Offensive standout beats her own scoring record
Her coach has a silver medal from the 1984 Olympic games in Los
Angeles. And someday Morgan Hill’s Chelsea Laning wouldn’t mind
having one either.
Offensive standout beats her own scoring record
Her coach has a silver medal from the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles. And someday Morgan Hill’s Chelsea Laning wouldn’t mind having one either.
“I think that’s every athlete’s dream come true to play on the Olympic team,” said Laning, who was recently named All-American for the second year in a row as a result of her stellar play on the California State University – Monterey Bay’s NCAA Division II water polo team. “That would be fun and amazing.”
A graduate of Live Oak High School in 2004, Laning has had a knack for scoring since she first took up the sport her freshman year of high school. By the time her senior year rolled around, Laning was one of the top scorers in the Central Coast Section.
Playing the demanding two-meter hole set position (similar to a center in basketball) Laning scored an almost unheard of 155 goals in her final season with the Acorns.
At CSMB last year, Laning picked up right where she left off, scoring 118 goals for the Otters in her freshman campaign. This year she upped the ante and wound up the season with 120 goals – both totals were a first for the university.
“I broke my own record,” said Laning. “It was pretty fun. A lot of them were scored on backhands, which is more of a surprise shot.”
This year, she also scored a number of goals from the driver position playing along the right side of the pool, but most of the time she was right out in front of the opposition’s goal, wreaking havoc.
“The award still says the same thing as it did last year, but she’s greatly improved since then as a player,” said California State Monterey Bay Coach Gary Figueroa, who was a driver on the U.S. Olympic team in 1980 and 1984. “She’s more of a complete player now.”
With a 5-foot-9 frame and a muscular physique, Laning has the physical attributes that are necessary to play the demanding position at a high level. She also has the ability to break free and score with either a rifled, straight-on shot or her signature backhand.
Her longest goal this season was scored from the middle of the pool, which gives an idea of just how hard her shots are thrown.
As Laning pursues her dream of making the National Team, the one big question mark is her speed in the pool.
“She would need to improve her overall speed and conditioning,” said Figueroa. “We’ve been working a lot on that and on her leg strength. She is a very mobile two-meter player with the ability to shoot and score. The other drawback is that she’s not around that level of player much.”
Since CSMB is a Division II program that is only in its infancy, Figueroa was pointing out that Laning seldom faces the top players from Division I programs like Stanford.
“When we face UC Davis or Santa Clara or teams like that she has more difficulty scoring, and definitely needs to see that player more often (to get to the next level),” Figueroa said. “Division II allows her to excel but in the same regards it tends to hold her back.”
Statistically, no one could hold Laning back this season. In addition to her 120 goals, she had 31 assists for 151 point total points. She also added 41 steals in 34 games. Laning led the nation in points per game this past season, was second in total goals and third in total points. She is also is the school’s all-time leader in goals (238) and points (296) – and still has two seasons remaining.
While she enjoys the limelight, being the main offensive threat also has its drawbacks.
“I get quite a beating out there,” Laning said. “I’m usually right there in the shooting zone. It’s a pretty hard position for a lot of the smaller players to play. I’ve been grabbed, double-teamed and had all sorts of things happen to me out there. Whatever they can legally or illegally get away with under the water they will do.”
Live Oak boys’ water polo coach Mac Haines wasn’t surprised to learn that Laning had been named to the prestigious squad for a second year in a row.
“I coached her quite a bit in high school,” said Haines, who has led the Live Oak boys’ polo team to two CCS titles in his 20-plus seasons in Morgan Hill. “A lot of times she would play in the boys practices. She would never shy away from getting in the pool and mixing it up with the boys.”
Haines believes that a major factor in her success at the college level was her decision to go to CSMB in the first place.
“It was a perfect situation for Chelsea,” Haines said. “Gary is a great coach, and he’s very offensive-minded. He was one of the finest scorers in the history of the sport, and he’s a good coach at the same time. It was also a brand new program just getting going down there and Chelsea was one of the most experienced players on the team. So it all just worked out perfectly. Hopefully, her success helps with their recruiting.”
This year Laning wasn’t the only Otter player to be named to the All-American team. Senior Alex Davis, the team’s two-meter defender, also made the prestigious team.
“She was a big part of my game too. She would get a lot of assists and passed the ball to me a lot,” Laning said. “I’m excited for my teammate. And considering that I’m only a sophomore, it’s pretty exciting too.”
Despite having quality players like Laning and Davis on the team, the Otters struggled to a 7-27 record this year.
“It’s really interesting; our team wasn’t the best but we had some of the better players on it,” Laning said.
According to the All-American hole set, what singled her out was her strength to play the position, the fact that she was left-handed, which could be confusing to defenses, and her strong backhand shot.
“I also worked a lot harder this year than last year,” said Laning. She’s continuing to work in the off-season, teaching swimming lessons at her family’s home in Morgan Hill during the summer months.
In high school, Laning competed in the 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke and the 50 free, but says that her desire to play water polo was much stronger, since she is more attracted to team sports as opposed to individual events.
In addition to teaching swimming, Laning also enjoys refereeing games during the off-season. This summer she will ref a number of boys and girls club games in the Bay Area for kids ranging in age from 14 to 18.
“She’s officiating now and doing a really good job at it,” Haines said. “Being around Gary has helped her a lot and now she’s giving something back to the sport. I’m glad to see that she’s really becoming a student of the game.”
For Chelsea, all of the extra-curricular activity is crucial to helping her reach the next level.
“I want to improve even more,” she said. “I’m hoping to go All-American again. It would be awesome (to make the National Team) but if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen. You never know what will happen in the next two years but it would be awesome to get that far.”
