Scott Barnes starts his day at 6 a.m. and arrives at Orestimba High School at around 7:15 a.m., where he’s a history teacher. For the majority of the day, he’s in the classroom teaching a lesson, engaging with his students, grading assignments and preparing the following day’s lesson plan.
After finishing the day, Barnes gathers in his belongings, heads to his vehicle, leaves the site and arrives at his home at 3:30 p.m. That was his day-to-day schedule a year ago.
Now, he leaves the campus between 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. That’s because Barnes is the head coach leading Orestimba’s water polo program in its inaugural season. “I was home a lot earlier,” Barnes said jokingly.
The Warriors are currently 2-5 overall with one game remaining in its inaugural season, where they will travel to Tracy for a match against Merrill F. West High School on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 5 p.m.
This is not the only sport added to the school's athletics within this calendar year. In March, Orestimba brought back its swim team more than 15 years after its disbandment.
The swim team previously used the Newman Plunger, the city’s previous recreational facility near Orestimba, before it was closed by the City of Newman in 2005 due to the facility’s 50-year-pool showing signs of deterioration, which raised health concerns. Eventually, the program athletes later swam at Patterson High School until 2010.
Shortly after the swim team’s season was underway, Athletic Director John Labno said he thought the idea of a water polo team was not happening any time soon. However, that changed when he was approached by Louie Dominguez and Barnes, who coached varsity and junior varsity baseball teams, respectively.
Barnes said he and Dominguez believed the sport can provide their players a chance to be better conditioned ahead of the baseball season. He added that it could be another sport for students to get involved with.
“It was just an opportunity to expand our programs, and give that opportunity to people that don’t want to play just one other sport,” Barnes said.
To garner any attention about the sport, it was a part of the school’s event to inform incoming freshmen. Inside the school’s Kerry McWilliams Memorial Gymnasium, there were multiple booths for various sports, including water polo, Barnes said.
Around eight students scanned a QR code that took them to the BAND application to learn more information about the sport and how they can apply, he added. The team ended up having 12 athletes, with some individuals previously involved with the swim team.
Scheduling and going independent
With the program forming, one task came to mind: How would scheduling work?
Having an idea of how that process was like for both flag football and swim, Labno said he started contacting teams that were around the “same skill level as us.” He did not want to schedule against powerhouse programs, which could discourage other athletes from joining, considering it's the inaugural season.
“We didn’t want to, you know, throw our kids in the pool and say, ‘Okay, here you go. You're going to play these top teams,’” Labno said. “Our kids have been competitive for the most part and so it’s been really good.”
Instead of joining a league like it’s been for most of its sports, Orestimba is independent, meaning they don’t have to play in a league. They will remain independent for at least the first two seasons.
The decision was, in large part, from a recommendation Labno received from CIF Sac-Joaquin Section staff due a possible league realignment plan. Last month, the section unveiled the first proposal of a league realignment plan for 2028-32.
Three criterias were cited by the section for the change. The primary criteria includes competitive equity, scope of athletic program and school enrollment. The second criteria focuses on the desire of the school, district or league. Lastly, the general consideration was distance travel.
The proposal is split into two tiers: Football and all sports.
For both football and other sports, Orestimba would move to the Mother Lode League - Capital Tier.
The SJS Board of Managers officials will vote on the proposal on April 21 following public hearings, proposal reviews and schools voting on the plan in coming months.
“We’re okay going independent and not worrying about playoffs for these couple of years, just trying to kind of build up the program,” Labno said.
Athletes reasons to join
While some of the players were on last season’s swim, others wanted to try the sport out for the first time.
Senior Noah Richards said he joined the program because it seemed like a sport he wanted to try in final year. Having seen the sport played on television, Richards was intrigued about the opportunity, he said.
Senior Anabelle Torres, who was on last season’s swim team, said she hopes to inspire other girls to play the sport as she’s the only girl on the team.
