By Giselle Giles
The Buena Park High School Girls Water Polo program has attained an outstanding honor, achieving a historic milestone while having fun doing what its players and coaches love. The team has won a CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) championship.
Buena Park High School Principal Dr. Sonje Berg described the girls’ historic achievement as “Absolutely amazing. What a great accomplishment they did for their school!”
The Coyote Girls Water Polo team went down to Anaheim knowing that one win stood between the girls and the championship. The girls faced a squad from West Torrance.
Very early on, the game went a bit sour for the Coyotes as the Torrance girls scored on their first advance on offense about 30 seconds into the match.
However, the Buena Park girls recovered quickly, scoring on their own first drive, to tie the game at one each.
For the faithful Coyote fans in attendance, decked out in green and holding light-up signs that encouraged the team, the match became a somewhat comfortable affair into the end of the first half. Buena Park High School’s girls scored a second, and a third, and then a fourth and a fifth goal to go up by a score of 5-1 before the two teams traded goals for a halftime score of Buena Park High School 6, West Torrance High School 2.
The third quarter put a mild scare into the Coyote crowd, because West Torrance scored two goals to make the score 6-4.
“I was trying to minimize expectations for most of the game, because I have been to many athletic events where things did not go our way at the last minute,” said BPHS English teacher Ms. Nolina Beauchamp.
Then the fourth quarter became fun for BPHS fans. Two goals by the Coyotes made the score 8-4. The fans started to hope that the girls could hang on to the lead. Beauchamp waited a long time before she thought the girls would win.
“I wasn’t going to count my chickens before all the BPHS ducks were out of the pool, so to speak,” she said.
BPHS math teacher Ms. Melody Volen said she had a little more confidence.
“In the fourth period, with about two minutes left in the match,” she asserted, “I knew that the other team could not score four goals. So that was the moment I knew for sure [the Coyotes] would win.”
Quality play had put the BPHS girls into that position. Going into the CIF playoffs, the Coyote Ladies had created a 20-win season against only seven losses. These players and their coaches worked very hard in and out of the pool and at every practice tirelessly striving to achieve success.
Recently, they left the pool at Anaheim with the champion plaque in their collective arms.
The players and coaches recently shared observations about their passions, efforts and experiences they lived individually and as a team, explaining learning moments that lead them to the top of the CIF mountain.
The players first shared how they came to play for the team and explained the fondness they found for this particular squad of champions.
Seventeen-year-old senior Veronica Alatorre remembers, ironically, “I joined water polo mainly because my friends made me do it, but there is not a day that I have regrets about doing it.
So what cemented her love for the sport and the people with and for whom she now plays?
“What I like about water polo is that it’s a contact sport and I love to be able to play with every individual person on the team,” she explained.
Eighteen-year-old team goalie Vanesa Navarrete started playing water polo as an incoming freshman and finished her high school career with four years of experience.
She said, “I love swimming and being in the water, so [this game] was a perfect fit for me.” She added, “I also like that it is a team sport, so whether we win or lose, it’s together.”
The girls won it together.
That rise to the top, however, did not come without significant struggle.
Vanesa shared the difficulties of her position as a goalie. “Sometimes there is nothing that I can really do,” she said, remembering the frustration of watching an opponent or two treading water in possession of the ball feet in front of the Coyote goal with a clear shot.
Seventeen-year-old senior Jasmine Garcia, one of the team’s prolific shooters and stealers, shared her experiences with the team. “I love playing the game,” she smiled. “It is always fun to learn new things in the water.”
Nearly mirroring Veronica’s casual joining of the team, Jasmine remembers, “At first I just joined for fun—and I was never really serious about it,” she said. “Then, I ended up falling in love with it.”
Reflecting the teamwork that might just have put the girls into the playoffs, Jasmine revealed, “While playing the game, the main thing that goes through my mind is, ‘What can I do to help my team?’”
She continued, “I would say something that causes the water polo team to have extreme improvement is the teamwork and determination.”
The players expressed their excitement and sentiment about the effort of the team and the work that paid off in the form of historic successes that they achieved this season.
“Being top in our division is something none of us ever imagined,” Veronica admitted before the playoffs began. “The feeling is awesome.”
Jasmine said, “We play great defense. When we play together, we are unstoppable.”
“I know that if we’re going to a tournament, it is going to be a very good time,” Vanesa said before the girls made the playoffs. “It feels really good to know that all the time we put into practice was for something, to be top three in the league.”
Later, the girls would get to first place in the standings. Then they achieved a Number One tanking. Staffers on the BPHS campus cannot remember that happening in a long time, if ever.
The coaches praised the determination and improvement of the team throughout the season. Shane Lafortune, head coach of the team, said, “The obstacle that the team overcame was the girls believing they could win.”
The varsity team has improved a lot. “This program the past three years hadn’t won more than eight games,” said Lafortune. “This is not so good when you play over 28 games a year. These girls were used to losing and didn’t really feel like they were good enough,” he explained. “But As the season progressed, they started to realize how good they were.”
Some players led the team to the top. Co-head coach Ted Clark said, “Carmen Liberto had a breakout game vs. La Mirada, scoring five goals in one quarter—and six for the game.”
Coach Lafortune also praised the individual team members who made a great contribution to the team.
“Kylee Montano, a transfer from Western High School, really helped,” he said. “Jackie Aquino, coming back to water polo after a year off, also really helped take the team to the next step.”
The girls did not just battle their own self-doubts.
“When the swimming pool was broken for five weeks in the middle of the season,” Coach Clark remembers, “they had to use a variety of swimming pools to practice in.”
Lafortune saw the obstacles too. “I understood there were going to be speed bumps and other obstacles along the way,” he said.
However, no lack of confidence resided in the minds of the coaches. In fact, Lafortune said, “I expected to win a CIF championship.”
He praised the achievement of the team that grew throughout the regular season. “This season alone they did not lost a game by more than four points, which is a tremendous accomplishment,” he reported.
The stress of the season also began to grow. However, it did not break the girls; it bonded them. “The chemistry is great with the girls,” the head coach reported. “I felt as we played more games the girls got closer and closer.”
The coaches described the leadership of the senior players as one ingredient of the squad’s brilliant climb to historic heights.
“The secret to the team’s success is a lot of senior leadership,” Lafortune said. “We are fortunate to have eight seniors and when you have that many, it is a very big help.”
Coach Clark revised and added to that perspective, saying, “A secret to the team’s success is not just having eight seniors that play very well, but having eight seniors that played varsity for three years.”
The team has realized its goal with the guidance of the co-head coaches and the help of Assistant Coach Aracely Juarez.
Dr. Berg described his feelings about the team’s effort and what it means for female sports on the campus.
“The Girls Water Polo CIF Championship was a proud moment for me as a principal,” he said, “because of the effort we have been dedicating to improving our female athletic programs at the school. All our female sports programs are improving by leaps and bounds and Girls Polo showed exactly what hard work and determination can accomplish. Our girls did not just show up this season, they showed up to compete, which resulted in victories.”
Ms. Volen said, “I believe that this is a huge victory for not only girls’ athletics but for sports that are not the most popular with our students.”
The spirit of the girls might now become contagious, but it has always lived within one of BPHS’ loyal supporters.
“It is my honor to be part of the excitement at Coyoteland,” said Ms. Rosie Whitaker, BPHS Attendance Clerk and one of the most consistent attendees at Coyote student events of all kinds. “To see the girls score was a big ‘wahoo’ with my arms stretched out,” she said. “Congratulations to the team and their wonderful coaches who believe in them.”
About the Girls Water Polo team and its coaches, Ms. Volen said, “I was excited to cheer them on with all the staff and students there to support them. I also felt a sense of pride for our school. Go Buena Park High School!”
