effort locally with the young kids
you talked about. I mean,you can start a club team with your
high school girls, but you know, maybe that's the first time they're learning
to get in the water and playwater polo. How do you get those
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girls and boys into the water ata younger age and bigger numbers. Yeah,
And I mean that's I guess that'sa big question, right, Yeah,
no, yeah, And the planwas to start with like a fourteen
unders even a splashball, which flashballcould be. It's usually ten and under,
but really it's for anybody that hasn'tplayed water pol or isn't as comfortable
end the water, right, soyou're in a shallow end. Then you're
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just kind of teaching people to fallin love with the sport. And then
you're like, if you really wantto do it, well, here's a
beater and this is what you do. So the plan was to start with
that, and then everyone wanted toplay this summer, so we're like,
okay, let's make it happen.So you know, the plan is to
start with the younger levels and peoplein the community. And the great thing
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is we train at Santiago kang InCollege. I'm walking to my car after
a practice and someone's like, Brenda, Yes, it's someone that went to
Vela Park High school that I playedagainst like twenty five years ago. His
kids play soccer. They're there forsoccer practice. Are you starting a huge
program? Like I want my kidsto try waterpool, So, like the
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waterpool world is this small, yeah, and it's great to know that there's
people in the neighborhoods near like ourschool that want to try it and want
to find a play. So that'skind of where our grassroot level efforts will
start. And I think it'll begreat because wherever they go to high school,
right it doesn't matter Like for me, it's of course I want them
to go to Aulu. But themore aquatic water safe kids there are,
(23:08):
the more options there are for them. And hopefully they'll choose us, but
if not, that's not really onlymy end goal. So your Olympic winner,
four times gold, silver, bronze, Hall of Famer, graduate of
Stanford, and yet you're going backto school and you're in the process of
(23:30):
it right now, going through themasters and coaching Athletics administration program there at
Concordia University or VI. One whatmade you go back and get your masters?
And two? How is the experiencefor you? Oh? What made
me? You know, I lovedschool, so I mean it had been
like twenty years right since Stanford toConcordia, so I was really nervous.
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But I think also there was astatistic I saw somewhere that there's only x
percent of Latinas that have a master'sdegree. Really and I was yeah,
it was something not don't quote me, but it wasn't over time. It
was the single digit number, andI was like, what, like why
like? And for me, Ihad always thought about it, but then
(24:15):
there's never the right time, right, There's never the right time. And
then for me after I retired,I'm like, I need work experience.
I can't just go back to school. I need work experience. I've been
playing for so long after college thatpeople are not going to hire me if
I don't like have work experience.So I waited, and then I met
somebody at a conference. The CIFwas celebrating the fifty years of Title nine.
(24:41):
I was on this panel and Imet this woman and she was we
were talking about stuff and then she'slike, you should do it. Because
I was like, oh, I'mbetween jobs, job searching, and I
mentioned I wanted to get my master's. She's like, you should do it.
She's like, here's my number.I'm gonna call you in a week
to see if you applied. Okay, She's like, I know sometimes people
just need that extra like support orwhatever. And it was like the greatest
(25:04):
thing. Now I have this greatrelationship with her, And it was all
I needed. I needed someone totell me that it was going to be
hard, but that it's okay,that I could do it, and I'm
happy. I mean, I'm init. And it's not great right because
we're busy and we're trying to youknow, be a mom, you know,
(25:26):
but I am learning so much.So I'm so glad that somebody finally
gave me that push. Yeah,what's next? I mean when you finish
the program? I have that Mastersin hand coaching at oh lou taking that
program to to great levels, winningchampionships already in year one. What's next?
What do you what do you seeyourself doing in five years and ten
(25:48):
years to better the sport to youknow, what do you see yourself doing?
You know, that's a great question. I hope I'm coaching in some
capacity. I think with this MCAAdegree, it also gives me a glimpse
into the advanced side. I thinkthat being on all these boards or on
(26:11):
these committees, there's also a needfor like women voices there, and it
gives me options. So if I'mnot coaching, I hope that I'm somewhere
where my knowledge and my lived experiencecould help further somebody's mission, but I
also have a soft bought and afoundation for like water safety and underserved communities
(26:37):
and helping that girls. So I'mone of those that doesn't have just one
singular vision. I have like ten. I know, I know. I
think one of it is probably spendinga little more time with my children.
So finding that balance, I thinkright now it's something that I haven't done
well and then I wanted be ableto do. So I think I'll be
(27:02):
coaching or helping new communities get watersafe and spend any more time with my
kids. Love it. You're you'redoing great things, Brenda. Thank you
so much for joining us on thepodcast. Continued success at OLU with the
Masters program and everything you do afterwardsand leading young women and being a voice
out there for them and the sportof water polo. Continued success. Congratulations
(27:27):
on all your accomplishments, the GoldMedals, the Hall of Fames, everything
you have done has been fantastic.And thank you so much for speaking and
kind of sharing your story and telleverybody out there more about water polos.
So thank you so much. Thankyou guys. Well, there she goes
Brenda via the head coach at OrangeLutheran. What a career she has had
(27:48):
from commerce to going to Stanford toa four time Olympic winner, a gold,
two silvers, and a bronze,a Hall of Famer and doing great
things helping out young water polo playersof women that are looking to get in
the sport, looking to grow thesport as a whole across Southern California and
across this country by thanks to Brendaand everything she has done and continuing to
(28:10):
do as she is now in theprogram at Concordia University, Irvine and their
Masters in Coaching Athletics Administration program.She knows the value of getting that master's
degree from Concordia University, even asa four time Olympic winner. So thanks
to Brenda. Thanks to you forwatching. If you want to find out
more about the program, Cui doteedu slash Coaching that Cui dot eedu slash
(28:30):
Coaching. Find out about all thedifferent start times that they have. If
you're a new student, you geta one thousand dollars scholarship for signing up
for the program. Find out moreabout it if it's a right fit for
you, Cui dot eu slash Coaching. Thanks to Brenda. Thanks to you
for watching and listening. Until nexttime, Episode sixty three, the Masters
in Coaching podcast is in the books. So long everybody,
From Commerce to paolo alto to goldmedal. What a journey it's been for
four time Olympic winner and now headcoach at Orange Lutheran and their women's water
polo program. She is Hall ofFamer Brenda Villa, and she joins us
now on episode sixty three of theMasters in Coaching podcast. Let's go Well,
(00:25):
welcome into episode number sixty three ofthe Masters in Coaching Podcast. Thank
you for listening, thank you fordownloading, Thank you for watching all the
platforms that we are on. iHeartRadio. Of course, we recommend to download
just real easy. Hit the thumbbutton right there and you can like it.
So excited to talk to this week'sguest. You talk about one of
the most decorated guests we have talkedto here on the podcast. One of
(00:47):
the most decorated athletes in women's waterpolo history, having won four Olympic medals,
a gold, two silvers, andlebron leading goal scorer in Olympic water
polo history thirty one goals. Intwenty eighteen, she was inducted into the
International Swimming Hall of Fame and theUS Water Polo Hall of Fame. A
native of Commerce, right here insouthern California, went to Stanford, won
(01:07):
a national championship there, high decoratedas Olympian water polo player. Retired and
now coaching and going through the Mastersprogram. Brenda Villa now joins US.
Brenda, welcome, Thank you forjoining us. Thank you. I was
excited when I got I got theask because sports has been my life and
now that I'm coaching, it's howdo we share what we've learned and what
(01:29):
we're hoping to continue to learn fromthis program? Tell our listeners where you
at right now coaching and what you'rekind of doing. Yeah. So I'm
the director of aquatics at Orange wasduring high school, so I am the
head coach for girls water pool.I help on the admin side the boys
water pool, and then for swim. I helped, but like Minimal,
(01:52):
I just I couldn't stay away.I wanted to have more time with my
athletes. So it's I just finishedmy first year. It's great eight.
I'm also like an assistant coach onthe USA Cadet team. I'm involved on
a lot of different committees, whetherit's water pool, women in sports.
Just I can't say no to things, it seems like, but I also
(02:12):
want to make sure that a voicewith somebody that has my upbringing is in
the room to continue to like payit forward, like everything that I was
able to achieve through sports. Talka little bit about that you grew up
in commerce, you grew up nextto a swimming pool and that got you
in the water, that initially gotyou that love for aquatics, and talk
(02:36):
a little bit about that story andhow you got into water polo. Yeah.
Well, I mean, I thinkwith all youth sports, it's it's
access and opportunity. And for someonethat was growing up in a lower income
household, aquatics I think would havebeen out of reach if I didn't grow
up across the street from a pooland also in a city that provided free
(03:00):
access. So my mom didn't playsports growing up as from Mexico as my
dad is, and she wanted us, my older brother and I to learn
to swim. So it basically startedas water safety, learned to swim,
I cat. My mom ca't swim, so she signed us up for some
lessons and we loved it. Soit was easy for us to go to
swim practice to play all these sportsbecause we lived across the street from a
(03:23):
Rosewood Park in the City of Commerce, So that got us our jump start
and since then, like that's neverleft me right, the knowledge that if
I didn't grow up there, Iprobably would not have had these opportunities.
So for me, that's why Isay I continue to say yes to a
lot of things because I want thatvoice in the room when sometimes it seems
(03:46):
like you sports, it's just abusiness. So it's like, how do
we kind of keep the human elementinto it where we think of like water
pool and samina as a water safetysport that that can say lives. Yeah,
initially you're playing boys water polo becausethere isn't a girls water polo.
(04:08):
When did that change? When didyou see that there was a girls volume
girls water polo available and able toplay that. Well. It's interesting because
at my club like ten and hundredand twelve and hundreds was co ed,
but by fourteen there was enough girls, so we also did some all girl
competitions. It just happened that Iguess my city was more progressive in the
(04:30):
sense with having girls water pool andnot in the area the larger area,
right, So when I then Iwent to high high school, it was
like okay, either you play onthe boys team, or you don't play
in high school. But that wasn'tever something that I thought about. And
I think it was because I grewup with the boys that would be on
my high school team because we playedten uk at twelve U cooed and they
knew I could play. So itwasn't like they were seeing me as a
(04:54):
girl, right, they were seeingme as an athlete, like, Okay,
this girl can play, Like wedon't care. Let's just did you
want to use water polo? Atwhat point did you realize you could use
water polo as a tool, asa key it is, there's something that
can take you to the next level, to college, to Stanford, you
know. I think it was eighthgrade or the summer before going into high
(05:19):
school, I was featured in likeSports Illustrated for kids, and then I
got this like really cool note froman Olympian that went to Stanford. And
this was about a couple of summersbefore the ninety six Olympics. Right,
so women's waterpol is not on Olympicsport, but my freshman year that year,
(05:42):
I think it went varsity like ninetyfive. So it was just perfect
timing for me, right, Liketo reap all the benefits of Title nine.
Like I was walking into like,oh, now we're offering this,
now we're offering that. So itwas easier, not easy, just easier
to start dreaming about these things.So I think that's when I kind of
bean like, oh, maybe thisis what's going to help me. Because
(06:03):
for me from the get go,my parents were like, the only thing
that kept me from practice would belike if I didn't finish homework. So
my parents always knew that education forsomeone that's first generation would be a keto
unlock opportunities. So for that andlike, you love this, but this
is great, but not if youdon't do your schoolwork. So it was
(06:25):
easy to do both because I enjoyedboth. You talk about those doors opening
to play at the collegian level atthe same time as you're going through the
door open to play as an Olympianas well. The water polo becomes an
Olympic sport. When you find thatout, how determined were you to get
to that level to play and representteam USA and the Olympics. Well,
(06:47):
it's interesting because I was on thenational team as it was announced that it
would become an Olympic sport. Andalso at this time there was a lot
of older women that had retired thatwe're now thinking of coming back. So
here I am right and rightfully sorightfully so they've waited their whole lives for
this. Sure. I was inhigh school sixteen seventeen, this is you
(07:12):
know, it's been announced. They'relike what, And then Okay, I'm
going to college. And then Ineeded to take time off from school to
train and try and make this team. So there were a lot of hard
choices to make as an eighteen yearold because nothing's guaranteed, right, So
here I am. I have totake to like a leave of absence from
school to trade. My parents werelike, you're crazy, like what are
(07:33):
you doing? Like education likes gettingpaid for like what are you doing?
Like no, And my college coachreally doesn't want me to stop. He's
thinking about the team. And thenmy national team coach can't guarantee I'll make
it. So here I am sittingon a pool deck having these tough conversations
and just crying because I want someoneto make it for me. But at
(07:56):
that point I knew that of courseI would go back to school if I
didn't. However, it turned outlike school I would be finish. So
then it was just a matter oflike, okay, I want to be
a part of the first ever,Like let's go for this, see what
happens, and it worked out inmy favor. What was that like when
you found out you made the team. It's so our coaches have like these
(08:18):
one on one meeting, so likeyou walk in and there's a coaching staff
and me tell you whether you makeit or not, And up until that
point you kind of know what yourchances are a little bit but not much,
right, So it was just anincredible feeling. It's like you don't
believe it until you get there.You made it, not once, but
(08:39):
you went to four Olympics, butit wasn't until the fourth time, Brenda,
that you guys won the gold medal. And I heard you talking about
it in another interview about how youknow you win silver twice, you win
a bronze, but you personally andI'm sure the team felt this way in
the program for the women's water poloprogram kind of felt like maybe we know
(09:00):
we need to get back and weneed to win that goal. How much
did that that kind of sit inyour stomach that you wanted to get back
and win that goal. I meanthat was the dream of becoming an Olympic
champion was born on the podium ofthe first ever in Sydney, when we
wanted a silver medal, right,like qualifying, we weren't favored to win
(09:20):
a medal and you're so young,you don't I wasn't, And it was
such a new Olympic sport, right, so it's not like you grow up
thinking about becoming an Olympic champion whenit just became that. So there it
was like, oh, we're happyto be there. Oh, yes we
meddled, Yes we knew we werethis good. And then in that moment
when we lost and we were onthe podium and I see the Australians celebrating,
I'm like, I want to beat the top. So that was
(09:41):
something that fueled me for a longtime. And I think after Beijing it
was a horrible feeling to not behappy with the silver medal. So I
didn't want that to be my lastimpressions of such a great story with the
waterpol like I love this board.It was so good to me and I
(10:03):
didn't want that those images and thosememories to be the last I'm like,
I'll go for it one more time. What the what the heck? And
and yeah it turned out. ButI think there was a lot of there's
a new coach, There was alot of I was tested in so many
ways that helped me grow and appreciatedifferent things. So I think it was
definitely a blessing to have had thosemany Olympic journeys. You retired after the
(10:30):
twenty twelve Olympics. You guys getgold and you retire from from professional water
polo and competitive water polo? Wasit just the right time? Is there
no better way to go out thanas a gold medal winner? Yes?
And you know back then it's sonew. I just I had given so
much time to waterpool. I wantedto eventually like be a mom, started
(10:52):
family, get married, do otherthings, and quite honestly, like it
doesn't pay very well. Right likethen you think about then and now and
just now it's easier, Like Iwish I would have done like the MCAA
while I was training, right like, I had a little bit of time,
I probably could have done it.But it just this hybrid online learning
(11:13):
wasn't what it was back then sosure, I just think it didn't make
sense to continue to give put mylife, my other life on hold,
to keep training. And it helpedme that my firstborn was born like two
weeks before the real Olympics, Sohere I am in the thick of a
newborn watching the women playing reel.So there was no way that I was
(11:37):
thinking, oh I could be there. Why did I Why did I not
continue? Right? So it justthe timing worked out and it was time.
What was coaching? I know you'restill you're still active with the sport,
and you mentioned working on different boardsand but coaching itself, is that
something that you thought right away onceyou stopped playing and competitively that's what you
(12:00):
wanted to get into. You know, you mentioned that you're starting a family,
getting married, But coaching is isthat something you kind of always thought
you'd wanted to do? You know, it wasn't I think back in the
day at one point I wanted tobe a lawyer, and then I just
kept playing and it just didn't workout for me. The thing that sparked
my biggest interest or like my passionis getting water safety swimming into communities like
(12:28):
under resource communities that are not ordon't have access to aquatics. So I
think that's where I was like,I would really love to help with that.
So then that's what led me tocoaching. So I was coaching very
development level for like the first tenyears, and then I did high school
coaching up north in northern California CastileaSchool, which was great, but it
(12:54):
wasn't like an athletic school, likewe got great athletes, but it wasn't
like like the treating the league herein southern California, right, So it
was what it was. I didboth. I was developing and then I
was working with high school girls andmentoring, so that's what I liked.
And then then it was like,oh, you do like coaching, but
you like other things, but twoboth, So it's it's one of those.
(13:16):
I think it's the mentoring piece thatreally draws me to coaching and just
trying to help that age group ofhigh school girls like navigate sports and the
world, like getting out of thewater. What was there coaches or a
coach that you looked up to asa mentor that you're trying to be for
(13:37):
those young ladies now, and whatdid that what did that coach or coaches
mean to you. I think it'sa lot of a bit of a lot
of my coaches. So I hada swim coach, not even a water
pole coach, that was very influentialin my life in high school. A
female, She was a Latina.She did a lot of things that like
(14:00):
my mom couldn't relate from her livedexperience with me, like I want to
go to college and stuff. Solike I was really drawn to this coach
and she was just some coach thatsupported a water pole player, and sometimes
you don't see that. So forher, it was like, you need
to swim to make you a goodwater pol player. Let's let's figure it
out. So like I've always appreciatedthat that here was someone that didn't have
(14:22):
to do that, but saw thatI was better at the other sport and
one sport would help me. Sofor me now when I coach, it's
it's more than than the sport,right, It's like, who's this human?
How do I help this person?And it's not black and white and
it's not all the same thing forevery single athlete, So it's like communicating
(14:43):
that and building that trust. Mycollege coach JT. I mean, I
would never have known like thought this, but like we constantly are in communication.
Like when I was living up there, I saw him like once every
two weeks. We have Right afterI tired and moved up north, we
had coffee like every week. Itwas like someone that is easy to talk
(15:05):
to about my life vision and plansand I could talk to him for an
hour and he would summarize it intothree sentences. He's like, friendly,
this is what you told me inthe sole hour of me blabbing. So
he's someone that I that I've turnedto right And then even my assistant,
she was an assistant then, butnow there's social coach who was an art
wine, Like we have a differentrelationship. But I was a player that
(15:30):
always needed to have good relationships withcoaches. So I'm still in contact with
them, and I know some playersdon't need that, but I reflect back
and I knew that I competed betterwhen I had a strong connection with my
coaches. So I still tap intoeven Adam Kaquarie and the national team coach.
Now it's like I'll reach out andbe like, hey, stats,
what do you what do you lookfor? Or like this game footage or
(15:52):
like what's that defense? Or justwhat are you doing in practice? So
it's great to even have that.Or my first Olympic coach of three years,
I'm like, hey, I'm gonnacome to your practice. I want
to see what you're still doing.He's like, don't worry, Brenda,
Like my brain is still working andyou would learn some things that my practices.
I'm like, I know I would, so I want to watch you
in action. So that's awesome.Yeah. Well, as far as building
(16:15):
a culture for a water polo teamin a program, well, what is
that different than maybe other sports andhaving to build a culture in football or
a baseball team or a basketball program. What is it like for you to
what are you looking to do whenyou build your program? You know,
I think now going through the MCAprogram, you learn that some things are
(16:40):
not different right in all sports,even though they're completely different, but they're
not in the sense where you haveto build trust. You have to like
set your rules, your non negotiables, you and I think even now I
feel like before not so much,but I do believe that you have to
(17:02):
let your team know like who youare, like what you stand for,
what your values are. I thinkat some point it was it seemed like
it was like you should coaches shouldattach themselves from that. You know.
It's even like with the hugging orthe high fight. There's all these like
rules in place, which I understand, but it's also like your athletes need
(17:22):
to see the human side of youalso. So I think for me,
it's like that's what I want toThat's how I start building my culture.
And I think that being at likeOh Lou, like I've seen like Rodsterm
and the football coach in action andlike how his players love him and how
there's hugs and how there's respect andhow there's love and that's okay. And
(17:44):
I think at high competitive sports sometimesthat gets lost. And that's the world
that I was in for so long, right, But I think as I
got older, I learned to alsobe able to bring that in and then
still be competitive as as anybody.Yeah, So I've seen that out of
Lulu and and it's and it's reallynice. The sport of water polo,
(18:07):
where is it now compared to whenyou were growing up going through it high
school, college, the Olympic level? Where are we at now? Because
I asked that because I've got threegirls that played lacrosse and based here in
Los Angeles, and it's a it'sa niche sport out here compared to what
it is on the East Coast.Whereas to go the East coast, you
know, is kind of you areout on the West coast where is vol
(18:33):
volleyball, lacrosse, different sides ofthe country. But what about water polo?
Where where is it at? Rightnow? It's grown, It's growing,
not as as big as like lacrosseblew up on the West coast.
You imagine that's a sport that wehave kept an eye on closely because like
(18:53):
we would love the opposite explosion,right like, we want it to explode
on the East Coast and across theUS, and and it's happening, just
probably not as fast as some ofus want. The most recent development that
I think will help us with thatgrowth is in Texas, waterpool became a
UIL sanctioned sport. So before itwasn't like a sanctioned sport like people played
(19:18):
it, but now it is.So we've seen that growth and we figure
if we could get Texas in themiddle there, like maybe it'll continue to
grow. You think about there's alot of college programs, maybe more women
than men. And we think aboutall the Olympics. If you think about
the Olympics up until in Tokyo,it went to ten teams for women,
(19:42):
twelve for men. For a longtime it was eight teams for women's twelve
for men. So the equity pieceisn't great there, but at least it's
grown, which then means there's twomore spots, which means there's two more
Olympic teams, which allows that manymore growth to drink about becoming an Olympian
and getting in the sports. Sowe see these it's growing, It's just
(20:06):
it's slowly, but I'll take it. How about it, oh Lou,
how's the program from when you tookit over to where it's at now?
And what are your kind of yourgoals, your short term goals to get
it to whatever point you want toget into. Yeah, you know,
I think, ohlu in the lastfew years went through a lot of changes,
a lot of coaching changes. Sonow my in my first year,
(20:30):
my goal was to be like,Okay, let's let's settle in, let's
get to know each other, let'sbe composed, let's play. And we
had a great season. Yeah,you want a championship, right, Yeah,
I mean I walked into a lotof talent and it was a great
way for the program to know meand me to get to know the program
and then kind of put my touchon it. So then now the goal
(20:55):
is how do we grow it?Because it's not the numbers are not where
I want them to be. Sothis summer we started like a club team
affiliated with the school, which isan open club, but it's gonna help.
It's gonna keep the girls playing togetherand hopefully then adding younger age groups.
So that's where we are. Wewanted to grow a little bit.
(21:15):
The boys wand D one the girlswand the open division. So there was
a good culture and with two newcoaches, so I think we can only
build up from there. How aboutthat grassroots effort locally with the young kids
you talked about. I mean,you can start a club team with your
high school girls, but you know, maybe that's the first time they're learning
to get in the water and playwater polo. How do you get those
(21:37):
girls and boys into the water ata younger age and bigger numbers. Yeah,
And I mean that's I guess that'sa big question, right, Yeah,
no, yeah, And the planwas to start with like a fourteen
unders even a splashball, which flashballcould be. It's usually ten and under,
but really it's for anybody that hasn'tplayed water pol or isn't as comfortable
end the water, right, soyou're in a shallow end. Then you're
(22:00):
just kind of teaching people to fallin love with the sport. And then
you're like, if you really wantto do it, well, here's a
beater and this is what you do. So the plan was to start with
that, and then everyone wanted toplay this summer, so we're like,
okay, let's make it happen.So you know, the plan is to
start with the younger levels and peoplein the community. And the great thing
(22:22):
is we train at Santiago kang InCollege. I'm walking to my car after
a practice and someone's like, Brenda, Yes, it's someone that went to
Vela Park High school that I playedagainst like twenty five years ago. His
kids play soccer. They're there forsoccer practice. Are you starting a huge
program? Like I want my kidsto try waterpool, So, like the
(22:44):
waterpool world is this small, yeah, and it's great to know that there's
people in the neighborhoods near like ourschool that want to try it and want
to find a play. So that'skind of where our grassroot level efforts will
start. And I think it'll begreat because wherever they go to high school,
right it doesn't matter Like for me, it's of course I want them
to go to Aulu. But themore aquatic water safe kids there are,
(23:08):
the more options there are for them. And hopefully they'll choose us, but
if not, that's not really onlymy end goal. So your Olympic winner,
four times gold, silver, bronze, Hall of Famer, graduate of
Stanford, and yet you're going backto school and you're in the process of
(23:30):
it right now, going through themasters and coaching Athletics administration program there at
Concordia University or VI. One whatmade you go back and get your masters?
And two? How is the experiencefor you? Oh? What made
me? You know, I lovedschool, so I mean it had been
like twenty years right since Stanford toConcordia, so I was really nervous.
(23:52):
But I think also there was astatistic I saw somewhere that there's only x
percent of Latinas that have a master'sdegree. Really and I was yeah,
it was something not don't quote me, but it wasn't over time. It
was the single digit number, andI was like, what, like why
like? And for me, Ihad always thought about it, but then
(24:15):
there's never the right time, right, There's never the right time. And
then for me after I retired,I'm like, I need work experience.
I can't just go back to school. I need work experience. I've been
playing for so long after college thatpeople are not going to hire me if
I don't like have work experience.So I waited, and then I met
somebody at a conference. The CIFwas celebrating the fifty years of Title nine.
(24:41):
I was on this panel and Imet this woman and she was we
were talking about stuff and then she'slike, you should do it. Because
I was like, oh, I'mbetween jobs, job searching, and I
mentioned I wanted to get my master's. She's like, you should do it.
She's like, here's my number.I'm gonna call you in a week
to see if you applied. Okay, She's like, I know sometimes people
just need that extra like support orwhatever. And it was like the greatest
(25:04):
thing. Now I have this greatrelationship with her, And it was all
I needed. I needed someone totell me that it was going to be
hard, but that it's okay,that I could do it, and I'm
happy. I mean, I'm init. And it's not great right because
we're busy and we're trying to youknow, be a mom, you know,
(25:26):
but I am learning so much.So I'm so glad that somebody finally
gave me that push. Yeah,what's next? I mean when you finish
the program? I have that Mastersin hand coaching at oh lou taking that
program to to great levels, winningchampionships already in year one. What's next?
What do you what do you seeyourself doing in five years and ten
(25:48):
years to better the sport to youknow, what do you see yourself doing?
You know, that's a great question. I hope I'm coaching in some
capacity. I think with this MCAAdegree, it also gives me a glimpse
into the advanced side. I thinkthat being on all these boards or on
(26:11):
these committees, there's also a needfor like women voices there, and it
gives me options. So if I'mnot coaching, I hope that I'm somewhere
where my knowledge and my lived experiencecould help further somebody's mission, but I
also have a soft bought and afoundation for like water safety and underserved communities
(26:37):
and helping that girls. So I'mone of those that doesn't have just one
singular vision. I have like ten. I know, I know. I
think one of it is probably spendinga little more time with my children.
So finding that balance, I thinkright now it's something that I haven't done
well and then I wanted be ableto do. So I think I'll be
(27:02):
coaching or helping new communities get watersafe and spend any more time with my
kids. Love it. You're you'redoing great things, Brenda. Thank you
so much for joining us on thepodcast. Continued success at OLU with the
Masters program and everything you do afterwardsand leading young women and being a voice
out there for them and the sportof water polo. Continued success. Congratulations
(27:27):
on all your accomplishments, the GoldMedals, the Hall of Fames, everything
you have done has been fantastic.And thank you so much for speaking and
kind of sharing your story and telleverybody out there more about water polos.
So thank you so much. Thankyou guys. Well, there she goes
Brenda via the head coach at OrangeLutheran. What a career she has had
(27:48):
from commerce to going to Stanford toa four time Olympic winner, a gold,
two silvers, and a bronze,a Hall of Famer and doing great
things helping out young water polo playersof women that are looking to get in
the sport, looking to grow thesport as a whole across Southern California and
across this country by thanks to Brendaand everything she has done and continuing to
(28:10):
do as she is now in theprogram at Concordia University, Irvine and their
Masters in Coaching Athletics Administration program.She knows the value of getting that master's
degree from Concordia University, even asa four time Olympic winner. So thanks
to Brenda. Thanks to you forwatching. If you want to find out
more about the program, Cui doteedu slash Coaching that Cui dot eedu slash
(28:30):
Coaching. Find out about all thedifferent start times that they have. If
you're a new student, you geta one thousand dollars scholarship for signing up
for the program. Find out moreabout it if it's a right fit for
you, Cui dot eu slash Coaching. Thanks to Brenda. Thanks to you
for watching and listening. Until nexttime, Episode sixty three, the Masters
in Coaching podcast is in the books. So long everybody,
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