Building from scratch | Bellevue girls back in pool for first time since 2005

Published 2:19 pm Wednesday, May 1, 2013

With its place among the state’s most competitive swim and dive teams for both boys and girls, Bellevue High School seems a natural fit for its own squad in girls water polo.

The Wolverines have been perennial contenders in the pool and are also the defending state champions of boys water polo after alum Evan Kaseguma helped revive the program in the 1990s, during his own prep days.

Now, he is doing the same thing for the girls.

Other than a brief stint from 1999-2005, Bellevue has not offered a girls water polo team, and the sport is still not sanctioned by the WIAA, which governs prep competition in sports like basketball and soccer.

But in 2013, after some grassroots recruiting efforts by players and behind-the-scenes work from a handful of parent supporters, the Wolverines are back in the pool.

“We had played water polo in the summer and it was really fun,” said freshman Sophie French, who along with her twin sister Lillie and junior Sierra Anderson helped spread the word about the program during the fall and winter. “At first, we got a couple weird looks. But then we started getting people who were wanted to play and some of them were on the swim team, which was definitely a plus.”

The trio handled the legwork around the school – setting up booths at lunch, presenting at assemblies and talking to their peers during swim season and at other sporting events – while Kaseguma worked with athletic director Lance Gatter to bring the program to life.

“We had heard from girls and parents here and there, and even from the administration,” Kaseguma said. “It didn’t seem like anyone really wanted to lead the effort, and I didn’t really know any of the girls.”

But with his own experience helping form the boys team while still in high school and passion for the game, Kaseguma knew the time was right.

Anderson, who Kaseguma later named captain for this year’s team, said she has played water polo for six years on a club team and tried to convey her love of the sport when making recruiting pitches to classmates.

“It has made my year,” Anderson said.

Turnout was better than expected for a first-year program, with a total of 23 girls on the team. Kaseguma said the boys program began with only 14 players at inception and Mercer Island, another perennially strong swim and water polo school has only 15 girls on their team this year.

Perhaps even more encouraging is the excitement among the younger classes of Wolverines, with 13 of the 23 freshman.

While the results in the pool will not have Bellevue in the mix for a state title this year, Kaseguma and his players said the growth has been extraordinary both in the pool and as a team.

“Most of these girls had never seen a water polo ball,” Kaseguma said. “We’ve been able to progress faster than I ever imagined.”

A 17-4 setback to Bainbridge early in the season was somewhat expected, but Kaseguma was pleasantly surprised when his team closed the gap to only 4-3 in another match with the same squad a month later. The victories have not all been moral, either, with Bellevue picking up four wins on the year and playing a handful of close matches along the way.

“We want something similar to what the boys have right now,” he said, referencing the back-to-back state title winners. “The first part is getting them exposed to the sport.”