Referees Adjusting to Rookies

Learning a new sport means learning new rules, and there are plenty to learn for girls’ water polo players just starting out.

Ball under, grabbing the suit, pushing off the bottom of the pool, physical contact that is allowed and physical contact that is not allowed--the list of water polo rules goes on and on.

And for veteran referees used to blowing their whistle dozens of times during a game, officiating the sport’s newcomers means learning too.

“The biggest thing for me is figuring out if a girl is getting fouled or she just can’t swim very well,” said John Kulisich, a water polo official for 27 years. “In the good girls’ games and most of the guys’ games, you can tell by the change in their swimming stroke if somebody is fouling them.”

The referee code of conduct generally prohibits officials from bending rules or becoming more lenient. Rules are rules, to most. But in the case of the more than 70 schools that have added girls’ water polo in the last three years, they make exceptions.

“You have to,” said Mike Stachowski, who officiated the recent No Club Swimmers Invited tournament, which featured eight teams of water polo newcomers. “Some girls just don’t understand the flow, and when you call them for a foul they get frustrated. It’s a new sport so you have to consider that.”

Girls’ water polo at any level presents new problems for officials. The suits, for example, are far bigger than boys’ suits and therefore easier to pull on. Another thing, girls generally have longer hair than boys, and when it sneaks out from beneath the cap, it usually ends up getting pulled.

Kulisich says the girls are extremely physical, more so than the boys. He won’t get many arguments.

“I was kind of shocked about how aggressive the girls are,” said Tashina Gonzalez, a first-year player for Santa Ana High. “I have been slapped, kicked, they pull on my bathing suit, pull my hair, elbowed in my mouth, everything.”

Herb Goldstein, who has been a referee for 25 years, says the three keys to dealing with the newcomers are patience, patience and more patience.

“That’s the word we’ve been using,” Goldstein said. “You have to follow the rules, but you try to help them along. Maybe during a break you go over and talk to them and try to explain the calls.”

Officiating the lesser-skilled players can be confusing for referees. They are used to calling some basic fouls, but if they called them all in these games, there wouldn’t be much flow.

“You don’t know if you should call something because you don’t know if [the players] will know what you are calling,” Stachowski said. “I try to just focus on what is affecting the game.”

While it can get confusing and violations are sometimes overlooked, referees say they rarely have problems with players getting out of control.

“I get a lot fewer complaints from the players about the calls,” Kulisich said. “A lot of times they don’t know what I’m calling, but since they are new, they just accept it more.”