Fan in the Stands: The Passion of Pomona-Pitzer Fans

Goalie Daniel Diemer of Pomona-Pitzer vs. Brown. Photo Courtesy: Andrea Gross

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor

CAMBRIDGE, MA. 40 or so family and friends of the Pomona-Pitzer men’s water polo team descended last weekend on Boston from all over the country for a series of matches between their Sagehens and East Coast teams, including Brown, Harvard, Johns Hopkins and MIT.

cecil

Cecil the Sagehen

“We like traveling East. It’s fun and gives us an opportunity to get away from home,” said Beth Abrams, whose son Zach Senator is a sophomore attacker from Pacific Palisades, three hours away from Pomona’s Southern California location. “Our team doesn’t often make a trip like this so we thought we’d go for it.’

At Harvard’s Blodgett Pool on Sunday morning, Abrams and her fellow parents’ devotion was richly rewarded. Pomona-Pitzer earned a hard-fought 7-6 victory over #19 Brown, with parents, siblings, friends and casual observers pulled into the excitement of one of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s more unusual sports.

“We call him the ‘Danimal!’”

David Deimer—whose son Daniel is the team’s animated goalie—is clearly a source of his offspring’s exuberance. As the younger Deimer punctuates outstanding saves with fist pumps, David, dressed in school colors, is equally vocal, alternately shouting praise for the players or hurling scorn at the referees.

Photo Courtesy: Andrea Gross

Pomona-Pitzer fans at Harvard’s Blodgett Pool. Photo Courtesy: Andrea Gross

As the final quarter winds to a close, frustrated Brown parents have had enough. One berates him for what she deems behavior unfit for water polo. Deimer, clearly not a fan who turns the other cheek, responds with a not-so-friendly gesture, further inflaming the Bear faithful, who have the compounded indignity of watching their team—once ranked as high as #14 nationally—fall to a team most of them have never heard of.

Afterwards, taking in the surprisingly balmy New England weather outside Blodgett, Deimer turns out to be as congenial up close as he was combative during the match. Traveling from St. Louis, not known as a hotbed for the sport, Deimer and his wife Kathyrn seem genuinely thrilled to be right where they are in this particular moment.

“We call him the ‘Danimal!’” he announces, articulating his son’s nickname with a pride of ownership.

“The California team travels well!” Deimer then crows, gesturing to the large gaggle of blue and orange-clad fans. When asked why he came East, the doctor-turned-polo-fanatic quips: “I was hoping Harvard would rub off on me and I’d get smarter.”

David’s mother—decidedly more reserved than her husband—expresses awe at her son’s performance.

“The most amazing things is that they have to come back right after they’re scored on,” said Kathyrn Diemer. “That’s just what he does.”

It’s dad’s turn again. “It’s tough to be a parent and watch water polo,” Diemer admits.

In Unity, There’s Strength.

If there’s a strong bond between water polo families—and this group appears as tightly knit as an extended family—it’s perhaps a by-product of both polo’s postage-stamp scale at the intercollegiate level as well as how hard it is to play. Only 49 men’s teams are eligible to compete for the NCAA men’s national championship—meaning perhaps 750 varsity athletes in the entire country.

“The school spirit for [Pomona-Pitzer] athletics has been increasing year-to-year and our water polo group is tight,” explains Beth Abrams. “Our team is like a family. We all eat together and hang out.”

One specific unifier for this geographically diverse group is the allure of an elite academic institution that offers their sons a chance to play polo at the country’s highest level. Pomona-Pitzer’s roster represent almost every water polo-playing region in the country, from the East (Maryland and Pennsylvania) to the Midwest (Illinois and Missouri) to California, the mecca for American polo. Even Puerto Rico is represented.

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Sagehens at rest. Photo Courtesy: Andrea Gross

Consisting of two of the best private liberal arts institutions in the country—Pomona and Pitzer, both members of the Claremont Colleges consortium—the schools field joint teams that not only compete in DIII athletics, when it comes to water polo they excel.

The Sagehens are 13-9 so far this season, including a 4-1 record in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). Four of their losses came at the hands of the country’s best: #1 USC, #2 UCLA, #4 Stanford and #14 Princeton.

Despite being one of the NCAA’s smaller varsity programs, the Sagehens played big last year, capturing a bid to the 2016 NCAA Men’s Water Polo Tournament. They faced eventual champs Cal in a play-in match for the Final Four, losing 16-6 in Berkeley.

“Pretty cool for a Division III team to get there,” said Diemer, who, due to nerves, did not make that trip.

“I was at home in diapers,” he joked.

Wither the noble Sagehen?

When quizzed about what the school mascot represents, it was Stuart Senator who revealed the greatest depth of knowledge.

“It’s a species of bird—not yet extinct—and it lives a bit north of Pomona,” Zach’s father said. “I’ve never personally run across one but we should hold a Sagehen banquet one of these days.”

In fact, there is a real-life corollary to Cecil the Sagehen, as the Pomona-Pitzer mascot is known. According to Wikipedia, the “Greater Sage Grouse” is a “ground-dwelling bird that can reach two feet in height and 30 inches in length.” Its distinguishing trait? A long-pointed tail.

What distinguishes this current crop of Sagehens are the bonds between and passion among parents that is both exceptional as well as all-to-familiar to polo fans. What will ultimately make the team special is success in conference play and beyond.

“We’ve seen the trajectory of them getting better and better,” said Kathyrn Diemer of Pomona-Pitzer’s season thus far. “We’re excited for more.”

Chances are, wherever the team goes, their parents will be along for the ride.

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Michael
Michael
6 years ago

Curious if you will write an article about #12 st. Francis losing to 2 unranked teams this weekend, both of which are relatively inferior. Is this the sign of inflaming the st Francis Imploding against pathetic teams? And for the re off, Pomona-Pitzer is a very relevant program with one of the best coaches in the country.

Michael
Michael
6 years ago

Curious if you will write an article about #12 st. Francis losing to 2 unranked teams this weekend, both of which are relatively inferior. Is this a sign of st Francis Imploding against pathetic teams? Maybe they should go back to playing in their shallow deep pool where they scratch out wins against better teams? And Pomona-Pitzer is a very relevant program with one of the best coaches in the country.

Michael
Michael
6 years ago

I think St. Francis was very deserving of their #12 ranking, they have a unique style of play no doubt. I think a good way to mitigate the use of shallow deep pools is maybe to squeeze a conference game or 2 during one of the tournaments maybe? It’s a necessity for the sport at this point we can’t afford to lose any programs. we are slowly seeing more parity amongst the “2nd tier” which excludes most of the GCC and the big 4. You have significant parity between st Francis bucknell and the 3 Ivies. And if I’m not mistaken, bucknells conference has been far from the cakewalk it was last year. I think we need more solid players to come east, it will not only grow the sport and maybe some day in the next 30-50 years we see an east coast team finally be represented in the NCAA finals. I think traveling across the country can take a toll on a team, depending on the rigor of their schedule during the week. The teams that st Francis lost to probably shouldn’t have beat them, I think it takes time for a team that doesn’t practice year round to gel by the time their conference finals arrive. No hate on the terriers, but they definitely come to play and play VERY hard and physically, combined with a unique style of play. Slowly but surely the sport will grow and parity can be truly achieved.

Michael
Michael
6 years ago

My mistake, I meant more parity among the east coast teams. I thought bucknell handled their conference last year with relative ease only dropping one game to GW in the last second. Stanford, while having a bevy of accomplished players won’t make the cut because of 1 coaching: Vargas is no where near up to par with everest, Adam weight, or Jovan. Olympian or not, they have no foreigners to increase the level of play with their American players. It comes down to coaching ultimately and he hasn’t shown any adjustment to the other 3. The parity I alluded to was more on the lines of uci beating ucla this year, as their program has been down in the dumps in prior years. But, I believe last year Princeton took ucsb to triple ot and brown took Pepperdine to ot this year, not bad for a bunch of nerds who don’t play all summer/year round. I think as far as st Francis goes, they need to focus on their team play and work on their consistency. They absolutely have a chance to push through their conference this year and I would even bet on them making the conference finals. I apologize for my aggressive rhetoric in prior conversation, I do like to talk smack :). I appreciate your column and I must confess I’m an avid reader. Haveing guys like you is amazing for a sport that’s growing on the east. Looking forward to your reply. I’m predicting cal USC uop making a run this year. In uops case idk what their goalie situation is

Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt
6 years ago

Dear Mr Randazzo- I am curious how you chose to write an article about the Pamona Pitzer parent, David Deimer, the father of the goalie. I am the Brown parent who stood up to confront him and the rest of the group for their loud, ridiculously inappropriate behavior throughout most of the game. I have never done such a thing before (and my heart was pounding..) but, then again, I have never seen such a rude, nasty group of parents. Your article mentioned that Mr Deimer “hurled scorn at the referees” but then he turned out “to be as congenial up close as he was combative during the meet”. Since when is this something we should condone and write about in a positive manner? Do you know what was his rude gesture to me? He PICKED HIS NOSE and flung the contents across the aisle at me.. When I stood up to him again, he repeated the “gesture” a second time. There were young children in the aisle on both sides and it was mortifying to think that they witnessed such behavior from a grown man. I understand that he is a physician as am I. It is appalling to think that someone in our business of helping and healing could be so revolting in his personal life. There are many wonderful stories to tell about players and fans, I am mystified about why you chose the Pamona-Pitzer fans and Mr Deimer in particular. Having said that, since we are now in an era of Trump when we elect and glorify a man who brags about sexually assaulting women, I guess anything goes. I certainly hope the talented student athletes fall a long way from their parent trees because if not, those young men will be in deep trouble.

Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt
6 years ago

Hi Michael-thank you for your thoughtful reply. Now that I see your photo, you do look familiar!
I have several thoughts/ responses
1)We are ALL “amped up” at our children’s games but that doesn’t give one team the right to ruin the experience for the other parents. It shouldn’t matter whether you have flown across country or are at your home pool. I like to take photos during the game but when Brown is playing in a tight game, I usually can’t because the pounding of my heart makes it too difficult to keep the camera still.. Our daughter plays college soccer and the intensity is there too, perhaps slightly diluted since it is two 45 minute halves compared to quick 8 minute quarters.
2) As I am sure you know, there is an NCAA code of conduct (I don’t think it was written by an English teacher but here it is)
“NCAA is a youth organization dealing with the impressional (sic) years of a youngster’s life. As adults you are supposed to be role models and shouldn’t misbehave”
3) Finally, while, I agree that people can be different in a crowd compared with one-on-one, I do think that nasty, rude gestures can define somebody. To take this to an extreme, would you feel comfortable having a nice one-on-one conversation with someone who had physically assaulted their child or their spouse? Personally, I would be unable to go to my doctor if I had seen him act that way in a crowd.
4) Lastly, I am sure you know my political bent at this point (although it is irrelevant to the issue of being rude in the stands..) but I respect the Republican Senator Flake who was quoted in the NY Times to say “Reckless, outrageous and undignified behavior has become excused and countenanced as ‘ telling it like it is’, when it is actually just reckless, outrageous and undignified”
:))
Helen

Pat Hwang
6 years ago

Mr. Michael Randazzo, I am a Brown parent present at that game. I too witnessed Dave Deimer’s inappropriate and offensive conduct at the game, especially when he dropped the f bomb loudly with the presence of children and women. There is no excuse for vulgar language and obscene gesture from a spectator or to defend such disruptive behavior, period.

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