Chargers Water Polo Team Responds to New Coach's Approach

El Toro High first-year girls water polo coach Racc Julson is no stranger to hard work.

After graduating from El Toro in 1993, Julson won a state championship with the Golden West College water polo team before joining the military.

As a part of the Navy SEALs, one of America's most distinguished special forces, Julson experienced the value of hard work -- and teamwork -- on a level that most of us may never understand.

Now, seven years after his military career ended, Julson is imparting the lessons he learned on a young but talented squad at El Toro led by senior captain Justine Morgan, a 2010 All-Southern Section Division 1 selection and a Long Beach State commit.

"The team matters more than any individual," Julson said Tuesday afternoon after the Chargers lost a close battle to Los Alamitos, one of the top teams in Orange County. "I'm a work hard, play hard kind of guy. I understand that the girls want to have fun too, but they definitely need to work hard, and they do."

While Julson's coaching style is no-nonsense, he says his relationship with his players is two-sided. If his players work hard, his lighter side is more likely to make an appearance.

"The girls know how I am," Julson said with a smile. "They are definitely rewarded for hard work."

So far this season the effort has paid off. El Toro is currently ranked No. 4 in CIF Southern Section Division 2 coaches' poll and 10th in the county in the O.C. Register's rankings, and will take a 4-3 record into a Dec. 30 nonleague home match with Irvine.

Led vocally by seniors Morgan, Taylor Adair, Nicole Browning and backup keeper Constance Brannick, Julson said the Chargers are self-disciplined and don't like to lose. El Toro's reputation as one of the water polo hotbeds of Southern California comes with a responsibility, and it's one the Chargers take seriously.

"We have a young team, but I think we have enough leadership that we're all right. We're not going to make a lot of young mistakes," Julson said. "Justine Morgan has really embraced being team captain and team leader and taking some of the younger girls under her wing."

A couple of sophomores have continued their pivotal roles for El Toro this season as both Emily Browning in goal and Allison Skaggs on the offensive end are relied on heavily to produce early on in their careers.

So far Browning and Skaggs have been up to the task.

Skaggs, who was recently named to the National Olympic Development Program training roster, is a force within four meters as evidenced by her five-goal performance against the Griffins.

Browning, meanwhile, has cleaned up in goal. She has averaged just under 10 saves a game, and racked up a season and career-high 18 in a preseason contest with St. Lucy's.

"[Browning] is a wall," Julson said. "It really makes a difference in the type of defenses you can run when you have a keeper of her caliber."

Junior Karen Henry provides El Toro with more than her fair share of hustle plays and excellent passing on the wings, Adair is a consistent scoring threat from the perimter and freshman Shelby Rascon is a newcomer who's already filling up the stat sheet on gameday.

"Everyone pulls their weight and knows their own role," Julson said. "I feel totally confident in my subs coming off the bench at any time."

After finishing with a 3-2 record in Sea View League play last season, with league losses to Huntington Beach and eventual league champion Foothill, the Chargers will look to rebound this year and capture some of the magic that made the program one of the most dominant in the section in the first half of the last decade.

El Toro will compete in the South Coast League, where it figures to battle San Clemente for the league title.

For Julson, who was the assistant coach for the girls and boys programs at El Toro in 2003, and has been in or around the program most of his life, the task of guiding the Chargers back to the top is a personal one.

Of course, with a lot of hard work, and a little bit of patience, there's nothing that can't be accomplished.