February 6, 2025 • 33 mins
Tim Cates talks with Murrieta Valley HS water polo coach Bryan Lynton about his 30 years in education and coaching. He has won 9 CIF Southern Section Championshps and been named the Regional Coach of the Year 3 times by USAWP. Bryan is the head coach of both the boys and girls water polo teams at Murrieta Valley HS, while also working with USA Water Polo as a coach and technical director. Bryan is a graduate of the MCAA from Concordia University Irvine.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Three plus decades as a teacher and a coach. One
of the most successful water polo coaches in the country.
Nine times CIF Southern Sexton Champion, three time Regional Coach
of the Year in USA water polo. He works for
Team USSAY, a technical director, a national team coach for
both men's and women's water polo. He is Brian Lnton
(00:22):
and he joins us now on episode seventy five of
the Masters and Coaching podcast. Let's go Well, Welcome into
episode seventy five of the Masters in Coaching Podcast. It
is the Diamond edition, yes, seventy five episodes now of
the Masters in Coaching Podcast. We thank you for watching
(00:43):
and listening whatever platform you are getting this. We certainly
appreciate that and so excited to talk to this guest.
One of the most successful water polo coaches in the country.
Head coach for both the girls and the boys water
polo programs at Marietta Valley High School. Nine times CIF
Southern Section Champion and sixteen CIF Southern Section finalist performances,
(01:04):
over one hundred student athletes have been named All Americans
under his tutelage. Three time Regional Coach of the year
recipient of the USA Water Polo also works with Team
USA water Polo program a technical director, national team coach.
And yeah, he had time to go get his master's
degree at Concordi University, Irvine. He is Brian Lent and
he joins us now here on episode seventy five of
(01:26):
the Masteres and Coaching Podcast. Brian, how you doing doing great?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Thank you for having me on real honor for mere.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Appreciate you coming on here. We are right in the
middle of playoffs for girls water polo here in southern California.
Tell everybody where you guys are at right now in
the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, so we've spent all week just preparing for we
had to buy in the first round, so just preparing
for our second round game here on Friday night.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
And we seem to.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Be in a good place, seem to be peaking at
the right time, so we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Water polo in Southern California splowed it over the years.
I'm old enough to remember in high school in the nineties,
water polo was big. A lot of water polo friends,
guys that went on to play at UCLA or other
West Coast schools. Where are we at right now water
polo wise in the high school athletics here in southern California.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Definitely on a rebound after the pandemic. You know, the
numbers really dropped down pretty low, and we're a pretty
neat sport anyway, so we don't have one hundred kids
coming to a high school program like a football team
does or anything like that. So the pandemic hit pretty hard.
I've fortunately, or unfortunately, that was a little break in
my coaching period because I was watching my kids playing college,
(02:39):
so I didn't go through that with the student athletes.
But we're definitely on a rebound. You know, high school
water pool is very good in Southern California. Again, just
these top level teams are have some super talented kids
and some really good coaches, and we are we are
playing at a very high level, and it's I think
it's just going to get higher and higher. The numbers
are coming back to for sure.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So I think I know the answer to this, but
I'm gonna ask you anyways, why the dip during COVID.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Well, a lot of places to shut down. You know,
water pole is a sport where you can't go to
the park and play. You can't find an open field
and go and play. You have to have a facility
that's going to let you in that you have to
rent and pay for. So it made it really challenging
because a lot of places just shut down completely. So,
you know, we try to operate a few things in
southern California during that pandemic, and I'm going to tell
(03:27):
you we had all of sudthern California.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
There were two places that.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Would allow our national team kids to go and train
and it was socially distanced, and one of them was
in Fontana. The other one was in Coronata, and that
was pretty much it was to keep us going and
allow outside user groups to keep to rent their facilities.
There were two places that would allow us to do it,
so it was pretty crazy. Yeah, it's just you know,
water poles is that you know, you can't go and
(03:53):
you can't go shoot hoops, you know, like you can
at the park or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
You have to have structured full time and able to
get any training in.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
How did you end up in the world of water polo?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Friend swam up in through eighth grade and then we
got to high school and a friend of ours said
we should try water pool. I had no idea what
water pool it was. Fell in love with it right
away for sure. And I have a twin brother. We
both played and learned how to play water pool as freshman,
and then continue that on and never really had any
intention of coaching this long. I think the uh, you know,
(04:27):
my experience as an assistant coach. I went back to
my alma mater and was an assistant coach there in
high school.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
But for me, it was a path to get a job.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I'm a physical education teacher and just teaching PE is
not enough to get a high To get hired, you
have to be able to, you know, coach a sport
or multiple sports. So it was definitely a path for
me to get a job. I think my sort my
first plan when arriving here at Myriad of Valley was
I was going to do this for four years and
then I was going to hang it out, like pass
(04:56):
it on to somebody else. But we started getting some
moments them and started doing really well, and it was
pretty fun and I was growing as a coach, and yeah,
twenty six years later, still doing it.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
It's interesting, Brian, because I hear that so often about
didn't plan on doing this this long, but here we
are two three, four decades into it, and they just
love it. And coaching gets you and you're attached, and
then you just keep developing as a coach, you build something,
maybe you continue to move up, whatever the case may be.
(05:28):
It just feels like coaching grabs people hangs on to
them because they love it so much?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Does it? Does I enjoy? I'm a process guy. I
love coming to practice.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
You know, the games are great and everything, but I
like planning practices and I like going to practices and
implementing a practice plan and just doing all those those.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Things behind the scenes. That's the part that I enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
I never dread, like putting my whistle around my neck
and going to the pool.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I don't I like it.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
When you first started coaching, did you know what you
were doing? Was it figure it out as you go?
Were you're borrowing from maybe your previous head coaches when
you first started?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
For sure, I would. I don't think I was creative
at all as a coach. I just tried to mimic
what my coaches had told me and did. And I
did that for a number of years and then started
started to find my own style and started reading a
little bit more, getting out and seeing other coaches coach
in our sport and really just kind of starting to
(06:27):
copy like what these successful coaches were doing, and then
making things my own and tweeting things for you know what,
I what I saw fit for my coaching style. So yeah,
we're all just sorry for the school bells we we were,
you know, as coaches, Like we have a great community
of coaches in water Pool that we share information a lot.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I'm certainly that way as well.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Like I think I held everything pretty close to my chest,
you know, early in the days, and I'm not sharing
anything and I'm not anybody any tips or anything like that.
And you get a little bit older and a little
bit more mature and understand that, you know, in order
for our sport to develop, we need to develop coaches.
And that's you know, kind of where I'm at. It's
like anybody can ask me, you know, I do a
lot of trainings for USA water Polo, So I'm an
(07:12):
I'm an open book at this point. You need practice plans,
you need ideas on skill drills like whatever. It is,
just here's everything that I do, and it's and it's
no secret.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I love hearing that because it's a sport, as you mentioned,
it's it's a smaller sport, but it's got great popularity.
And you also hear about other sports and coaches, like
you said, you know, I'm gonna gather this and I'm
not going to teach this, and I'm very careful and
who I share things with as far as strategies and
culture building and all that kind of stuff. I love
to hear that in the community of water polo. There
(07:44):
isn't that, or maybe I'm sure maybe there is, but
to hear that coaches want to build the sport and
by doing that, hey, we got to the open books
and communicate and help together to grow it.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Right, right, we do? We do.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
We want the level of play to keep rising. We
want kids to keep coming back and playing this sport
because it is a really fun sport and it's very
demanding physically demandedly mentally demanding. But we you know, we
want coaches to to build programs and make better players
and make the sport more competitive at the high school level,
at the club level.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
You know, at the international level as well.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
We're making progress that way for sure, and you know,
all the technology now, it's really easy to learn how.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
To be a good coach.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
It really is there. There wasn't when I started. There
wasn't YouTube, there wasn't you know, we didn't have anything
you got. I went to a coach's clinic like once
a year and heard some coaches talk.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Now this stuff was just all over the place.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
And it's really easy to learn how to be a
good coach if you if you want to, if you want.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I love water polo because of the physical aspect of it,
and honestly, I didn't know how physical it was at first.
I think a lot of people's perception for this, Okay,
you know, it's girls and guys swimming in the pool,
got a ball, sort of like a soccer esque. You know,
we got goals, we got goalies. Oh it's fine, you know,
passed the ball all we lost the ball. I don't
(09:02):
think people realize girls and boys how physical it is
under the water and above the water. Talk a little
bit about that because people who just kind of watch it,
maybe during the Olympics, watching it naturally here in southern California,
we know it's a huge popular sport, but maybe those
outside Middle America that haven't experienced water polo to the
extent you have talk about how physical of a sport
(09:25):
it is.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
It is and it is not gender biased at all.
The women and the males on there are both physical
physical games.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
The higher the level of play usually the more physical
that it is.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
So you go to the Olympics and you watch it
on TV, you're not getting a great perspective of how
physical it is. For a little while, we had underwater cameras,
but they've kind of made those kind of go away
because it influenced the sport a little bit.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
But you know, it's part of the game. Wrestling is
part of the game.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
We're gonna grab each other suits, we're gonna grab risks,
we're gonna grab next they're gonna grab legs.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
They're going to hold.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Onto everything to try and create an advantage. That's all
that is, and make your opponent physically tired.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
And that's all legal, right.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
If the official doesn't see it, it is so the
masters in this sport, I rarely get caught, but it
is a huge part of the game. If people are interested,
I would I would tell you to watch the women's
Olympic game games because and watch our US team because
it's it's rough.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
It is rough. I mean, my daughter played and I
watch and I'm.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Man, Okay, she's you know, she's got to get tough here,
and she's got to be able to be okay with
this and be able to dish it out. But it
is certainly like part of the game. Sometimes it's an
ugly part of our game, but it is definitely like
part of the game. There's a lot to there's lots
of water bowls, that physical aspect of the wrestling and
the brett being able to hold your breath because yeah,
you're going to sometimes get pulled under and things are
(10:55):
going to happen and not have that anxiety and not
have that panic, and then all the technical skills going
to it on all the tactics.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
It's there's there's there's quite a bit to it. There's
quite a bit to it. So yeah, but it's a
physical game for.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Those watching parents interested in in their son or daughter
and okay, I can pursue this in college and get
an athletic scholarship. Possibly. How prevalent is that. I know
here in South Califora, we got a family friend that's
daughter is going to Long Beach State next year. She's
a great player down in San Diego. I'm aware. But
for those listening and watching, scholarships to the next level,
(11:29):
whether it's D one, D two, D three, opportunities to
play at those levels the NAI level, how prevalent is
it in the water polo.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
So most of our Division one schools are here in California.
We do have some.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Women's Division win programs outside of California, Michigan and Indiana.
And then we have a lot of club water pool
at the collegiate level is really big for us. Basically
every university in the States has a club water polo team,
So that structure, that infrastructure is really big and it's
pretty successful, you know, for for athletes that are trying
(12:04):
to get into the one of the big time D
one schools, the USC's, the u c l A is,
the cows Stanford, those those are tough schools to get into.
Those are the cream of the crop. And you know,
recruiting classes are not that big for men or women.
You know, they're usually between probably three to seven athletes
each year at those schools.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
It's not a lot. It's very hard.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Scholarships are there's not football scholarships in water pool. There
are you know, three and a half on the guy
side and seven on the women's side, and that's not
a lot, So it's super competitive. Your ability to get
in as a student athlete on a partial it says
says a lot about you. We don't really have Division two.
(12:47):
We have one any I A school and we have
Division three. So our Division threes are like our sky
AX schools here in California, and then the NYT is
on the East Coast and that.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Conference as well.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
But we really don't have a Division two, so we
compete in a national championship at the collegiate level. Division
one and Division three our competitive collegiate championships. But yeah,
it is certainly very difficult to get a full ride
in water pol it is, but as a student athlete,
(13:16):
it gives you an opportunity to play a sport, you know,
maybe you're not on scholarship, to play a sport at
a really good school and get a great education.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Absolutely outside of Southern California, the state of California, how
you've seen water polo grow for both boys and girls.
You mentioned a couple of states outside of California that
there's opportunities at the collegiate level, but as a whole
have you seen it grow? Are we seen it in
the middle of part of the United States in the
South as well?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Absolutely? So.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Part of my job with USA is I travel from
Labor Day to Christmas just about every weekend going to
different states, so I spend a couple times a year.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
I'm in Texas. Texas is probably the next California for
water pools. They're growing and they made that.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
A state sanctioned like our CIF, a state sanctioned high
school sport two years ago, which it hadn't been. So
they have a state championship now in Texas that falls
under the.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Their state CIF. There.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Texas is growing quite a bit. Florida's had a very
competitive age group and high school program for a long time.
Like I said, in Michigan, Indiana on the east coast,
it's more club based up there, but they do play
high school games, but there's very few high schools that
actually have teams, so they're mostly club based there. But
as far as like growth in our sport goes, it's Indiana,
(14:36):
it's Florida, it's Texas, and all these others are still
like we're still building programs and our numbers. Like part
of my job is going and going to these states
and we have camps slash tryouts for kids to try
and make their zone team, to try and make the
national team. Those camp numbers, those kids keep coming out,
and we're getting more and more kids coming out to
those camps to see to try to sport, to try
(14:57):
to see if they can advance in the sport. I
should say, not just try the sport. But it's definitely
like growing, it's growing, for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
What do you see that it's been helpful in growing?
Is it just getting the word out there? Is it
more opportunities to have teams at the club level in
these different states? And so I'll be honest, I got
three daughters played lacrosse across here in southern California. Is
not very big. It's not huge at all. We're playing
teams an hour away in the club level just because
there's not enough girls playing that sport. But we're seeing
(15:26):
it grow and grow and grow. And all it took
was somebody saying, hey, interested in playing, and my oldest
daughter's like okay, And now my two younger daughters playing,
and their friends start playing. It just grows and grows.
Is that sort of the same thing you're seeing in
the development.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
That certainly helps. You know, what really helps is good coaching.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yeah, that attracts athletes, that attracts families to come and play.
There's a good coach there that cares about kids, is
knowledgeable about the sport, and you know, it covers all
those other things like the coaches everything. So you know,
like I said, I travel a lot, and you can
see where we have successful coaches. Where we have good
coach is we have successful programs. That's the simplest answer.
(16:03):
We're not real successful in monopolo. The coaching is not
as strong as it could be.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
That's really good.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Yeah, all right, So going back to wanting to get
into teaching and education, what was it that decided for
you to go down that path? And certainly you've been
in it for a long time now, been very successful
at the coaching at the level, but education as a whole,
Why was it that initial interest to give go down
that road?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, you knows.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
As an undergrad I studied kinesiology and physical education and
I had to choose a pathway whether to go athletic training.
I went to Lombach State, so I go Athletic Training route,
which is a great program where I could go to
secondary education route, and I chose a secondary education one.
Being an athlete in high school, I never took a
PE class, which was I thought, this is going to
be odd. I've never even been in a PE class,
(16:48):
and I'm going to teach a PE class. So it
was strange doing student teaching and I had to figure
out a lot of things, and thankfully I had a
good education to fall back on.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
But you know, I enjoy going to school. I did.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
I was did as you know, as a student. I
like coming here to school every day. It doesn't feel
like work when I come here, and teaching physiclication is fun.
I mean, I teach a lifeguarding class, I teach two
weight training classes. I teach a general PE class. I
teach two water bowl classes. I have one for my
boys and one for my girls. And you know, it's
(17:23):
it's fun just being active all day. I think it
keeps mind young, it keeps my body young, being in
physicalication and not being in a classroom and just talking
at kids all day. Certainly enjoy not grading papers, I
can tell you that. And I did my first couple
of years and that was rough. But and the in
(17:43):
the coaching piece, it really lends well to these kids' schedules.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
You know, we can have practice before school or right
after school.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
They don't have to come back at night and at
seven o'clock at night for training or anything. So it
makes their day a little bit easier to have somebody
here on campus that can schedule their trainings. I can
meet with them during office hours if I need to
show film or or at lunch or anything like that. So,
you know, teaching, especially teaching pe and coaching, the two
just are really coupled really well for my sentity. You know,
(18:13):
I get to leave year five o'clock every day, and
you know, I'm not coming back at seven o'clock at
night when I was running the club, which I was
doing anyway. But I think it makes a better a
better path and a better event for the kids, you know,
because it's it's convenient for them.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Talk Well, it's a little bit about coaching and your
philosophy and how you build a culture with within your programs.
Is that something you learn as you win? And are
you still developing you think as a coach year in
and year out and constantly learning.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, I am.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I am still constantly learning, still trying to figure it out.
We're trying to implement things just about every year. Usually
the summertime is big for me and in developing culture
as we kind of lead into our new school year
and we have all the athletes here at that point.
It took me a long time to figure it out.
I was very much a transactional leader when I started
this and was more probably concerned about results and winning
(19:09):
than I was about my athletes. So that has changed
over the years, and I wish it would have changed
a little sooner, but it did, and I really when
I realized it, I realized it, and the Masters really
helped me with that and focusing that culture.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
But it's something like you know, I think.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
It's it's a lot about leadership and about myself as
a coach and being dedicated as a coach and burning
those extra calories and preparing practice plans and preparing film
for these guys so they know that, you know, I'm
not just winging this that I'm preparing for you. So
I think I build trust that way and inspiration. We
don't have problems with the tendance or anything like that,
(19:46):
because I think they I think they enjoyed most of
the time coming here to train and it is hard
and it's difficult, and I have high expectations, but that
that culture of like committing to something which which we
have and we are definitely like outliers. I'm in Miria
to California, I'm an hour from San Diego, I'm an
hour from Orange County. I'm hour plus to LA So
(20:10):
we have to have a really good culture of of
athletes and families that are that are willing to travel.
We we have to go play summer leagues in Orange
County sometimes, you know, and I did for years, or
we're driving to San Diego for a night league or
whatever it is. So we have to have that that
buy in from the athletes and the parents for sure,
because it's it's it's definitely like something that requires everybody's
(20:33):
attention for sure. We need to have everybody on board
and understand like the lessons that are being learned here
in Waterpol are going to translate to to later in
life in college and and and sports and family and
you know, getting up early with your infants and getting
up early to take the kids to school, like these
things are all you know, part of life and part
of things that they learned, you know, hopefully while they're here.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
So it's interesting we hit at the professional level in
any sport. Uh, wins and losses is is how you
get you know, paid, and that's how you get your jobs.
It's a it's a performance based profession. It's hard, I
think for coaches at the high school level, even at
the college level as well, to realize it's not necessarily
(21:16):
about the wins and losses at that level. You've got
to build a culture, develop these kids emotionally, mentally and physically,
and if it turns into wins, great most times it
will if you do it right and you build that
strong culture and you get the kids discipline and they're
focused on what they're doing and they're successful what they're doing.
What you mentioned that at first it wasn't like that
(21:36):
for you. We wasn't that it kind of switched for you.
And how important is that for a coach toultimately realize
wins and losses are great, but we can still get
there by developing and and having that base, found that
foundation for a program.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Yeah, you know, it probably happened. Gosh. I started here.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
I coached two years in himmet and taught out there
before I got the job here at Myriada Valley in
ninety nine. Probably two thousand and three two thousand and
four was where I started to figure out I was.
I think I was more focused on getting these kids
to the next level and teaching them and grinding them
(22:16):
and giving them the correct skills that they needed, the tactics,
all those things. I was more focused about the end
result instead of like the process.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
That was it for me.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
It was like, I just want you guys to win.
I want you to be successful. I want to get
you in front of college coaches, like this is what
I'm supposed to be doing, which is definitely like part
of the job, but I was kind of losing I
think I was losing sight of just everything in between,
you know, like they need the mentorship you know here
at school with family and friends, with team building, like
(22:47):
all of those things. I think I was skipping out
on some of those things and just worried about, like
getting that end result. And I think around two thousand
and fours where that kind of shifted, where we were
having some success for sure, but I didn't feel like
I was making a difference in their lives.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
I didn't so up until that point, like yeah, you know,
and I and you know part of when I've listened
to your past podcast, you know, I think part of
being like a successful coach is having those athletes that leave.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Your program still still stay connected to you.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
So and I think probably after two thousand and four
is when like that started happening. I'm connected with all
of our alumnis. I played golf on Black Friday. They're
still a Black fighter right the every Thanksgiving I played
golf with eight of our alumni from twenty twelve.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
It was great.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
They're like, coach, you want to come golf with I'm like,
absolutely yes, So, you know, and getting invited to the
weddings and celebrating child verse for all these former athletes
and stuff like that is super important. So I don't
think I made that connection with them right away, but
it took a little while, and those connections are getting
better and better.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
When you look back on some of the coaches in
your life at different levels of your athletic career, do
you still think about things they taught you, strategies, philosophies.
Have you implemented any of those kind of ways over
your coaching career.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
It was a long time ago. Sports changed a lot.
Sports changed a lot. I played for a great high
school coach. His name is John Hale, a legendary coach
coach at roll In High School for twenty plus years,
and he taught me all the technical skills that I
(24:29):
needed to be successful. Super appreciative that played a community
college at Supers Scholarge for a guy named Bill Rawls
who was there for thirty years. He's in the Hall
of Fame there, and he taught me how to take
all of those technical skills and put him in a
tactical setting and was super successful there.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I had some shoulder issues and whatnot, and that was
kind of for.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Me if for me playing, but those two guys, for sure,
I still remember some of the things, but it was
a long time ago and the sports changed a lot
since then.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Uh. I appreciate they were They were.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Great family men, cared about my well being, always just
was concerned about me as a person. So I really
really appreciated that. And fortunately coach all passed away several
years ago, but Butt Rawls is still alive and retired
in Michigan, and we're friends on Facebook and once in
a while, I'll see him. I used to see him
(25:23):
a lot when his grandkids were playing here in so
cal He would come to games.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
So, uh, those two guys for sure. Really hell, he
helped me.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
And then you know, I've had the opportunity to work
with so many great coaches on the national team. Like
it's it's just been invaluable for me.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
You're into your coaching and professional career and you're you're
ways down the road and then you decide to get
your masters at Concordia University Irvine. Talk a little bit
about getting into the program, how you found the masters
and coaching Athletics Administration program, and why for you coach
at that time, it was important to go through the
program and get that master's degree.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
So I'm a public school teacher. Our pay is based
on years of service and education, so it already.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Had a master's degree.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
I did one super early when I was twenty four
years old and hadn't gone back to school since then.
So in twenty fifteen, actually, a teacher here was teaching
work Incordia one of the coaching classes, and I asked
him what it was about, and he's told me and
I was like, oh, I need to take some units,
and rather just paying a fee and just taking some
random units.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
I'm like, I'm gonna do another master's degree. Like why not?
Like this looks like a cool program. Great for me
because it was super flexible.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
I could work at night, work on the weekend, shoot
I was in Italy with a national team.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
When I was doing homework and posting on the message board.
For sure, it was.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Easy, right, I could get it all done, like while
I was traveling. I did it in like fifteen months
or something like that, just kind of knocked out two
classes at a time. And I'm super grateful that I
did it that way. Like I said, I could have
taken some random units. I gotten to a pay bump.
But going through the program really helped me and helped
me in a lot of different ways. Got me back
(27:01):
into reading again. I wasn't reading a lot kind of
in that time, so it really got me back into reading.
I've kind of kept that up, which was great. I
needed that little kick in the pants to like, you're
not done learning yet. You know you can still learn
some things here and the courses. The courses were great
made me a better writer for sure. And then just
everything that the that the program offered really helped me
(27:23):
as a coach for sure.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
So I enjoyed every part of it.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
I did it as fast as I can because I
I didn't get bored, Like I liked the classes. I
liked doing the homework like it was interesting to me.
So it was didn't feel like I was didn't feel
like work.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, And it was super convenient for you, as you
mentioned your overseas and doing the courses. What's next for you, coach?
I mean, you got a great career. You're still coaching
at a high level. You guys in the playoffs right now.
Every year. You've got the boys and girls program fighting
for championships in the CIF Southern Section, working with Team
US say, the developmental program traveling around as you mentioned,
(27:59):
develop and growing the sport of water polo. Is this
something you see doing for a long time? How much
more can you help the world the world of water polo?
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, I'm not tired of it yet, I can tell
you that. No.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Yeah, like I said, getting ready for playoffs. When our
girls season's over, we have national team stuff that's coming up.
I'm going to take our boys team here to Athens
in June. I will go with the national team in
August back to Europe. So you know, I got a
couple of trip, big trips this summer that we're doing.
But I'm still firing, like I'm ready to keep going.
I'm out of seeing and inside. I got about eight
(28:31):
more years teaching, but I still enjoy it. Like I said,
I like the coaching part of it, so I will
keep doing. I'm just gonna keep plugging along and doing
what I'm doing and trying to keep learning as much
as I possibly can.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
What do you think is next for water polo? The
development obviously is it getting more bodies playing as you're
working hard to do traveling around the country as you
mentioned from Labor Day during the fall. Is that what's
going to be key to growing the sport? Is it
something else where? Do you see water polo growing in
the next five ten years.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Well, we're hoping like LA in twenty eight is really
going to kind of boost water pool for us, so
you know, hope. You know, hosting in Los Angeles is
going to be is a big deal like for our
sport because it's going to attract more athletes for us.
So we usually see that kind of trend, like more
after the Olympic Games, we kind of get a little
wave of athletes coming out and trying the sport, and
(29:26):
hopefully when it's in La here coming up, that we're
going to get get an even bigger bump you know
for us in water Pool, Like it's getting better because
of the platforms that we can put like the NFHS,
Nate Network. We're getting a camera start on our pool
this year and we're going to start putting everything on NFHS.
So like there's it's more accessible to everyone. A lot
(29:49):
of people are putting things on YouTube. Now you can
watch games like all the time, so that part of
it is certainly helping, just posting games and posting competitions
and whatnot. So because we're not going to get the
TV coverage you know ever in water Pool, it's not
going to happen. Happens during the Olympics and that's it,
you know. Like I said, for our development, the club
(30:12):
system is great, The high school system is really good.
So the numbers are hopefully just gonna, like I said,
you know, keep growing, But we just need word of mouth.
We need friends to tell friends, Yeah, bring your friend
to practice. Like, we get a lot of kids that
you know, are just not good at land sports, you know,
not necessarily great summer, is just not good at land sports.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
So they'll come and play water pool.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
But it's really just kind of word of mouth and
like bringing friends to practice.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
It's going to help us.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
It's funny you mentioned the post Olympic boom because again
with three daughters, I go back to the last couple
Olympics swim when we were younger in the summer games
and gymnastics, and they're sitting and watching gymnastics happen, and
all of a sudden at the Olympics, says and it's like,
where can we go do gymnastics? So we got them
involved in the gymnastics program here locally, here in the
San Fernando Valley, and as time went on, they want
(31:00):
to do the dedication and you know, it turns into
more competitive and all right, we're getting to a point
now are you going to do this for real or
are you doing this for recreation? But it's interesting, it's
real the the Olympic boom, the post Olympic boom for
these sports. You see curling in the Winter Olympics, all
of a sudden people are interested in curling and it's
grown into this great popular recreational sport. You guys really
(31:22):
do need to feast off that right after every Olympics
and capture that momentum.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Absolutely, absolutely so we're starting, like this weekend. We have
on our men's side, we have a semi professional league
that is starting this weekend, so that certainly helps us.
We're still developing on the girls side, but people that
are interested you can find USA Water Bowl and check
out our national league. You see some current Olympians, former Olympians,
(31:48):
upcoming Olympians.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
That'll all be there competing on different club teams.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
So you know, we're trying and trying to get sponsorship
and big media for those those types of things, but
still like we're still developing sport.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Well, Brian, I appreciate you joining us here on the podcast.
Love spreading the water polo of talk out there to
everybody outside of Southern California. Certainly being based here in
Southern California, I know all about it, but for those
in Middle America, those watching around the world, exposing them
more to the sport of water polo. Thank you so
much for that. Thanks for everything. You're doing and coaching,
(32:21):
and best of luck to your girls team here and
hopefully a long run here to a championship in the
Southern Section.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
We're definitely gonna try. Thank you very much for having
me on his pleasure.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Well there he goes Brian Lenton, head coach of the
Marrietta Valley High School boys and girls water polo programs
Team USA as well out there growing the sport year
in and year out. Good luck to his girls team
as they make their way through the CIF Southern Section
playoffs here in the next couple of weeks. Thanks to
you for listening and watching. Hope you enjoyed hearing more
(32:51):
about Brian's story, his coaching background, and water polo as
the sport continues to grow here nationally and internetally. Thanks
to Brian, Thanks to you for listening. Find out more
about the Masters in Coaching and Athletics Administration program at
Concordia University, Irvine by going to CUI dot edu slash
coaching CUI dot edu slash coaching. They got six start
(33:15):
times throughout the year, a one thousand dollars scholarship for
all new students entering the program. Better at your career
at the Masters in Coaching Athletics Administration Program at Concordia University, Irvine.
Thanks for being a part of episode seventy five, the
Diamond edition of the Masters in Coaching Podcast. Until next time,
Tim Kate saying so long everybody,
Three plus decades as a teacher and a coach. One
of the most successful water polo coaches in the country.
Nine times CIF Southern Sexton Champion, three time Regional Coach
of the Year in USA water polo. He works for
Team USSAY, a technical director, a national team coach for
both men's and women's water polo. He is Brian Lnton
(00:22):
and he joins us now on episode seventy five of
the Masters and Coaching podcast. Let's go Well, Welcome into
episode seventy five of the Masters in Coaching Podcast. It
is the Diamond edition, yes, seventy five episodes now of
the Masters in Coaching Podcast. We thank you for watching
(00:43):
and listening whatever platform you are getting this. We certainly
appreciate that and so excited to talk to this guest.
One of the most successful water polo coaches in the country.
Head coach for both the girls and the boys water
polo programs at Marietta Valley High School. Nine times CIF
Southern Section Champion and sixteen CIF Southern Section finalist performances,
(01:04):
over one hundred student athletes have been named All Americans
under his tutelage. Three time Regional Coach of the year
recipient of the USA Water Polo also works with Team
USA water Polo program a technical director, national team coach.
And yeah, he had time to go get his master's
degree at Concordi University, Irvine. He is Brian Lent and
he joins us now here on episode seventy five of
(01:26):
the Masteres and Coaching Podcast. Brian, how you doing doing great?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Thank you for having me on real honor for mere.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Appreciate you coming on here. We are right in the
middle of playoffs for girls water polo here in southern California.
Tell everybody where you guys are at right now in
the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, so we've spent all week just preparing for we
had to buy in the first round, so just preparing
for our second round game here on Friday night.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
And we seem to.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Be in a good place, seem to be peaking at
the right time, so we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Water polo in Southern California splowed it over the years.
I'm old enough to remember in high school in the nineties,
water polo was big. A lot of water polo friends,
guys that went on to play at UCLA or other
West Coast schools. Where are we at right now water
polo wise in the high school athletics here in southern California.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Definitely on a rebound after the pandemic. You know, the
numbers really dropped down pretty low, and we're a pretty
neat sport anyway, so we don't have one hundred kids
coming to a high school program like a football team
does or anything like that. So the pandemic hit pretty hard.
I've fortunately, or unfortunately, that was a little break in
my coaching period because I was watching my kids playing college,
(02:39):
so I didn't go through that with the student athletes.
But we're definitely on a rebound. You know, high school
water pool is very good in Southern California. Again, just
these top level teams are have some super talented kids
and some really good coaches, and we are we are
playing at a very high level, and it's I think
it's just going to get higher and higher. The numbers
are coming back to for sure.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So I think I know the answer to this, but
I'm gonna ask you anyways, why the dip during COVID.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Well, a lot of places to shut down. You know,
water pole is a sport where you can't go to
the park and play. You can't find an open field
and go and play. You have to have a facility
that's going to let you in that you have to
rent and pay for. So it made it really challenging
because a lot of places just shut down completely. So,
you know, we try to operate a few things in
southern California during that pandemic, and I'm going to tell
(03:27):
you we had all of sudthern California.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
There were two places that.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Would allow our national team kids to go and train
and it was socially distanced, and one of them was
in Fontana. The other one was in Coronata, and that
was pretty much it was to keep us going and
allow outside user groups to keep to rent their facilities.
There were two places that would allow us to do it,
so it was pretty crazy. Yeah, it's just you know,
water poles is that you know, you can't go and
(03:53):
you can't go shoot hoops, you know, like you can
at the park or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
You have to have structured full time and able to
get any training in.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
How did you end up in the world of water polo?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Friend swam up in through eighth grade and then we
got to high school and a friend of ours said
we should try water pool. I had no idea what
water pool it was. Fell in love with it right
away for sure. And I have a twin brother. We
both played and learned how to play water pool as freshman,
and then continue that on and never really had any
intention of coaching this long. I think the uh, you know,
(04:27):
my experience as an assistant coach. I went back to
my alma mater and was an assistant coach there in
high school.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
But for me, it was a path to get a job.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I'm a physical education teacher and just teaching PE is
not enough to get a high To get hired, you
have to be able to, you know, coach a sport
or multiple sports. So it was definitely a path for
me to get a job. I think my sort my
first plan when arriving here at Myriad of Valley was
I was going to do this for four years and
then I was going to hang it out, like pass
(04:56):
it on to somebody else. But we started getting some
moments them and started doing really well, and it was
pretty fun and I was growing as a coach, and yeah,
twenty six years later, still doing it.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
It's interesting, Brian, because I hear that so often about
didn't plan on doing this this long, but here we
are two three, four decades into it, and they just
love it. And coaching gets you and you're attached, and
then you just keep developing as a coach, you build something,
maybe you continue to move up, whatever the case may be.
(05:28):
It just feels like coaching grabs people hangs on to
them because they love it so much?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Does it? Does I enjoy? I'm a process guy. I
love coming to practice.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
You know, the games are great and everything, but I
like planning practices and I like going to practices and
implementing a practice plan and just doing all those those.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Things behind the scenes. That's the part that I enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
I never dread, like putting my whistle around my neck
and going to the pool.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I don't I like it.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
When you first started coaching, did you know what you
were doing? Was it figure it out as you go?
Were you're borrowing from maybe your previous head coaches when
you first started?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
For sure, I would. I don't think I was creative
at all as a coach. I just tried to mimic
what my coaches had told me and did. And I
did that for a number of years and then started
started to find my own style and started reading a
little bit more, getting out and seeing other coaches coach
in our sport and really just kind of starting to
(06:27):
copy like what these successful coaches were doing, and then
making things my own and tweeting things for you know what,
I what I saw fit for my coaching style. So yeah,
we're all just sorry for the school bells we we were,
you know, as coaches, Like we have a great community
of coaches in water Pool that we share information a lot.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I'm certainly that way as well.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Like I think I held everything pretty close to my chest,
you know, early in the days, and I'm not sharing
anything and I'm not anybody any tips or anything like that.
And you get a little bit older and a little
bit more mature and understand that, you know, in order
for our sport to develop, we need to develop coaches.
And that's you know, kind of where I'm at. It's
like anybody can ask me, you know, I do a
lot of trainings for USA water Polo, So I'm an
(07:12):
I'm an open book at this point. You need practice plans,
you need ideas on skill drills like whatever. It is,
just here's everything that I do, and it's and it's
no secret.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I love hearing that because it's a sport, as you mentioned,
it's it's a smaller sport, but it's got great popularity.
And you also hear about other sports and coaches, like
you said, you know, I'm gonna gather this and I'm
not going to teach this, and I'm very careful and
who I share things with as far as strategies and
culture building and all that kind of stuff. I love
to hear that in the community of water polo. There
(07:44):
isn't that, or maybe I'm sure maybe there is, but
to hear that coaches want to build the sport and
by doing that, hey, we got to the open books
and communicate and help together to grow it.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Right, right, we do? We do.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
We want the level of play to keep rising. We
want kids to keep coming back and playing this sport
because it is a really fun sport and it's very
demanding physically demandedly mentally demanding. But we you know, we
want coaches to to build programs and make better players
and make the sport more competitive at the high school level,
at the club level.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
You know, at the international level as well.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
We're making progress that way for sure, and you know,
all the technology now, it's really easy to learn how.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
To be a good coach.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
It really is there. There wasn't when I started. There
wasn't YouTube, there wasn't you know, we didn't have anything
you got. I went to a coach's clinic like once
a year and heard some coaches talk.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Now this stuff was just all over the place.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
And it's really easy to learn how to be a
good coach if you if you want to, if you want.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I love water polo because of the physical aspect of it,
and honestly, I didn't know how physical it was at first.
I think a lot of people's perception for this, Okay,
you know, it's girls and guys swimming in the pool,
got a ball, sort of like a soccer esque. You know,
we got goals, we got goalies. Oh it's fine, you know,
passed the ball all we lost the ball. I don't
(09:02):
think people realize girls and boys how physical it is
under the water and above the water. Talk a little
bit about that because people who just kind of watch it,
maybe during the Olympics, watching it naturally here in southern California,
we know it's a huge popular sport, but maybe those
outside Middle America that haven't experienced water polo to the
extent you have talk about how physical of a sport
(09:25):
it is.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
It is and it is not gender biased at all.
The women and the males on there are both physical
physical games.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
The higher the level of play usually the more physical
that it is.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
So you go to the Olympics and you watch it
on TV, you're not getting a great perspective of how
physical it is. For a little while, we had underwater cameras,
but they've kind of made those kind of go away
because it influenced the sport a little bit.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
But you know, it's part of the game. Wrestling is
part of the game.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
We're gonna grab each other suits, we're gonna grab risks,
we're gonna grab next they're gonna grab legs.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
They're going to hold.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Onto everything to try and create an advantage. That's all
that is, and make your opponent physically tired.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
And that's all legal, right.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
If the official doesn't see it, it is so the
masters in this sport, I rarely get caught, but it
is a huge part of the game. If people are interested,
I would I would tell you to watch the women's
Olympic game games because and watch our US team because
it's it's rough.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
It is rough. I mean, my daughter played and I
watch and I'm.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Man, Okay, she's you know, she's got to get tough here,
and she's got to be able to be okay with
this and be able to dish it out. But it
is certainly like part of the game. Sometimes it's an
ugly part of our game, but it is definitely like
part of the game. There's a lot to there's lots
of water bowls, that physical aspect of the wrestling and
the brett being able to hold your breath because yeah,
you're going to sometimes get pulled under and things are
(10:55):
going to happen and not have that anxiety and not
have that panic, and then all the technical skills going
to it on all the tactics.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
It's there's there's there's quite a bit to it. There's
quite a bit to it. So yeah, but it's a
physical game for.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Those watching parents interested in in their son or daughter
and okay, I can pursue this in college and get
an athletic scholarship. Possibly. How prevalent is that. I know
here in South Califora, we got a family friend that's
daughter is going to Long Beach State next year. She's
a great player down in San Diego. I'm aware. But
for those listening and watching, scholarships to the next level,
(11:29):
whether it's D one, D two, D three, opportunities to
play at those levels the NAI level, how prevalent is
it in the water polo.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
So most of our Division one schools are here in California.
We do have some.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Women's Division win programs outside of California, Michigan and Indiana.
And then we have a lot of club water pool
at the collegiate level is really big for us. Basically
every university in the States has a club water polo team,
So that structure, that infrastructure is really big and it's
pretty successful, you know, for for athletes that are trying
(12:04):
to get into the one of the big time D
one schools, the USC's, the u c l A is,
the cows Stanford, those those are tough schools to get into.
Those are the cream of the crop. And you know,
recruiting classes are not that big for men or women.
You know, they're usually between probably three to seven athletes
each year at those schools.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
It's not a lot. It's very hard.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Scholarships are there's not football scholarships in water pool. There
are you know, three and a half on the guy
side and seven on the women's side, and that's not
a lot, So it's super competitive. Your ability to get
in as a student athlete on a partial it says
says a lot about you. We don't really have Division two.
(12:47):
We have one any I A school and we have
Division three. So our Division threes are like our sky
AX schools here in California, and then the NYT is
on the East Coast and that.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Conference as well.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
But we really don't have a Division two, so we
compete in a national championship at the collegiate level. Division
one and Division three our competitive collegiate championships. But yeah,
it is certainly very difficult to get a full ride
in water pol it is, but as a student athlete,
(13:16):
it gives you an opportunity to play a sport, you know,
maybe you're not on scholarship, to play a sport at
a really good school and get a great education.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Absolutely outside of Southern California, the state of California, how
you've seen water polo grow for both boys and girls.
You mentioned a couple of states outside of California that
there's opportunities at the collegiate level, but as a whole
have you seen it grow? Are we seen it in
the middle of part of the United States in the
South as well?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Absolutely? So.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Part of my job with USA is I travel from
Labor Day to Christmas just about every weekend going to
different states, so I spend a couple times a year.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
I'm in Texas. Texas is probably the next California for
water pools. They're growing and they made that.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
A state sanctioned like our CIF, a state sanctioned high
school sport two years ago, which it hadn't been. So
they have a state championship now in Texas that falls
under the.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Their state CIF. There.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Texas is growing quite a bit. Florida's had a very
competitive age group and high school program for a long time.
Like I said, in Michigan, Indiana on the east coast,
it's more club based up there, but they do play
high school games, but there's very few high schools that
actually have teams, so they're mostly club based there. But
as far as like growth in our sport goes, it's Indiana,
(14:36):
it's Florida, it's Texas, and all these others are still
like we're still building programs and our numbers. Like part
of my job is going and going to these states
and we have camps slash tryouts for kids to try
and make their zone team, to try and make the
national team. Those camp numbers, those kids keep coming out,
and we're getting more and more kids coming out to
those camps to see to try to sport, to try
(14:57):
to see if they can advance in the sport. I
should say, not just try the sport. But it's definitely
like growing, it's growing, for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
What do you see that it's been helpful in growing?
Is it just getting the word out there? Is it
more opportunities to have teams at the club level in
these different states? And so I'll be honest, I got
three daughters played lacrosse across here in southern California. Is
not very big. It's not huge at all. We're playing
teams an hour away in the club level just because
there's not enough girls playing that sport. But we're seeing
(15:26):
it grow and grow and grow. And all it took
was somebody saying, hey, interested in playing, and my oldest
daughter's like okay, And now my two younger daughters playing,
and their friends start playing. It just grows and grows.
Is that sort of the same thing you're seeing in
the development.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
That certainly helps. You know, what really helps is good coaching.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yeah, that attracts athletes, that attracts families to come and play.
There's a good coach there that cares about kids, is
knowledgeable about the sport, and you know, it covers all
those other things like the coaches everything. So you know,
like I said, I travel a lot, and you can
see where we have successful coaches. Where we have good
coach is we have successful programs. That's the simplest answer.
(16:03):
We're not real successful in monopolo. The coaching is not
as strong as it could be.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
That's really good.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Yeah, all right, So going back to wanting to get
into teaching and education, what was it that decided for
you to go down that path? And certainly you've been
in it for a long time now, been very successful
at the coaching at the level, but education as a whole,
Why was it that initial interest to give go down
that road?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, you knows.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
As an undergrad I studied kinesiology and physical education and
I had to choose a pathway whether to go athletic training.
I went to Lombach State, so I go Athletic Training route,
which is a great program where I could go to
secondary education route, and I chose a secondary education one.
Being an athlete in high school, I never took a
PE class, which was I thought, this is going to
be odd. I've never even been in a PE class,
(16:48):
and I'm going to teach a PE class. So it
was strange doing student teaching and I had to figure
out a lot of things, and thankfully I had a
good education to fall back on.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
But you know, I enjoy going to school. I did.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
I was did as you know, as a student. I
like coming here to school every day. It doesn't feel
like work when I come here, and teaching physiclication is fun.
I mean, I teach a lifeguarding class, I teach two
weight training classes. I teach a general PE class. I
teach two water bowl classes. I have one for my
boys and one for my girls. And you know, it's
(17:23):
it's fun just being active all day. I think it
keeps mind young, it keeps my body young, being in
physicalication and not being in a classroom and just talking
at kids all day. Certainly enjoy not grading papers, I
can tell you that. And I did my first couple
of years and that was rough. But and the in
(17:43):
the coaching piece, it really lends well to these kids' schedules.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
You know, we can have practice before school or right
after school.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
They don't have to come back at night and at
seven o'clock at night for training or anything. So it
makes their day a little bit easier to have somebody
here on campus that can schedule their trainings. I can
meet with them during office hours if I need to
show film or or at lunch or anything like that. So,
you know, teaching, especially teaching pe and coaching, the two
just are really coupled really well for my sentity. You know,
(18:13):
I get to leave year five o'clock every day, and
you know, I'm not coming back at seven o'clock at
night when I was running the club, which I was
doing anyway. But I think it makes a better a
better path and a better event for the kids, you know,
because it's it's convenient for them.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Talk Well, it's a little bit about coaching and your
philosophy and how you build a culture with within your programs.
Is that something you learn as you win? And are
you still developing you think as a coach year in
and year out and constantly learning.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, I am.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I am still constantly learning, still trying to figure it out.
We're trying to implement things just about every year. Usually
the summertime is big for me and in developing culture
as we kind of lead into our new school year
and we have all the athletes here at that point.
It took me a long time to figure it out.
I was very much a transactional leader when I started
this and was more probably concerned about results and winning
(19:09):
than I was about my athletes. So that has changed
over the years, and I wish it would have changed
a little sooner, but it did, and I really when
I realized it, I realized it, and the Masters really
helped me with that and focusing that culture.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
But it's something like you know, I think.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
It's it's a lot about leadership and about myself as
a coach and being dedicated as a coach and burning
those extra calories and preparing practice plans and preparing film
for these guys so they know that, you know, I'm
not just winging this that I'm preparing for you. So
I think I build trust that way and inspiration. We
don't have problems with the tendance or anything like that,
(19:46):
because I think they I think they enjoyed most of
the time coming here to train and it is hard
and it's difficult, and I have high expectations, but that
that culture of like committing to something which which we
have and we are definitely like outliers. I'm in Miria
to California, I'm an hour from San Diego, I'm an
hour from Orange County. I'm hour plus to LA So
(20:10):
we have to have a really good culture of of
athletes and families that are that are willing to travel.
We we have to go play summer leagues in Orange
County sometimes, you know, and I did for years, or
we're driving to San Diego for a night league or
whatever it is. So we have to have that that
buy in from the athletes and the parents for sure,
because it's it's it's definitely like something that requires everybody's
(20:33):
attention for sure. We need to have everybody on board
and understand like the lessons that are being learned here
in Waterpol are going to translate to to later in
life in college and and and sports and family and
you know, getting up early with your infants and getting
up early to take the kids to school, like these
things are all you know, part of life and part
of things that they learned, you know, hopefully while they're here.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
So it's interesting we hit at the professional level in
any sport. Uh, wins and losses is is how you
get you know, paid, and that's how you get your jobs.
It's a it's a performance based profession. It's hard, I
think for coaches at the high school level, even at
the college level as well, to realize it's not necessarily
(21:16):
about the wins and losses at that level. You've got
to build a culture, develop these kids emotionally, mentally and physically,
and if it turns into wins, great most times it
will if you do it right and you build that
strong culture and you get the kids discipline and they're
focused on what they're doing and they're successful what they're doing.
What you mentioned that at first it wasn't like that
(21:36):
for you. We wasn't that it kind of switched for you.
And how important is that for a coach toultimately realize
wins and losses are great, but we can still get
there by developing and and having that base, found that
foundation for a program.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Yeah, you know, it probably happened. Gosh. I started here.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
I coached two years in himmet and taught out there
before I got the job here at Myriada Valley in
ninety nine. Probably two thousand and three two thousand and
four was where I started to figure out I was.
I think I was more focused on getting these kids
to the next level and teaching them and grinding them
(22:16):
and giving them the correct skills that they needed, the tactics,
all those things. I was more focused about the end
result instead of like the process.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
That was it for me.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
It was like, I just want you guys to win.
I want you to be successful. I want to get
you in front of college coaches, like this is what
I'm supposed to be doing, which is definitely like part
of the job, but I was kind of losing I
think I was losing sight of just everything in between,
you know, like they need the mentorship you know here
at school with family and friends, with team building, like
(22:47):
all of those things. I think I was skipping out
on some of those things and just worried about, like
getting that end result. And I think around two thousand
and fours where that kind of shifted, where we were
having some success for sure, but I didn't feel like
I was making a difference in their lives.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
I didn't so up until that point, like yeah, you know,
and I and you know part of when I've listened
to your past podcast, you know, I think part of
being like a successful coach is having those athletes that leave.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Your program still still stay connected to you.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
So and I think probably after two thousand and four
is when like that started happening. I'm connected with all
of our alumnis. I played golf on Black Friday. They're
still a Black fighter right the every Thanksgiving I played
golf with eight of our alumni from twenty twelve.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
It was great.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
They're like, coach, you want to come golf with I'm like,
absolutely yes, So, you know, and getting invited to the
weddings and celebrating child verse for all these former athletes
and stuff like that is super important. So I don't
think I made that connection with them right away, but
it took a little while, and those connections are getting
better and better.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
When you look back on some of the coaches in
your life at different levels of your athletic career, do
you still think about things they taught you, strategies, philosophies.
Have you implemented any of those kind of ways over
your coaching career.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
It was a long time ago. Sports changed a lot.
Sports changed a lot. I played for a great high
school coach. His name is John Hale, a legendary coach
coach at roll In High School for twenty plus years,
and he taught me all the technical skills that I
(24:29):
needed to be successful. Super appreciative that played a community
college at Supers Scholarge for a guy named Bill Rawls
who was there for thirty years. He's in the Hall
of Fame there, and he taught me how to take
all of those technical skills and put him in a
tactical setting and was super successful there.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I had some shoulder issues and whatnot, and that was
kind of for.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Me if for me playing, but those two guys, for sure,
I still remember some of the things, but it was
a long time ago and the sports changed a lot
since then.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Uh. I appreciate they were They were.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Great family men, cared about my well being, always just
was concerned about me as a person. So I really
really appreciated that. And fortunately coach all passed away several
years ago, but Butt Rawls is still alive and retired
in Michigan, and we're friends on Facebook and once in
a while, I'll see him. I used to see him
(25:23):
a lot when his grandkids were playing here in so
cal He would come to games.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
So, uh, those two guys for sure. Really hell, he
helped me.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
And then you know, I've had the opportunity to work
with so many great coaches on the national team. Like
it's it's just been invaluable for me.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
You're into your coaching and professional career and you're you're
ways down the road and then you decide to get
your masters at Concordia University Irvine. Talk a little bit
about getting into the program, how you found the masters
and coaching Athletics Administration program, and why for you coach
at that time, it was important to go through the
program and get that master's degree.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
So I'm a public school teacher. Our pay is based
on years of service and education, so it already.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Had a master's degree.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
I did one super early when I was twenty four
years old and hadn't gone back to school since then.
So in twenty fifteen, actually, a teacher here was teaching
work Incordia one of the coaching classes, and I asked
him what it was about, and he's told me and
I was like, oh, I need to take some units,
and rather just paying a fee and just taking some
random units.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
I'm like, I'm gonna do another master's degree. Like why not?
Like this looks like a cool program. Great for me
because it was super flexible.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
I could work at night, work on the weekend, shoot
I was in Italy with a national team.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
When I was doing homework and posting on the message board.
For sure, it was.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Easy, right, I could get it all done, like while
I was traveling. I did it in like fifteen months
or something like that, just kind of knocked out two
classes at a time. And I'm super grateful that I
did it that way. Like I said, I could have
taken some random units. I gotten to a pay bump.
But going through the program really helped me and helped
me in a lot of different ways. Got me back
(27:01):
into reading again. I wasn't reading a lot kind of
in that time, so it really got me back into reading.
I've kind of kept that up, which was great. I
needed that little kick in the pants to like, you're
not done learning yet. You know you can still learn
some things here and the courses. The courses were great
made me a better writer for sure. And then just
everything that the that the program offered really helped me
(27:23):
as a coach for sure.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
So I enjoyed every part of it.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
I did it as fast as I can because I
I didn't get bored, Like I liked the classes. I
liked doing the homework like it was interesting to me.
So it was didn't feel like I was didn't feel
like work.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, And it was super convenient for you, as you
mentioned your overseas and doing the courses. What's next for you, coach?
I mean, you got a great career. You're still coaching
at a high level. You guys in the playoffs right now.
Every year. You've got the boys and girls program fighting
for championships in the CIF Southern Section, working with Team
US say, the developmental program traveling around as you mentioned,
(27:59):
develop and growing the sport of water polo. Is this
something you see doing for a long time? How much
more can you help the world the world of water polo?
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, I'm not tired of it yet, I can tell
you that. No.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Yeah, like I said, getting ready for playoffs. When our
girls season's over, we have national team stuff that's coming up.
I'm going to take our boys team here to Athens
in June. I will go with the national team in
August back to Europe. So you know, I got a
couple of trip, big trips this summer that we're doing.
But I'm still firing, like I'm ready to keep going.
I'm out of seeing and inside. I got about eight
(28:31):
more years teaching, but I still enjoy it. Like I said,
I like the coaching part of it, so I will
keep doing. I'm just gonna keep plugging along and doing
what I'm doing and trying to keep learning as much
as I possibly can.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
What do you think is next for water polo? The
development obviously is it getting more bodies playing as you're
working hard to do traveling around the country as you
mentioned from Labor Day during the fall. Is that what's
going to be key to growing the sport? Is it
something else where? Do you see water polo growing in
the next five ten years.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Well, we're hoping like LA in twenty eight is really
going to kind of boost water pool for us, so
you know, hope. You know, hosting in Los Angeles is
going to be is a big deal like for our
sport because it's going to attract more athletes for us.
So we usually see that kind of trend, like more
after the Olympic Games, we kind of get a little
wave of athletes coming out and trying the sport, and
(29:26):
hopefully when it's in La here coming up, that we're
going to get get an even bigger bump you know
for us in water Pool, Like it's getting better because
of the platforms that we can put like the NFHS,
Nate Network. We're getting a camera start on our pool
this year and we're going to start putting everything on NFHS.
So like there's it's more accessible to everyone. A lot
(29:49):
of people are putting things on YouTube. Now you can
watch games like all the time, so that part of
it is certainly helping, just posting games and posting competitions
and whatnot. So because we're not going to get the
TV coverage you know ever in water Pool, it's not
going to happen. Happens during the Olympics and that's it,
you know. Like I said, for our development, the club
(30:12):
system is great, The high school system is really good.
So the numbers are hopefully just gonna, like I said,
you know, keep growing, But we just need word of mouth.
We need friends to tell friends, Yeah, bring your friend
to practice. Like, we get a lot of kids that
you know, are just not good at land sports, you know,
not necessarily great summer, is just not good at land sports.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
So they'll come and play water pool.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
But it's really just kind of word of mouth and
like bringing friends to practice.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
It's going to help us.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
It's funny you mentioned the post Olympic boom because again
with three daughters, I go back to the last couple
Olympics swim when we were younger in the summer games
and gymnastics, and they're sitting and watching gymnastics happen, and
all of a sudden at the Olympics, says and it's like,
where can we go do gymnastics? So we got them
involved in the gymnastics program here locally, here in the
San Fernando Valley, and as time went on, they want
(31:00):
to do the dedication and you know, it turns into
more competitive and all right, we're getting to a point
now are you going to do this for real or
are you doing this for recreation? But it's interesting, it's
real the the Olympic boom, the post Olympic boom for
these sports. You see curling in the Winter Olympics, all
of a sudden people are interested in curling and it's
grown into this great popular recreational sport. You guys really
(31:22):
do need to feast off that right after every Olympics
and capture that momentum.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Absolutely, absolutely so we're starting, like this weekend. We have
on our men's side, we have a semi professional league
that is starting this weekend, so that certainly helps us.
We're still developing on the girls side, but people that
are interested you can find USA Water Bowl and check
out our national league. You see some current Olympians, former Olympians,
(31:48):
upcoming Olympians.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
That'll all be there competing on different club teams.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
So you know, we're trying and trying to get sponsorship
and big media for those those types of things, but
still like we're still developing sport.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Well, Brian, I appreciate you joining us here on the podcast.
Love spreading the water polo of talk out there to
everybody outside of Southern California. Certainly being based here in
Southern California, I know all about it, but for those
in Middle America, those watching around the world, exposing them
more to the sport of water polo. Thank you so
much for that. Thanks for everything. You're doing and coaching,
(32:21):
and best of luck to your girls team here and
hopefully a long run here to a championship in the
Southern Section.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
We're definitely gonna try. Thank you very much for having
me on his pleasure.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Well there he goes Brian Lenton, head coach of the
Marrietta Valley High School boys and girls water polo programs
Team USA as well out there growing the sport year
in and year out. Good luck to his girls team
as they make their way through the CIF Southern Section
playoffs here in the next couple of weeks. Thanks to
you for listening and watching. Hope you enjoyed hearing more
(32:51):
about Brian's story, his coaching background, and water polo as
the sport continues to grow here nationally and internetally. Thanks
to Brian, Thanks to you for listening. Find out more
about the Masters in Coaching and Athletics Administration program at
Concordia University, Irvine by going to CUI dot edu slash
coaching CUI dot edu slash coaching. They got six start
(33:15):
times throughout the year, a one thousand dollars scholarship for
all new students entering the program. Better at your career
at the Masters in Coaching Athletics Administration Program at Concordia University, Irvine.
Thanks for being a part of episode seventy five, the
Diamond edition of the Masters in Coaching Podcast. Until next time,
Tim Kate saying so long everybody,
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