These fans are die-hards. They come early, they stay late, and
they cook the team giant spreads of food.
They are what soccer moms have nightmares about. They are water
polo moms.
Across America, soccer moms give sliced oranges, granola bars
and sports drinks to their mini-warriors at halftime. The UCLA
men’s water polo moms are a little different. Their
“mini-warriors” are not so mini, with the majority of
the Bruins standing over 6 feet. The postgame food they offer
resembles a small banquet, and their sons are the defending
national champions.
It’s a true story. The UCLA men’s water polo team
has team moms. It’s been a long-standing tradition that after
every game, home or away, the guys are greeted with a feast put
together by a different family on the team.
Three moms do a bulk of the organizing this year: Jane
Blanchette, Pam Powell and Julie Didinger. They are the moms of
senior John Blanchette, junior Logan Powell and junior goalie Will
Didinger. The three women put a lot of planning into the meals way
before game day, setting the wheels in motion at the start of the
year.
“We set up a fund to collect money from each family at the
beginning of the year,” Jane Blanchette said. “And then
a sign-up list goes out, and the parents sign up to provide
different meals for the boys and the parents after each
game.”
And their menu is as deep as a coach’s playbook. This
season there has been Italian, barbecue and teriyaki chicken, pot
stickers, steak, garlic mashed potatoes, sandwiches and numerous
other dishes.
Senior David Pietsch was cautious of hurting any feelings, but
did admit a certain standout.
“We made homemade pizzas at the Simpkins’ house in
Santa Cruz. They have an outdoor pizza oven ““ (it was) pretty
extravagant.”
The moms go all-out for the team. Redshirt sophomore Justin
Johnson’s mother was rumored to have woken up at 5 a.m. on
game day in order to cook her meal for the team.
Judging by the incredibly warm and fun atmosphere around the
table, you would think you were eating lunch poolside at a
kid’s birthday, instead of with one of the NCAA’s elite
teams.
Here’s the catch: It’s no one’s birthday, and
these guys are heading to the conference tournament with hopes to
compete for the national title again.
And that is the beautiful contradiction of this team. These guys
battle fiercely in the water for four quarters, and then hop out to
a hot cooked meal with mom and dad. They are warriors during the
match, and they hang out and laugh with the folks after the whistle
blows.
The water polo moms create an atmosphere around the team that
stands out at the collegiate level.
“A lot of parents come to every game,” Didinger
explained. “It’s fun having the fan support. And
we’ve got a core group of people who are always in the
stands, so it’s nice having some of those faces out there,
and people cheering for you.”
The journey is sometimes long for parents to make it to the
games. Early in the season, the families flew out with the team for
a few games in Hawaii, Pietsch’s home state. Pietsch’s
family hosted everyone at a big barbecue. When the team went up to
Santa Cruz, Matt and Brian Jacobs’ family hosted a barbecue
for both UCLA and UCSC because another brother plays for Santa
Cruz.
Other schools have food occasionally, but they do nothing on the
scale of the Bruins, which leads the team to appreciate life in
Westwood’s waters
“Other teams are jealous, I’ll tell you that,”
Pietsch said. “Everyone is jealous when they walk by our
little potluck here. Everyone’s like, “˜God, how come
they get such good food.’ … I mean, each family takes one
meal or game and kind of does their thing.”
I can guarantee you “their thing” never involves
oranges and granola bars. Water polo moms don’t do that. And
soccer moms don’t go to Hawaii to open the season and then
hope to fly to Pennsylvania to finish it off with another national
title.
The fact of the matter is that the team moms of the Bruins
simply outclass those of the Under-12 Division 3 Culver City
Bobcats. Somewhere out there is a group of soccer moms holding a
tray of sliced oranges while crying.
E-mail Gordon at bgordon@media.ucla.edu.