All-Star water polo returns to Valley

The last known All-Star water polo game took place in 2000, according to Porteville girls’ water polo coach Richard Taylor.

That’s because he coached his daughter and her South teammates to victory over the North that year.

Fast forward nine years and with some last-minute, helter-skelter planning, the All-Stars are coming back.

Thanks to several members from both the Visalia Downtown and Exeter Kiwanis clubs, the Tulare-Kings All-Star boys’ and girls’ water polo games will be held Monday at El Diamante High with gates opening at 7 p.m.

The girls’ game is expected to start at 8 p.m. but at the moment, the East and West rosters haven’t been finalized as coaches attempt to dig their star players out of summer vacation.

“It gets real hard to get people together and summer is when everyone takes off,” said Taylor, who will head up the East All-Stars. “These kids have church camps and academic things going on all summer.”

Taylor also added that the old All-Star games used to take place at a more convenient time — a week or two after the fall season ended — when athletes were still in swimming shape.

One reason behind the near-decade hiatus, though, is the price tag to put it altogether.

“(Visalia Kiwanis Club member) Bob Hamar got Kiwanis to donate several thousand dollars for membership fees through AAU water and t-shirts and quite a bit of other stuff,” Taylor said.

With little more than a week’s notice, Taylor’s East squad has had little chance to practice between work, vacation and 4th of July plans.

Exeter guard Shelbey Kleinhans is one of the few who attended both practices held this week. As sort of the Monarchs’ point guard in water, Kleinhans seemed relieved to be playing with others of her caliber.

“I think it’ll be a fun experience to play with the girls I usually play against,” she said. “We don’t have to say, ‘Hey, you need to drive or move over there.’ Everyone can play.”

Besides the seven Division II Valley Champion El Diamante girls on the West roster, Kleinhans thinks the biggest hurdle for Monday night is being able to last the entire game after staying out of the pool for seven months.

“We’ll have to suck it up for a game,” said Kleinhans, who played on the Monarchs’ softball squad last spring.

Kleinhans, and especially Porterville’s Kimber Methvin and Ally Whiteman, don’t need any extra motivation against the mostly-Miners West team. El Diamante embarrassed Exeter in a non-league game last season while squeaking by Porterville in the Div. II championship game.

“They’re tough,” she said of the Miners, who feature recently named All-American second-team goalkeeper Libby Falat. “Hopefully, we shut them down and we’ll be good to go. It’d be nice to win, especially just to beat El D.”

The East features an All-American of its own, third-teamer Methvin, as well as the Granite Hills duo of Jennifer Davis and the hard-throwing Julianne Wright.

Kleinhans’ Monarchs teammate, Quinn Mainwaring, will likely see action in the net in place of Porterville’s Megan Harrison (vacation) while the jury is still out on whether Brianne Harlien will also come from Exeter to help out.

With Monache’s Elyse Borba on board, Taylor is excited about the interior play of his roster.

“We’ve got as good a hole set as anybody (the West has) with Elyse, Kimber and Julianne,” Taylor said.

Taylor also revealed his offensive strategy for Monday.

“We have one play,” he said, smiling. “We can’t tell you what it is. If they play us straight up, man to man, we’ll just dump it in the hole and see what we get.”

Battle tactics aside, Taylor, who hopes to snag a few stars from the Tulare schools this weekend, said Monday night is all about the girls and their families.

“The main thing is to go out there and have fun,” he said.

Orange Belt vs. El Diamante

The Division II champions will tangle with the Orange Belt’s best

East Roster

Kimber Methvin, Porterville

Ally Whiteman, Porterville

Elyse Borba, Monache

Julianne Wright, Granite Hills

Jennifer Davis, Granite Hills

Quinn Mainwaring, Exeter

Shelbey Kleinhans, Exeter

Caitlyn Kasbergen, Tulare Western

West Roster

Libby Falat, El Diamante

Renee Hone, El Diamante

Cursti Aguilar, El Diamante

Savannah Diaz, El Diamante

Brittani Marquez, El Diamante

Natalie Kampen, El Diamante

Tiffany Norys, El Diamante

Kyra Muhs, Redwood

- More names could be added by Monday