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That's the attitude the women want everyone to have about their sport.
By JOHN ROMANO
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 21, 2000
SYDNEY, Australia -- Violence is in the eye of the beholder. And sometimes, violence is a finger in the eye of the beholder.
Welcome to the R-rated portion of the Olympics.
A venue where thumping and whacking are encouraged and nudity is not uncommon. Welcome to the swimming pool where women's water polo is played. And, occasionally, fought.
"It's part of the game," said U.S. player Heather Petri, who wore a torn swimming suit out of Wednesday's game with Kazakstan.
Water polo has been played by men in the Olympics for 100 years. Women debuted this week.
Some would argue that nothing more than logistics and circumstances prevented FINA, the sport's governing body, and the International Olympic Committee from approving women's water polo until now. But many believe Olympic higher-ups were concerned the sport simply was too violent for women.
Those officials should realize by now they were wrong. These women do violence very well.
Oh, it is not as if they are predisposed to kicking, grabbing and drowning. It is the sport itself. It is a physical game, and much of the action takes place under the water and away from the eyes of referees. There is an actual provision in the rule book for a "brutality" foul.
The women's game is no more prone to violence than the men's. It simply is less common to see women grappling with such intensity.
"People see us playing this physical game, and they get the idea that we are all (thugs), but that is not the case," Canadian team captain Cora Campbell said. "We have some very beautiful, very feminine women. We just happen to play a game that involves a lot of physical contact."
For the uninitiated, water polo is sort of like hockey after the ice melts. Players tread water while attempting to throw a ball past a goalkeeper and into the opponent's net. Like hockey, defenders will grab and bang on the offensive players to force turnovers and disrupt scoring attempts. There is a penalty box and power plays, and players are ejected after three major fouls.
Fouls are not rare. Referees stand on either side of the pool and constantly blow their whistles as players grab at each other to establish a better position near the goal.
Sometimes it can look like a scene out of Jaws. A player will be treading water peacefully, and suddenly she will be jerked under water while her arms flail about to gain balance. Sometimes the referees notice. Sometimes they do not.
"Some teams are worse than others about the physical play," Australia's Simone Hankin said. "Sometimes you have to give what you get. It's part of the game. Sometimes it's a bit of a tussle, but you never know what you're going to get when you go in the water."
A manufacturer recently came up with a swimming suit for female players that supposedly makes grabbing opponents more difficult. The suits may be more difficult to get ahold of, but they tend to rip easier when a handful is acquired. Australian players supposedly went through 10 torn bathing suits in a recent game against the Netherlands.
On several occasions this week, players had to leave the game after the front of their suit was torn and their breasts were exposed.
U.S. coach Guy Baker was chagrined to learn that a good portion of the reporters attending a recent game were interested in discussing the game's violence and the torn bathing suits.
"I'm disappointed you guys are focusing on the physicality of the game," Baker said. "The sport has a lot of beautiful aspects. There is ball handling and ball movement, and tremendous physical conditioning. If you come to a men's game, you're going to see it's a physical sport. And that's why we play it. We enjoy the physical aspect of it. It's not a sport for everybody.
"But these are special athletes. They are the best-conditioned athletes in the Olympic Games."
Baker said that enough athletes like Maureen O'Toole make the sport special without the violence. O'Toole, 39, has been called the Gretzky of water polo for her wizardry around the net and her ability to lift the level of play of those around her. She played in her first world championships in 1978, before some of her teammates were born. She retired in 1994 but returned in 1997 when water polo was made an Olympic sport.
Other U.S. officials, however, seem to understand the physical nature of the game could make it a draw in America. For now, U.S. water polo is mostly a cult sport in Southern California. Several members of the men's team go to Europe to play professionally. All the members of the women's team have day jobs because water polo is not paying the bills.
The United States has a chance to sell the game to the public with NBC covering games. The Americans survived preliminary qualifying with a 3-1-1 record -- including a game against Canada in which they scored three goals in the final 1:50 to earn a tie -- and begin medal play Friday.
The United States meets the Netherlands, with the winner advancing to the gold medal game against the winner of Australia-Russia.
An Olympic gold medal game has been a long time coming for some in the sport, such as O'Toole. And if it takes coverage of the violence to make people interested, she does not seem terribly put out. Water polo eventually will sell itself if people are persuaded to tune in enough.
"It's not a brutal sport," O'Toole said. "It's just a game. An exciting game."
The U.S. team advanced Wednesday to the medal round with a 9-6 victory over Kazakstan. The highlights:
MAUREEN O'TOOLE: In the starting lineup for the first time at Sydney, the 39-year-old scored the Americans' first goal and assisted on the one that put them ahead. "I've waited 23 years for this," she said. "I cherish every moment I have here."
BRENDA VILLA: She had four goals, an assist and three steals for the United States.
UP NEXT: The Americans play the Netherlands in a semifinal Friday. The United States upset the Dutch at the start of the tournament, and it appears they might be ripe for the taking again. The Netherlands lost to Russia 6-3 Wednesday. Australia, the top seed and the only team to defeat the Americans, faces Russia in the other semifinal.
-- Compiled from Times wires.