By Pauline Vu

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

It was the middle of Hell Week but the defending champion and preseason No. 1 UCLA men’s water polo team looked like they were taking it easy.

The freshmen were swimming the Dirty Dozen – one lap, one pool pull-up, one pushup, and keep doing that until you’ve hit 12. The veterans leaned against the wall at Men’s Gym and helped the rookies out by counting laps.

And true freshman Albert Garcia managed to give the vets a piece of his mind in between pull-ups.

Lazily watching this, senior two-meter man Dave Parker discussed the team’s upcoming Wasko Tournament at Pepperdine University on Sept. 2.

“It’ll just be good initial test so we can see where we’re at after two weeks of Hell Week,” Parker said.

The Wasko games against Cal Baptist (of the NAIA conference), UCSD and Pepperdine are just scrimmage games, and the Bruins are expected to win the event for the second year running.

The competition isn’t about to roll over – UCSD went to last season’s Final Four and Pepperdine redshirted its best players last year for the express purpose of turning out a better team this year. Still, the most exciting part of the Wasko is expected to be an exhibition game between the U.S. National Team and the Romanian National Team.

That’s because UCLA senior two-meter man Sean Kern will be playing for Team USA.

“It’ll pump us up,” Parker said.

After the Wasko far tougher competition will be found in UCI.

Besides showing the team what their twice-a-day practices have been accomplishing, the Wasko will provide the Bruins a chance to get some game experience before matching up against the Anteaters.

“It’s a good time to get in better game shape and gear up for that first game against Irvine,” head coach Adam Krikorian said.

The Bruins have been preparing since last Tuesday, when Hell Week started.

They’re daily practices haven’t been easy, with one as early as 7 a.m. and the second running three hours in the afternoon.

“It’s been tough, but now that we’re seniors, we’re used to it,” senior team captain and playmaker Adam Wright said.

“(Hell Week practices) are the same as always. A lot of swimming, a lot of weights, a lot of hours, not much rest in between,” Wright continued. “When you’re a freshman you think, ‘My God, this is overwhelming.’”

He says this sitting in a plastic chair on the pool deck while watching the freshmen, who are about on the 10th lap of their Dirty Dozen.

No wonder Albert Garcia looks so mad.