The San Diego Dons Water Polo Club brought home a championship at the recent USA Water Polo’s Session 2 Junior Olympics, along with placing in the top three in the nation across three different age groups.
Their 18-and-under boys team placed first overall in the nation, while the 12-and-under boys team came in second and the 10-and-under boys team finished in third.
Led by co-founders Thomas “Tommy” Corcoran and Heather Calvin, the Dons practice out of Cathedral Catholic High School, training girls and boys from age groups 10 and under to high school.
“I’m incredibly proud of the way that all age groups competed,” Corcoran said of the July event.
Corcoran, a Spanish teacher, is the head coach of the 18-and-under boys team and the head coach of Cathedral Catholic’s boys water polo program, along with swim and dive. He formerly played for USC’s men’s water polo.
Corcoran has worked with the current 18-and-under team for several years. The majority of the boys he coaches during the high school season have long played together, creating “a bond that’s very difficult to replicate,” Corcoran said.
They’re also an incredibly pleasurable group to coach, he said, adding that he can only feel “a lot of gratitude and pride” after a weekend of success.
Junior Olympics is the largest youth age-group water polo tournament in the U.S., spanning three four-day sessions. The first two take place in Orange County or San Jose, with the final in Dallas.
The days are grueling, with some teams playing three games a day in the water and the heat.
Corcoran said the 18-and-under team showed strength with only nine or 10 players on the roster. They also had to play an extra game to make it to the championship.
“There’s been a lot of maturity and a lot of growth from the way that they played,” Corcoran said.
In the first-place game, they faced their rivals, Newport Beach Water Polo, a team they fell short against three times during the high school season.
With just a few minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, they scored and gave Newport no opportunity to come back, winning 17-15 to take the championship.
“They played with their heart,” Corcoran said.
In addition, one of their best players, Eamon Bruhn, was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
The incoming senior at Cathedral Catholic High, a left-handed right-side attacker, said that his team made him MVP.
“Without these guys, I couldn’t be what I am,” Bruhn said.
Corcoran motivated the team to work hard and win, Eamon said, telling the team that “he knew that we had that dog in us.”
Cyrus Kahangi, the 12-and-under boys head coach and age group director of the San Diego Dons, said despite their loss in the last game, he was still proud of the team and the work they put in.
“Everything came together at just the right moment in time,” Kahangi said.
Despite the 6-5 loss to the Mission Water Polo Club, Kahangi said he could only be pleased that his team was able to make it to the top three.
“I can’t feel anything except for happiness,” Kahagani said. “At the end of the day, we did our best.”
Kahangi said his favorite part of his job is watching his players grow and develop — in more ways than one.
He’s inspired by “their love for the game and desire for excellence in life,” seeing them “able to come and meet together, work together and accomplish goals such as this.”
