A bit more oomph was added to the Malibu High Sharks boys water polo team’s preparation for the 2019 season, compared to seasons past.
Instead of seven to nine days of grueling two-a-day practices that focused on conditioning and skills work, the Sharks, reigning champs of the Tri-Valley League, had 13 days of “Hell Week.” And yes, despite the fact the Sharks ply their craft in the pool, a lot of stairs were run. Eighty-one of them, in fact, located at the main portion of Malibu High’s campus.
“I just had my boys running stairs,” Hayden Goldberg, the squad’s head coach, said in an Aug. 23 interview. “They were so bummed. I was like, ‘This is good. You guys will always remember this when you are walking up these stairs.’ We are going to have some strong kids just due to that staircase.”
The former Malibu player said extra days were added to the annual preseason training in order to build team chemistry for a group that lost 11 players from the 2018 roster due to graduation.
“It was really good,” Goldberg said. “The boys got in shape a lot sooner than even they expected and bonded really well.”
The extended “Hell Week” included a scrimmage against a talented Righetti High squad, a scavenger hunt, dodgeball game and beach training. Throughout training, the players followed instructions from Goldberg, a Malibu coach for over a decade, and assistant coach Mike Mulligan, the long-time Sharks head coach, who switched roles with Goldberg ahead of last season. The players also received tutelage from water polo players who have played or are currently playing on the college level that have a connection to Malibu High. The players/tutors included Jens Cole, Chris Dilworth, Mike Potter, Tor Cole, and Sophie Spivack.
“A lot of them talked about playing in college and what it took for them to get to that level,” Goldberg recalled.
The squad scrimmaged Santa Barbara on Tuesday and will play at Santa Ynez on Thursday at 3:15 p.m. to begin their season. The team will then play in the Conejo Classic Tournament in Thousand Oaks on Sept. 7. Malibu will host Moorpark on Sept. 10, and then host the Malibu Varsity Tournament beginning on Sept. 12.
Each year, Goldberg wants Malibu to hit the pool against tough foes in order to challenge the squad to strive to be the best in the area.
“Pretty much every team we lost to last year, I scheduled a game against,” he said. “Every team that was within one or two goals, they rescheduled with us.”
The formidable foes of the Sharks could be a bit tougher because of the roster Malibu is splashing into the 2019 campaign. Experienced players including All-Tri-Valley League performers Harry Lang, Clifford Omelia, Jack Hughes, Lewis Baron, and Nathan Rucker-Jensen—who led Malibu to a 25-5 record and had a run in the CIF playoffs—graduated last spring. In their place now is a group of players who were mostly backups a season ago. One key starter from last season is still swimming with the Sharks, though: senior goalkeeper Chris Rucker-Jensen, Nathan’s brother and an honorable mention all-league performer last season.
Goldberg said the Sharks are ready for the season, but still trying to forge a team identity—the “who’s who and where’s where,” Goldberg described.
“We have a lot of talent and a lot of guys who know how to play water polo, … they are putting the pieces together,” the coach said.
