Water Polo Team to Train in Long Beach for Olympics

LONG BEACH —  The United States Water Polo Federation has chosen Long Beach as a training site for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Federation President Richard J. Foster has opened negotiations with Cal State Long Beach for use of its pool. The Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool also will be used as a training site and for international tournaments and matches.

Still to be worked out is where the players will live, although Cal State Long Beach acting Athletic Director Dave O’Brien is set to offer help in obtaining lodging in the university dorms, which have a 25% vacancy rate.

At last week’s Alamo Cup ’93 at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool, athletes from five countries were housed in dormitories at Brooks College on the city’s east side. But Foster said U.S. athletes, some of whom are married, may require apartments or condominiums rather than dorms.

“The housing part of the deal is unsettled at present,” Foster said. “But the coaching staff plans to have all the players staying in Long Beach.”

The U.S. team has never had a place it could call home. In the last eight years it trained primarily at Newport Harbor High School in Newport Beach and sometimes at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. Players were not housed together and workouts were held a couple of nights every other week or when enough players were in town.

Under new Coach Rich Corso, the federation hopes to take a more active role in conditioning and training. Foster, 42, who played water polo at Wilson High School and Cal State Long Beach, felt it was necessary to locate where athletes can live and train together.

“Having the Olympics on this continent and on U.S. soil dictates that we give the effort our best shot,” Foster said. “We won’t win a gold medal with two workouts a week or with players scattered around the country.”

Veteran player Doug Kimbell, a Cal State Long Beach graduate, likes the idea of a more structured training system.

“They want to make sure that everyone is in the same type of shape before events,” he said. “They want to have more control in weight training and conditioning, rather than relying on the athletes to do it themselves.”

Foster said the federation has offered to pay to upgrade lights at the 49ers’ outdoor pool. Night swimming takes place there now, but there is not enough light to play international matches.