CLICK THE COVER
TO
VIEW THE DIGITAL VERSION!
|
|
AIMING FOR GOLD
|
|
July 2012
|
|
by Joan Tupponce
|
|
Category: Featured
|
|
|
| |
"Knowing that it's your last [Olympics] gives you a different drive and perspective," she says. "You know you will not have another opportunity to get a gold."
Villa, an attacker on the USA women's national team, is the most decorated player in women's water polo, one of the more grueling sports in the Olympics. She was captain of the silver medal winning squad at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and was named the Female Water Polo Player of the Decade by swimming governing body Federation Internationale de Natation's (FINA) magazine.
"Brenda is a three-time Olympian," says Team USA head coach Adam Krikorian. "It's invaluable to have someone of her stature and intelligence level on the team."
Currently ranked sixth in the world, Team USA has won three Olympic medals - silver in 2000, bronze in 2004 and silver again in 2008 - and three world championships - in 2003, 2007 and 2009. The team qualified for the 2012 Olympics by winning the Pan American Games in October 2011. Villa has been an integral part of the national team since 1996.
A native of Commerce, Calif., she grew up across the street from a swim facility. She and her older brother, Edgar, were taking lessons when Edgar got the opportunity to play water polo. That sparked Villa's interest in the sport. "I followed my brother everywhere," she says. "I wanted to do everything he did."
Persuading her mother to let her play water polo wasn't an easy sell for the youngster. "My mom grew up in a different time and place," she says, noting that her parents are from Mexico. Villa didn't give up and finally her determination and persistence paid off. She started playing water polo for a club team when she was 8 years old and discovered that she was "just as good" as the boys on the team. "We are all equal here," she says of the sport. "Most people that choose water polo over swimming do it because they like the team dynamic."
Those early years were good preparation for the aspiring athlete, who went on to try out for the boys' team at Bell Gardens High School. She didn't feel intimidated by the experience because she already knew many members of the team. "They knew me as an athlete," she says, adding that male-only teams at other schools would often make offhanded comments about her before a game. When her team pulled out a win, she felt vindicated. "Actions speak louder than words," she says.
Villa knew in her freshman year that she wanted to go to Stanford. To do that, she had to take advanced classes. "I also participated in water polo and swimming [not only for the school but also the junior national and national teams]," she says. "I focused on my sport hoping to get a scholarship to college."
She earned her scholarship to Stanford in 1998, graduating from college in 2003. During 1999 and 2000, she took time away from school to qualify for the Olympic team and to complete in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Villa remembers watching the 1988 Olympics when she was growing up. "I wanted to be an Olympic swimmer or a gymnast," she says. "That was always in my head. Water polo was not an Olympic sport at the time."
The sport made its debut at the 2000 Olympics, making Villa one of the first women to compete at that level. Even though she was excited about making the team, she refused to let her feelings interfere with her performance. "You don't think about anything," she says of the minutes before a game. "You are just playing and enjoying the moment."
A three-time veteran of world championship games, Villa decided to face the Olympic games with the same mindset she had going into the championships. "You can't let the stage you are playing at creep into your head," she says. "You have to think that it's just a water polo game. You don't want to get distracted. You have to train your mind and yourself to be focused and not thinking 'This is the Olympic game.'"
Seventeen thousand Olympic spectators looked on as Team USA battled Australia for the gold medal. Australia took the coveted prize. Team USA brought home the silver. "It was amazing," Villa says. "That was the biggest crowd ever for women's polo. Even now, 12 years later, nothing has compared to that."
Teammate and fellow Olympian Heather Petri believes that Villa has an "innate game awareness. She makes things happen whether it's through great passes or putting the ball in the goal when it is really needed."
Villa's enthusiasm and passion for the game are infectious, says her coach. "Brenda looks at the game as a puzzle. She enjoys solving it. She is extremely competitive. She has a great desire to win and bring her team to the top." Petri agrees. "She hates to lose and will analyze every part of the game in preparation for the next battle," she says.
Krikorian describes Villa as independent, a woman who stands up for what she believes in. "She has a very strong personality," he says. "It's admirable." He credits part of her spunk to her height - a mere 5 feet 4 inches, a good six inches shorter than most of her teammates. He says she uses any doubt that others may have had about her abilities as "motivation to prove them wrong. She is determined and intelligent. It's great to see a female athlete like that."
Villa doesn't see her height as a disadvantage. "I haven't let that get in my way," she says.
As a friend, Villa is kind, fun and loyal. As an athlete, she's not afraid to take a leadership position. "She has many different faces for me," Petri says. "She is a leader of our team and advocate for our sport. She is an information-giver in and out of the pool. She is a friend and supporter of me and our long road together and the legacy in water polo we have been a part of."
When Petri first met Villa, a hug was not her preferred form of greeting or displaying affection. "She was a little more formal in her interactions and was reserved with her personal space bubble," says Petri, a self-admitted hugger. "I would start giving Brenda hugs as often as I could. At first she would turn her body to the side with an embarrassed look and say 'Oh, Petie.' I didn't give up and over time she accepted my hugs and then started to give her own."
Any challenges Villa has had have come from opponents. After the team's loss in the 2004 Olympics to Italy, she didn't know if she wanted to continue playing water polo. Losing the game was "rough because we were one of the favorites to win," she says, noting it was a lesson for her. "You learn that nothing is guaranteed."
Later that year, she decided to play professional water polo. Ironically, she joined the professional team in Italy, Olympic Club/Orizzonte, because there are no professional women's water polo teams in the U.S. While the sport is popular in California, it hasn't gained a following in other parts of the country. "Our challenge as a sport is to grow it outside of California," Krikorian says, adding there are some good teams in the East and Midwest. "We want to make the sport more nationally recognized."
Villa admits it was difficult to play for the Italian team after Team USA lost to Italy in the Olympics just months earlier. "The team I was going to play for had half of the girls we lost to," she says. "The wound was still fresh. It was a consistent reminder of my final game. Eight years later, I am good friends with the girls from that team. We can battle it out [at the Olympics] but whether you win or lose you respect them."
For the last year, Villa has been training for the Olympics. The schedule is rigorous. "This sport is one of the most physically exhausting sports you can play or practice," Krikorian says. "Training is high intensity. Most sports train for two to three hours a day. [Our team] trains for six hours, which includes one-and-a-half hours of weight training and another four to four-and-a-half hours in the water."
"We practice, eat and sleep," Villa says. "There is not a lot of time or energy to do other things."
Water polo consists of four quarters, each eight minutes in length. During a game, which can last up to 45 minutes with overtime, players continuously tread water. "You can't touch the bottom or the side [of the pool]," she says, adding that halftime is only five minutes long. "There is not a lot of rest. You are going the whole time."
In the game, players play both offense and defense. "It takes all sorts of strength," Villa says. "Upper-body strength because you have to fend people off. Leg strength to do egg beaters [a circular motion with the legs while in a sitting position] to tread water."
It's not just the physicality that is so taxing. "What is most important is mental toughness because of the grueling nature of the sport," Krikorian says. "Many times your mind will try to talk you into quitting. Those who are mentally tough can move past that."
Petri sees that toughness as the team's biggest strength. "I think this team can battle through anything," she says.
The team's travel schedule leading up to the Olympics was daunting. Since January, the team has participated in a three-week tournament in Australia and also one in Europe. It played a test event at the Olympic venue in London and then headed to China. "We need to get in some competition," Villa says. "We always have to go to Europe to get as many games as possible."
During the Olympics, Team USA will be one of eight teams in the tournament with two brackets of four. The average age of this year's team members is 27, with the oldest being 33 and the youngest 18. "I think it's great," Krikorian says. "We have a really good blend of older, more mature, experienced players with younger, enthusiastic players. You need to have that balance."
This year's team, he adds, is "dynamic. About half the team will be returning Olympians and the other half will be new." The process of putting the team together started in 2009 with a pool of up to 40 players vying for the chance to be one of the final 13 players making the cut. "It's a competitive environment," Krikorian says. "They reach a level they didn't think was possible. [I try to] allow them to flourish and be the best they can be."
Even though he recognizes the parity in the teams playing for a medal at the Olympics, he believes Team USA has the "possibility of doing something special." "When we start the tournament everyone has an equal chance," he says. "Every country wants to be at the top at the very end. When you start getting caught up in that you forget about the process and little things that will help you get to that point. We want to play the best water polo we can play."
Villa plans to retire from Team USA after the Olympics. "This is the end. I have been thinking of retiring since 2004," she says. "I want to start a family and do other things."
She feels that it's her time to give back to the community and the sport she loves. As co-founder of Project 2020, Villa wants to give children in low-income neighborhoods access to pools so they can learn to swim and play water polo. She can't commit to the program full time until the Olympics are over. "That will be my job right after the Olympics, coaching that team," she says.
Being a member of Team USA has taught her work ethic, self-discipline, teamwork, how to adapt to changes and how to be grateful, she says. "I travel the world with a great group of women. I am nervous about going into the real world and finding something I am passionate about. Project 2020 is a good transition for me."
|
|
|
|