How did the U.S. men's water polo team get so good?

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BEIJING -- It happened about two years ago, but Terry Schroeder remembers it like it was yesterday.Shortly after he became an assistant coach with the United States men's water polo team, the head coach of this year's U.S. Olympic team was in the stands at a game when he overheard a conversation."These high school kids were talking," he recalled, "and they said, 'Gosh, were we ever any good in this sport?' And that just about killed me."It was painful because Schroeder was a team captain when the U.S. had one of the best water polo teams in the world, winning Olympic silver medals in 1984 and 1988 and playing for a bronze in 1992.After that, came hard times -- hard enough and enduring enough that you could be a high school student today and never have known American men's water polo success in your lifetime.This weekend, that could all change.The men will play Serbia Friday at 7:40 p.m. (7:40 a.m. Eastern time) for a spot in the gold-medal game at the 2008 Olympics. At the very least, they'll have a chance to play for bronze.This is a remarkable turn in the fortunes of a program that was seventh in Atlanta, sixth in Sydney and seventh in Athens, for one that went through three coaches in three years before Schroeder, the coach at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., took the reigns with barely a year to get things together for the trip to China.He says now the team and program he took over was "as close to a dysfunctional family as you could find," something he set out to change by altering the culture around the team."I think they felt like they were outcasts in a way," he says. Because of the parade of coaches, "they felt almost like USA Water Polo turned their back on them, and that's not the case at all. I feel like we had to just show that people were just there supporting them, people were there that cared about it. I was one of them. I was going to fight for them whatever it took."At the same time, Schroeder said he had to build trust, not only between coaches and players, but between the players themselves."There were a lot of individuals out there," he said. "A lot of great pieces, a lot of great players, but they were individuals, and they had to start believing in each other and trusting each other."Watching and listening to the U.S. team now, it's clear that has happened, and Schroeder's resume as a player gave him credibility to help make it possible."I think it definitely meant something," says Tony Azevedo, the current captain and a three-time Olympian, "especially with him being a great captain and me being able to talk to him and learn a couple things from him."But I think the biggest thing was the players. ... All of us being in the same situation for the last 10 years and sacrificing everything and finally coming together and saying, guys, we've got to do it together. All of us or none. All for one."Said Jeff Powers, appearing in his second Olympics, "Since the last major tournament, the world championships (in 2007, where the U.S. finished ninth), the team is not even close to what it was then. Every game, we seem to be growing."We're playing as a team now. In the past, I think we've maybe been relying on a couple of people. And now everybody's contributing, everybody's believing."Beyond matters of attitude, there were also issues of competition. Schroeder believed the team needed to upgrade its training approach. And so this year the U.S. spent time training and playing in Serbia and Hungary, and hosted Croatia for joining training and games in Southern California. Those are three of the other five teams to reach the medal round in Beijing."In Serbia, even though they kicked the crap out of us early on, as nine days in Serbia wore on, we got a little closer and a little closer," said Schroder. "We came back to the U.S., we had time with Croatia, No. 1 in the world; we were able to beat them one time. ... We trained and stayed with Hungary a little bit, and we had one game with them when we lost by one. Everybody came out of there just saying, 'Guys, we can do this.'"The win over Croatia set the stage for another one in the Olympics, and that victory continues to resonate, said Azevedo, when the team edged Germany for its place in the medal round."Beating them and controlling them the entire game showed us, hey, guys, we can beat anybody in the world," said Azevedo. "Don't go into any game with fear, and that's what we did (Monday)."Two more performances like that, and the U.S. will win its first gold medal since 1904.And Schroeder won't have to be wincing when he hears high school students talk about his team.(Contact David Lassen of the Ventura County Star in California at dlassen(at)venturacountystar.com.com.)