Now that Team USA has won its second Olympic gold medal in water polo in back-to-back fashion, there is no denying that the sport is getting a spotlight it has never had before.
Athletic Director Jim Bartko recognized the trend and decided to hire head coach Natalie Benson and assistant coach Caitlin Haskell to start the first-ever Fresno State women’s water polo team.
Bartko’s hiring of new coaches did not end there as he also brought in two new coaches to head a revived wrestling program: head coach Troy Steiner and assistant coach Israel Silva.
Benson grew up in Southern California and started playing water polo when she was 14 years old.
“I played softball for quite a bit, but as time passed, I decided that water polo was more fun,” she said.
Benson went on to play at UCLA and won three national championships with her team. She competed in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, winning a bronze and a silver medal. After her Olympic career, Benson knew she could not give up on the sport.
“After having my children, I needed to cut some things out of my life, and I knew I couldn’t let go of water polo,” Benson said. “I started coaching to find out if I liked it, if I could be any good at it and to see if I could recruit.”
Benson said taking the position at Fresno State not only keeps her close to her family, but also makes her feel part of something special.
“Being able to start a program in a school with such great spirit that really loves their athletics is really exciting to me,” Benson said.
Benson said getting Fresno State on the map in the water polo world is going to be a challenge.
“Nobody knows who we are. People have heard of Fresno State but not in the context of water polo,” Benson said. “But people who come here to play water polo will be in the history books, they will be the first to blaze the trail.”
Benson said she will be recruiting all over California to put together the best team she can, but said she hopes to get some local talent, as well. But it’s not all about winning for Benson. She said the quality of the players is just as important as their attitudes toward the sport.
“We added this program for the kids in the Central Valley, so they can stay home and represent their hometown,” Benson said. “But we want to make sure we win with the right people. It doesn’t end with gold medals and trophies. It’s about the kind of person you become when experiencing these things.”
Benson and Haskell worked together in 2011 when they coached for the same club water polo program. Haskell recently moved to Fresno from the University of Michigan where she coached the women’s water polo team.
Most collegiate water polo players come from southern or northern California, and Central Valley kids are seen as the underdogs. Haskell was one of the few kids from Fresno to play water polo for a Division I school.
“I’m tired of coaches saying, ‘Oh no, that kid is from the Central Valley,” Haskell said. “Being a part of this program gives me an opportunity to change that stigma.”
As a Buchanan High School graduate, she said coaching at Fresno State is her way to give back.
“Although my upbringing here wasn’t the complete package I needed for the sport, this was my way to getting back to the youth here,” Haskell said, “I am able to provide them with a coaching skill that can catapult them to the next level.”
By coaching at Fresno State, Haskell says she is able to create opportunities that she and her colleagues never had growing up in the Central Valley.
“To be able to put a Bulldog on the pool deck at a high school tournament and say this is an opportunity for you is so exciting,” Haskell said. “Going back to these pools I used to compete at and say Fresno State is an option is really cool because I didn’t have that option when I was there.”
Benson and Haskell have a list of potential athletes to fill their roster and will continue to scout over the next year until the program debut in Spring of 2018.
Meanwhile upstairs in the North Gym is an old weight room with outdated equipment and harsh lighting. Next door is a soft-padded training facility that once was home to the Fresno State wrestling team.
That site has been empty for a few years and was used by other athletic teams for practices since the wrestling team dissolved in 2006. But now that Steiner and Silva are settled in, they are ready to revamp the room and bring wrestling back to campus.
Steiner spent the last 10 years coaching at Oregon State University but said he couldn’t say no to the opportunity to bring back the Fresno State wrestling program.
“I knew about the Fresno area because I’ve recruited here,” Steiner said. “When I was offered the position, I knew it would be hard to turn down.”
Steiner said bringing the program back to the Valley will give high school students more opportunities.
“I’m excited for the people in this Valley and the people that fought hard to bring wrestling back,” Steiner said. “I’m even more excited for the kids in this area to have a home program and stay here and compete.”
The wrestling team will be an NCAA Division I program, and the Big 12 has reached out to Steiner to join its conference. Silva said bringing a Division I program back is rare.
“It is very uncommon to bring wrestling back to a university,” Silva said. “It is our responsibility to do it right.”
Silva was a two-time NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) Division I qualifier and competed internationally for eight years. Steiner was his coach when he competed in the World Championships. After he finished competing, Silva knew he wasn’t done with the sport just yet.
“Coaching at the college level was always a goal of mine,” Silva said.
Silva and Steiner will travel the country to recruit the best wrestlers for the new team, but they may not have to go far.
“Two of the top five high school wrestling programs in the country are right here–Buchanan High School and Clovis High School,” Silva said. “Our surrounding area could be creating champions.”
Silva said the wrestling facility in the North Gym will be redone and equipped with new mats and locker rooms.
“It will be comparable to some of the top teams in the country,” Silva said.
As prepared as the coaches are, Steiner said they still need the fans’ help. Fresno State wrestling begins in 2018 and will compete at the Save Mart Center.
“People fought hard for this, but we can’t stop now,” Steiner said. “The job is far from finished. We brought this thing back, but now we have to be supported.”