DID YOU KNOW

ABOUT FREDERICK LANE? ?DID YOU KNOW BY BRUCE WIGO

PHOTOS BY INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME

In his fantastic new book, “Splash! 10,000 Years of Swimming,” Howard Means describes the swimming side of the second Olympiad, the 1900 Games in Paris, as being “more like an aquatic carnival”—not only because events were held in the Seine River, but because organizers added a number of “novelty events” that were not included in the Inaugural Games in Greece in 1896.

Among the new events were the 200 meter backstroke, considered the “upsidedown crawl,” underwater swimming for distance and the 200 meter obstacle race, where competitors first had to climb over a pole, then climb over a row of boats and then swim under another row of boats!

Paris 1900 was the first and only time the obstacle race for swimmers was ever held in Olympic competition, and the winner was Fred Lane, Australia’s first Olympic swimming champion. Lane, from Manly, New South Wales, was 4 years old when his brother saved him from drowning in Sydney Harbour, whereupon he decided to learn to swim. Unlike today’s stars, “Freddie” was physically unimpressive, standing just 5-4 and weighing less than “9 stone” (126 pounds).

Lane’s victory in the obstacle race came just 45 minutes after he won the 200 meter free. In neither race was Lane the favorite. In preliminaries the day before, Lane had qualified seventh in the 200 free, 35 and 25 seconds behind the top qualifiers, Karl (Charles) Ruberl and Otto Wahle of Austria. In the prelims for the obstacle race, Lane had qualified second, with Wahle first and Ruberl third. Apparently, the two Austrians made a tactical decision that they thought would guarantee Austria two Olympic champions. So Wahle scratched the final of the 200 free to focus on the obstacle race, leaving the 200 free to Ruberl.

The Austrian strategy backfired when Lane dropped 34 seconds to win the 200 free. His win was credited with his ability to swim a double-overarm stroke for the entire race, while fatigue forced Ruberl and the other competitors to use the sidestroke when they tired.

While the 200 free has been on the Olympic program ever since, this was the first and only time the obstacle race has appeared on the Olympic program (although it is interesting to note that the Life Saving Sport Association is seeking admission to the Olympic program, and one of their events is a 200 meter obstacle race that has eight underwater obstacles).

Twelve swimmers representing Australia, Austria, France, Great Britain and the USA competed in the obstacle race final, Aug. 12, 1900, following three qualifying heats the day before. In what was clearly the closest and most exciting swimming race in the Seine, Lane shaved nearly 25 seconds off his qualifying time to outtouch Wahle for the gold medal by 1.6 seconds.

Lane passed away seven months before his induction into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in December of 1969, and Wahle was inducted into ISHOF in 1996.

An interesting side note is that shortly after the Paris Games, both Wahle and Ruberl emigrated to the United States and became members of the New York Athletic Club. Both became U.S. champions, and in 1912, Wahle was chosen to lead the American swimming team as head coach at the Stockholm Olympic Games.

> Frederick Lane

> Lane emerges from the Seine

> Among the memorabilia donated to ISHOF was one of Frederick “Freddie” Lane’s Olympic medals from 1900, which is on display in the ISHOF museum.

> St. Louis Lions with Coach Rob Peglar (back row, center)

THE PRIDE OF GIRLS’ POLO IN THE GATEWAY CITY

When COVID-19 lockdowns last spring stopped polo, Rob Peglar and Abby VerMeer didn’t hesitate: they focused on getting girls water polo untracked in the Gateway City. The result: the St. Louis Lions, the city’s first all-girls team.

BY MICHAEL RANDAZZO | PHOTOS BY ST. LOUIS LIONS WATER POLO

The launch last year of St. Louis’ first-ever all-girls water polo club was a development to cherish during a pandemic. Prior to the pivotal year 2020, would-be girl water polo players either competed on coed squads or struggled to stay out of the shadow cast by boys-only polo.

Then came the St. Louis Lions, the culmination of decades-long advocacy for girls to have a team of their own. Before the COVIDrelated lockdowns last March that paralyzed communities across the U.S., a handful of St. Louis high schools had agreed for the first time on a girls-only league, one that would officially crown a Missouri girls’ state champion.

The coronavirus changed all that.

According to Rob Peglar, a long-time St. Louis coach, the shutdown of 2020 was “depressing.” With no polo for an extended period, Peglar and his fellow coaches brainstormed about how to continue their girls-only dream.

Their solution: the Lions, a club by and for girls.

“Considering all of this happened during the pandemic, it’s all the more amazing,” he said. “I don’t know if the Lions would have formed without that catalyst.”

WHAT TOOK THEM SO LONG?

The 1904 World’s Fair, an unusual combination of exposition and Olympic Games, drew attendees and athletes from all over the world to St. Louis—except for polo. Top European water polo teams declined to attend, allowing the American men to capture gold, their only top finish in Olympic polo competition.

St. Louis clubs were regular contenders at the AAU Indoor Championships, and the 1960s saw the emergence of the Clayton and Daisy clubs—among the country’s oldest. Then growth stagnated. According to Miguel Figueras, a Clayton age group coach and regional coach with USA Water Polo, despite being sanctioned by the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA), growth of polo in the “Show Me” state has barely nudged. In 1990, the city had 16 high school teams; 30 years later, only five more have been added.

Peglar, who began his polo career in 1973 at what is now called Ladue Horton Watkins High School, recently retired from a decadeslong career as a coach and referee. What bedeviled him and others: how to convert girls’ swimming in St. Louis high schools into a viable all-girls polo program.

“The (main) impediment to all-girls water polo was that no one believed it could thrive, so no significant attempts were made to start a club or form a high school league,” he explained. “Few realized... (that) there was a mostly unspoken feeling high school girls didn’t want to play with the boys; they wanted to play against each other.”

Figueras pointed to structural obstacles. Carefully brokered arrangements with the MSHSAA allowed adventurous girls to compete on boys’ teams. But there was a restriction that prevents those playing with the boys from also participating on all-girls squads.

Pool time made scarce due to existing aquatics programs also seemed insurmountable—that is, until last year, when sheer persistence resulted in six high schools (Ladue, Lafayette, Lindbergh, Marquette, Oakville and Parkway North) agreeing to conference play and a state championship tournament for the top four finishers.

Once COVID shut down their dreams, Peglar, Michael Clay (head boys’ polo coach at Ladue) and two of Clay’s assistants— Jacob Jagodzinski and Abby VerMeer—realized there was only

one thing to do: pick up the pieces and start over.

“We wanted the opportunity for the girls to play, (which was) taken away due to circumstances totally out of our control,” Peglar said. “The St. Louis Lions were ‘Plan B’ to give the girls the opportunity to play.”

Plan B was launched last May with no players or pools—and a pandemic raging!

COED OR GIRLS-ONLY?

For Grace Brzyski, an 18-year-old senior at Marquette High School and among the state’s best players, a girls-only team offered an opportunity to be a role model for younger girls. Growing up, as far as water polo was concerned, it was “middle school me with high school guys”—and no older girls to look up to.

“High school boys have height and strength advantages playing against the girls,” she said. “(We) have to use tactics and skill-based plays to level the playing field.”

By honing her skills through dogged persistence, Brzyski has become a player who believes in her own abilities and can >> (From left) Lions’ head coach Abby VerMeer with assistant coach Isabella Boccia. lead by example. “Being a senior, I’ve built more confidence; if I get the ball, instead of looking to make a pass, I take Home-schooled, she switched to polo after swimming with a local that shot,” she said. high school team. VanMeer was encouraged to continue with polo

There are competitive advantages in playing with the boys. by Dave Miller, the head men’s and women’s coach at Lindenwood Like Brzyski, Harriet Bezzant, a senior at Ladue, cited the higher University (2015–20), where she enjoyed a successful club career, level of competition among high school boys as both a plus gaining All-America honors and captaining the squad in 2018 and a minus. and 2019.

“It’s not easy as a 5-5, 130-pound girl to go after a 6-2, 200-pound Last fall, she was coaching swimming in St. Louis when Ladue guy,” Harriet said. “Speed and positioning are essential. I learned boys’ coach Michael Clay offered her a job coaching a new girls’ how to keep my hips up and arms out because if I didn’t, I would team. Then came COVID. be crushed.” “We were going to have the first-ever state championship—and

Figueras, the Clayton club coach, said coed practices strike a then it was over,” VerMeer said, then added, “We couldn’t just let tough balance. For the boys, it’s, “Are they too physical?” For the that go; the interest is here, (and) we needed to do something about girls, it’s how to improve if their male teammates are taking it easy it.” on them in practice. Like Clay and Peglar, she was not deterred when the COVID

Andrea Bezzant, a committed parent with two daughters on the lockdown hit. VerMeer eagerly accepted the head coaching gig with Lions—Harriet and Mary Joyce (or “MJ”)—is a member of the the Lions. Her college experience had helped her appreciate the club’s board. A girls-only club was not only timely, but necessary importance of a girls-only program. for her kids’ development. “When you’re playing with boys, you can get pushed aside,”

“Harriet is a tough girl and did really well on junior varsity, she said. “Playing on a girls’ team (at Lindenwood) gave me the but when she moved up to varsity, it became a lot more difficult,” confidence to be an offensive threat.” Bezzant said about her oldest daughter. “The boys were bigger, In July, the newly formed team started practicing at Mary stronger and faster, and the ball was too big for her hands so she Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School. With a gradual easing couldn’t shoot with as much power and accuracy—and she got less of the state’s COVID restrictions, the club has increased play and playing time.” is now engaging in non-contact scrimmages, with a goal of being

MJ, a 14-year-old freshman at Ladue, hoped to follow in her ready for age group tournament play when coronavirus restrictions sister’s footsteps. Now, she’ll have a very different experience: lift. playing regularly with only girls. “Once we started, it was so good for so many of these girls, it’s

“I’m excited to play on the all-girls high school team and with amazing,” VanMeer said. the Lions,” she said. “I hope we inspire other girls’ teams so we can Peglar believes—despite a continued ban on inter-team play— play them.” that the Lions’ future is very bright, indeed. “We’ve proved the concept that girls’ water polo in St. Louis VERMEER STEPS IN can thrive, and as pandemic conditions gradually ease, we plan to

Abby VerMeer claims to have had a “weird” polo career—which expand our club to engage teams from around the Midwest,” he said. put her in the right time and place to become the Lions’ head coach. And, fingers crossed, leave the disappointment of 2020 behind. 