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Foley makes splash in polo By GREG STILES If he played football or basketball, Adam Foley's name might be on the tip of recruiter's tongues. Foley, however, plays water polo. There are no Northwest Nuggets lists, as in football, or well-touted all-star games, as is the case in basketball, for water polo. If your're good at passing and shooting a ball while under attack in 8 feet of water, your something akin to a falling tree in an empty forest. Outside of California prep water polo is relatively obscure. In this state it operates outside the Oregon School Activities Association control. The OSAA requires 30 percent of its members or 50 percent in one classification to field a team before it adopts a sport. Perhaps that made the news Foley received last week that much more impressive. The Ashland junior was named U-16 honorable mention All-American by U.S. Water Polo, based on his performance in Junior Olympic competition in Orlando, Fla., last summer. Not only was Foley the lone Oregonian on the list dominated by Californians, he was the lone player from the Northwest. "We were successful and played well as a team and I was one of the better players on the team," Foley says. Tualatin Hills Water Polo Club (primarily composed of Beaverton, Sunset and Westview high players) placed sixth out of 27 teams, beating the fourth-place team in the process. "There were a couple of weak teams and a couple of strong ones," Foley says. "We were only a half-step behind the strong teams." THWPC has built solid reputation in 1990s and might be the best program anywhere outside California. "We've been finishing in the top-10 the last three or four years and Adam has been a big part of that," says Jason Henneman, one of the THWPC coaches. Despite living at the other end of the state, Foley has worked outwith THWPC the past 2 year. "He's got great defensive skills," Henneman says. "He's got big, long arms and uses a lot of energy at both ends of the pool." The key here is long arms. "You look at that more than height, because everyone is basically one head tall in the water," Henneman says. The Tualatin Hills squad rotated players around the pool, to create desirable matchups. "Our team didn't have positions," Foley says. "We rotated so we could take (opponents') strong guy out. I compete better defensively and it's a defensive-oriented game." And one that offers opportunity to someone like Foley, who grew up playing soccer and basketball, while being a pretty fair swimmer. U.S. Water Polo funnels prospects through a series of camps en route to developing a junior national team. The club season begins in mid-winter. A bronze camp is held in spring for players around the state. Foley and seven Ashland teammates went to that camp. The state's top players are invited to a Northwest silver camp, held in Newberg during the summer. The top six performers from Oregon and Washington are invited to the gold camp at Colorado Springs, Colo. Last summer, Foley was No. 8 on the list. The fact that Foley was a year younger than most of his Tualatin teammates and many of his opponents speaks volumes. "I'll go back through the levels and hopefully go to the gold camp next year," Foley says. "I'll be a year older and a year smarter. Just knowing how the rules apply and how the advantage rule is called." Henneman figures Foley will advance to gold camp, baring injury. "He's right at the top in the state," he says. During last summer's silver camp, Foley cut off passing lanes, double-teamed and aggressively defended opposing players near the goal. "He brings a lot of hustle, hard work and awareness to the defensive end," Henneman says. Adam's Dad, Neil Foley, was a water polo coach at Eisenhower High in Rialto, Calif., and in Victorville in the 1970s. But that was well before Adam came along. The elder Foley no longer coaches; he now officiates matches. "The game is substantially faster than when I coached," Foley says. "The game is more European and backcourt fouls aren't called as much if the offensive team has the advantage. The game away from the ball isn't called as tightly, either." While he's made a splash at the national level, Foley and his Ashland High teammates are presently submerged in water polo playoffs against Willamette Valley opponents with an eye at making waves against more established programs to the north. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford,