Nov. 17, 2009

UCI Men's Water Polo: A Family Affair

By: Eric Patten

            For most athletic programs drawing an analogy between family and team always seems applicable. However, for the UC Irvine men’s water polo squad the comparison could not be any more literal.

             The Anteaters have nine brothers, cousins and/or relatives of former UCI athletes on their current roster, including two sets of identical twins.

            “It’s a huge compliment [to have this kind of family lineage],” head coach Marc Hunt said. “Brothers often play the same sports. If an older brother felt like he was having a bad experience, on a collegiate level, he would tell his younger brother, so I take it as a compliment.”

            Among the players related to one another are twins Brandon and Matt Johnson and Kyle and Tom Kruip.

            “When you have two sets of twins you really start to notice what’s consistent (behaviorally),” Hunt said. “Brothers have a tendency to motivate each other. It also has impact, in that way, on the rest of the team.”

            For the Kruips, who are both field players, the motivation comes from guarding each other on a daily basis in practice.

             “It helps because you know how to push each other’s limits,” Kyle Kruip said. “It’s easier to train with someone that knows how to push you.”

            According to Hunt, this has been a factor for most of the squad, even those whom are not blood-related. The program as a whole has a very “family-like closeness”, the sixth-year head coach said.

            Of course, there are potential problems that come out of having such a family-oriented group of athletes, especially the three sets of brothers.

            “From a development term, you see some big differences between the brothers and their teammates who are not related,” Hunt said. “Sometimes you have competition between brothers that is harsher than other teammates. Sometimes unrelated teammates may not be as passionate in disagreement.”

SEEING DOUBLE

            A tertiary problem is that twins can be very difficult to tell apart.

            Hunt said that during a practice early in the off-season he was instructing one of the Kruips to do something and was not sure who he was talking to.

            Considering that the twins are relatively the same height (around 6-5), have similar body types and had caps covering their similarly trimmed brown hair, it’s easy to understand why there could be some confusion.

            “After that we gave Tom a single-digit number, 7, and Kyle a double-digit number, 12, to help,” Hunt said.

            Obviously, it’s not unprecedented for people to mix the two of them of up.

            “People will say, ‘you should get tattoos of T or K on your forehead’ or use a sharpie to write an initial on your forehead,” Kyle Kruip said. “Yeah, we could do that, or you could get to know us and learn who is who that way. But I understand. After 21 years our parents still get us confused…”

            Tom quickly interjected to clarify his brother’s potentially problematic statement. “But that only happens once and a while.”

            Raised in Tustin, California, the Kruips played together at Foothill High School. After which, Tom competed at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for a year, while Kyle played at Golden West College. It was the longest continuous time they had ever spent apart.

            “I became very independent,” Tom Kruip said. “I got numb to being alone, but then Kyle would come around and visit and you’d realize how much you missed that person. I’m naturally competitive and I reach new heights with him [Kyle].”

            With that in mind, they practically finished each others’ sentences saying that transferring to UCI was a “no-brainer” and a “perfect fit”.

            “It’s nice having your brother here,” Kyle Kruip said. “I got to watch Tom when I was a redshirt last year. You see those outrageous shots coming from someone you’ve known so long. You say, ‘That’s amazing’.”

            The Kruips and Johnsons may, in a way, steal the spotlight from time-to-time because they are both talented tandems.

            Tom Kruip has led the Anteaters in scoring on five separate occasions and is second on the team in goals scored, while Kyle, who is an integral part of the offense, diverting opponents and creating shots for his teammates, has managed 18 goals, sixth on the team.  

            At the same time, Matt Johnson has started 20 of the team’s 28 games in goal, while his brother Brandon, a driver, is third on the Anteaters with 35 goals.

            “Despite not playing the same position, [the Johnson’s] are more in-tune than any brothers on the team,” Hunt said.

            Hunt also said that the Johnsons, recruited from Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California, were a package deal.

            “They clearly wanted to be together,” he said. “They’re very keyed in with each other all the time. They don’t have to say anything. It’s a matter of simple facial expressions.”

FAMILY TIES

            Other players with family ties seem to have a special connection with one another as well.

            Kyle Baxter, a junior, and his brother Trent, a sophomore, are both currently on the team, while driver Derrik Clair-Williams’s older brother Nik played at UCI until 2006.

            Sam Figueroa, a sophomore driver, is senior Harvey Newland’s cousin.

            But the six degrees of separation hardly stop there. Figueroa’s father, Gary, starred at UCI in the 80s, while Harvey’s grandfather, Ted, is the winningest coach in UCI and NCAA water polo history and his father George is in the UCI Athletics Hall of Fame. Harvey’s older brother, Ty, graduated from UCI in 2005 after competing for four years, and his younger brother, Winston, is a highly-touted player in the Junior College ranks.

            “At one point in time, Gary [Figueroa] was considered the best water polo player on the planet,” said Hunt, who himself was a two-time All-American at UCI in 1992 and ’93.

            Gary Figueroa won an Olympic silver medal for the United States in 1988 in Seoul, Korea, which speaks well to Hunt’s loftiest goals for the program.

            “Our program can be tough,” Hunt said. “We’re moving players to the men’s national team and on to the Olympics. A brother [of a current or former player] knows what to expect. Knows the work they need to put in.”

            When everyone is seemingly related, or at least has great chemistry, an environment cultivating winning and hard work is an easy thing to accept and thrive in.

            “He [his brother Kyle] is definitely the guy I hate to guard in practice,” Tom Kruip said. “I have to work twice as hard to get half the things done.”

            To an extent that familiarity and tenacious work ethic is the entire team’s greatest strength.