Drew Holland played goalie for Miramonte, Stanford, the United States National Team and for eight years in various European professional leagues. He earned an Olympic medal in Paris, and now will bring his experience and expertise to the Miramonte water polo team – where it all began with his older brother Kent.
A traditional story about Drew Holland would start like this:
“It all began on the pool deck at Miramonte High School, where a little boy watched his older brother play goalie for the Matadors’ water polo team.
And it ended on a podium at the Paris Olympics.”
All of which is true, of course, as Drew’s brother Kent was an accomplished goalie, finishing his career at Brown University, and Drew went on to a fairy tale career involving Stanford University, the United States National Team, a European professional career and yes, a bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics.
But the story hasn’t quite yet ended, as Drew Holland has come full circle and will join Lincoln Haley as co-coach of the Miramonte water polo team this fall.
“Coaching has always been a passion of mine,” said Holland, and in fact he spent one season as an assistant at Stanford. But with the demands of international competition and European clubs who paid him well to keep other teams from scoring, there just wasn’t time.
“It was just time to quit playing,” he said, “and I’m loving being back here.”
And “back here” means Orinda. He first jumped into a pool in Orinda, learning the basics from the legendary Bill Brown, and soon found himself following in his brother’s footsteps.
“My first practice with a water polo team I got about halfway through and said to the coach ‘I want to play goalie’,” said Holland – and from then on, he’s been in front of a goal that’s three feet high and just a little bit under 10 feet wide. Oh, and he treads water the entire game.
But Holland immediately took to the position, which rewarded his long arms and quick reflexes. And it also took full advantage of his understanding of the game.
“You have vantage point for everything that’s going on,” he said. “You’re constantly communicating about what’s happening” — and there’s a lot. (Much of it, by the way, is under water, where the refs can’t see. Suffice it to say that wearing two swim suits is considered a good idea.)
“Water polo is a little bit of soccer, a little bit of hockey and a lot of basketball,” he said, and like those sports, water polo is very tactical. In fact, walk on a pool deck and listen to a coach talk to his team about motion offenses, back cuts, setting picks and transition and you’d think you were in a basketball locker room.
But Holland mastered those tactics, and that propelled him from Miramonte to Stanford to swimming pools around the world.
And now he’s back, ready to work with Haley to get Miramonte to the top of the heap in Northern California. And though the Mats were 17-11 last year, the tradition of success at Miramonte dates back decades – to another Drew, and another Olympic medalist, Drew McDonald.
And though Holland knows the whole spectrum of water polo skills and requirements, he naturally will spend time with Miramonte’s goalies.
“You have to be mentally strong,” he said, because regardless of what allows the other team to score, the fans will always blame the goalie. “It could have been a defensive mistake, but they don’t know.”
And goalies can sometimes tread water (literally) with not much to do while their teammates are on offense, and all that goalie can do is think about the mistakes he might have made, or might make.
“The mental aspect is huge,” he said. “If you let yourself, you can think too much. I just tried to be always present in the moment,” a lesson he will try to impart to the young goalies who learn from him – just as he learned from his older brother.
“It’s really rewarding to be working with younger athletes,” he said, and it’s even more rewarding to be working in his home town. “It’s a special thing for me.”
