Water polo coach Robin Sanchez helped change the sport for high school teens
El Cajon Valley was on the verge of losing the boys’ water polo game in 1983 when a young alum, Robin Sanchez, answered their call.
“I’ll be coaching for a year,” Sanchez told ECV administrators, “but keep the job openings open. I’m not sure if they took me seriously. The next season I also coached the boys swim team.”
During this time, Trisha Woodley became a member of the boys’ team and started a chain reaction that would forever affect girls’ water polo in San Diego County.
“Tricia was one of the first girls to get a water polo letter,” Sanchez said. “She showed great rush, leadership and loved handing out assists. That’s when I realized that it wasn’t right that we offer water polo to boys and not girls.”
Sanchez, whose team didn’t win a league game in their first year, could have just gone with the flow. Instead, he became a pioneer. And now, 40 years later, Sanchez has retired.
Early in his coaching career, he was invited by USA Water Polo to attend a camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, where he would work his way up the ladder and become involved at numerous levels, including the junior girls’ national team.
When he wasn’t accumulating frequent flyer miles, he was elected vice chairman of the San Diego-Imperial Zone by then-Chairman Dave Alberstein.
“A year later we had our first appearance in the playoffs,” Sanchez said. “I remember we lost 4-3 to Vista and I walked on a cloud. In 1988, my former principal, Art Pegas, moved to El Capitan and asked me and my assistant coach, Bob Shaeffer, to take over the boys’ and girls’ swimming program and water polo.”
Establishing girls’ water polo would not be easy.
“I certainly didn’t come into coaching to shake any cages, but just to give everyone a chance to play the sport I love,” he said. “I’ve had coaches tell me girls’ water polo is destroying the boys’ program.
“But with the help of the CIF, we held our first unofficial championship in 1994, now known as the Girls East County Invitational.”
It was just the beginning.
“Coach Kent Houston (Valhalla) and I would take a girls team to Northern California to let them know we have girls in San Diego,” Sanchez said. “More and more teams joined, parents rallied, and our numbers started to grow.”
Pool time was critical and early, the school district would close some pools for the winter, so he reached out to parents like Charlene Cook to lobby to keep them open for the girls for at least three to four weeks.
His persistence finally paid off. In 1997 the section officially recognized water polo for girls. From just a handful of teams, there are now 61 girls’ programs.
“It’s funny to think that it wasn’t a school on the beach or with a bunch of club swimmers, it was the East County School with the Rodeo Grounds that helped start girls’ water polo in San Diego,” Sanchez said.
Bob Jeffery made life easier for Sanchez. He trained alongside Sanchez for 20 years until his passing a few years ago.
“I’ve had some great coaches,” said Sanchez, who admits he’s just one piece of the puzzle at San Diego’s aquatics.
Sanchez started out as a junior varsity coach at Morse High with Gary MacDonald. He spent all 40 years in the Grossmont District (35 with El Cap), won 12 championships (most with the girls) and 16 years as a swim coach.
Sanchez combined all of his high school water polo wins and finished with more than 1,000 wins (492 alone with the El Capitan girls water polo team).
One of the first to appreciate what Sanchez envisioned was Brian Wilbur, who played water polo at Crawford High at the same time Sanchez was playing at El Cajon Valley. Later they would train against each other.
He realized that Sanchez was a man with vision for the girls’ program.
“You can tell he loves the kids and he has brought so much back to the sport, especially girls’ polo,” said the recently retired Grossmont County Administrator and current director of the CIF Water Tournament.
“Many of his children have continued to play or train. He kept the programs going through some tough times and never wavered. I think it was a game of life for him.”
Now he’s ready to spend more time with his wife Dawn and sons Justin and Matthew and continue his small business. Like Wilbur, he can assist with office or other functions when needed.
“Will I miss it? Damn yes!” said Sánchez. “It’s bittersweet, but it’s time to move on.”
Steve Brand is a freelance writer.