First-year coach Hayley Vandercook will skipper the San Benito
girls water polo team this year
HOLLISTER
Hayley Vandercook wasn’t kidding around when she said that she was going to implement two-a-day practices for the girls water polo team.
Taking over the reigns from Lacey Sutton, who coached the San Benito Lady ‘Balers for two seasons on an interim level, Vandercook is in her first year at the helm in Hollister, and is looking to mimic the team after her playing days at Michigan State.
Although sharing the pool with the boys team certainly comes with its scheduling conflicts, and at first glance would prevent one from implementing two-a-day practices, Vandercook balances the day with practice bright and early – 6 a.m. to be exact, either in the pool or in the weight room.
“They complained a little bit, but it’s not gonna change,” said Vandercook, who’s up at 4:45 a.m. so she can drive from her home in Santa Cruz.
“They have to deal with it, and they are. They’re getting here on time and it wakes them up for school,” Vandercook added. “This is only the first week, mind you, but so far it’s fine.
“I’m pretty tired, but they seem all right.”
Vandercook, 24, graduated from Harbor High in 2002, Michigan State in 2006 and American University in 2008. She was previously living on the East Coast – in the Washington D.C. area where water polo is nearly non-existent – before she got the water polo itch.
“I just love water polo,” she said. “I think it’s just the greatest game.”
Although she still plays on the MSU alumni team, which is made up of former Spartans all across the country, the players more or less exchange e-mails during the year, sending workouts and practice regimens through the Web. The team meets up for three or four tournaments over the course of the year, including the Spartan alumni tournament, where Vandercook says they essentially “get beat up by college players.”
“I always thought I was gonna dive in college,” said Vandercook, who was a diver for seven years and didn’t pick up water polo until her sophomore year in high school. “To do something in college you have to absolutely love it, because there’s times you’re gonna end up hating it and you have to remember why you’re playing.
“I think I wore myself out on the diving front … To decide to play a collegiate sport you have to love it, otherwise you’ll regret doing it.”
As a hole set in water polo, Vandercook helped lead a Spartan team to four straight Big 10 titles in college, and even helped trump the University of Florida in the Club Water Polo Associations National Championship her senior year.
Taking much of her coaching style from her MSU coach, Scott Voltz, Vandercook is looking to make her first year in coaching just as successful as her career as a player.
“I’m gonna try to get them on as much of a college water polo practice schedule as I can,” she said. “There are definitely a couple girls who have the potential to play in college, and so I just want, first and foremost, for them to be in shape. I’m gonna be hard on the conditioning aspect. They’re lifting weights as well as swimming.
“I’m just trying to model and remember the kind of stuff that we did (in college) that worked and stuff that made me hurt all weekend to get them going.”
Spending an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon in the deep pool, the team rounds out practices with an hour swimming and then spends extra time either in the weight room, running, or doing exercises in the pool.
“They definitely have a lot of potential. Unfortunately, there are a lot of seniors, so hopefully they can do really well,” she said. “But there some really talented seniors in this group.”
Senior Sarah Kelso, who makes the morning commute from San Juan Bautista, has embraced Vandercook’s coaching style. Although she may have been slightly turned off at first, Kelso notices Vandercook’s drive as a coach, and her desire to be successful.
“She’s really working hard and she gets into the water and shows us how to do drills. She puts a lot of time in,” Kelso said. “I think it benefits us really well. We have a fairly new team, but if we practice twice a day, we’re really gonna get a lot better.
“Water polo is my favorite sport, so of course I’m gonna work my hardest. But I’m not a morning person.”
