Life-changing choice lifts Chaney

Natalie Venegas

Little did Aaron Chaney know that his choice to begin playing water

polo, because his three neighborhood friends had started, would be

the cause of major lifestyle changes in the years to come.

Chaney, who was an Olympic referee at the 2004 Athens Games,

battled and overcame the odds as an athlete growing up, and these

days is sitting on the top of the water polo world after leading the

Corona del Mar High girls team to four straight championships.

When Chaney started high school in Hawaii, he went out for the

football, basketball and water polo teams. After being cut from the

football team, he played basketball, but his main focus was on water

polo.

It was during his second year of high school when he met his

coach, Ken Smith, a man he would eventually coach with and against in

Hawaii, and the man who inspired him to be the coach he is today.

In high school, Chaney recalls the various trips he would take

around the islands with his team. However, some of the fondest

memories he has are of his coach and his style.

“My coach was really positive. He is one of my mentors, and I owe

a lot of my success to him,” he said of the coach he still

communicates with weekly.

When Chaney finished high school, he decided to make his way to

the mainland, where he said water polo was given more attention. He

began attending UC Santa Barbara, where he pursued his water polo

career and gained a greater sense of discipline and work ethic.

“I wasn’t the biggest, the fastest, or the best, so I had to

figure out a way to discipline myself,” said Chaney.

And that’s exactly what he did. When he tried out for the swim

team but didn’t make the cut, he managed to work out a deal in which

the swim coach allowed him to train with the team, but he wouldn’t

participate in meets. Many thought he was crazy for wasting his time,

but Chaney continued to condition and work out 12 months a year.

In college, he began his career as a referee in high school summer

tournaments.

After battling with homesickness, Chaney returned to Hawaii, where

he coached for 19 years and taught math for 18 years at a private

college prep school. He coached against Smith’s teams, and they also

combined their teams together to play in a league.

“Nobody worked as hard as him,” Smith said. “He was always willing

to outwork people, and he reached the highest point he was capable of

reaching in playing, coaching, and refereeing.”

In 1997, he was picked to begin refereeing at the international

level, which is when his travels to California were becoming more

regular.

Two years later, he was nominated by the Water Polo Association

along with two others to referee in the 2000 Olympics, but was not

picked. Chaney knew since he didn’t live in California and was

constantly traveling, there were gaps between the games he would

referee, so he was constantly trying to adjust and catch up.

In the summer of 2000, Chaney decided to make the move back to

California in order to “stay in touch with high-level refereeing.”

His life-altering decision proved to be the right one after being

chosen to represent the United States as a referee in the 2004

Olympics in Athens.

“It was fantastic, he said. “It gives me more confidence because

you know you’re refereeing at the highest level.”

Meanwhile, Chaney still resides in Corona del Mar, where he tutors

math three or four days a week. During the weekends he referees in

the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, except during the girls water

polo season, when he coaches CdM, which has claimed four straight CIF

Southern Section championships, three in Division II.

“We’re really fortunate to have someone with so much experience,”

said the CdM Girls Athletic Director Dawn Payne-Lombardi. “He puts so

much thought and planning into his girls, not only to develop them as

players, but as citizens and individuals.”

At the moment, Chaney is glad to be where he is. Next season holds

a promising outlook for the Sea Kings, who have won all 16 postseason

games in his tenure. Eight of 11 players return next year.

“The girls are really great,” he said. “They’re very dedicated,

they work hard, and they make it very pleasurable.”

Chaney’s goals for his team, however, go much farther than any

scorebook could keep track of. They are a reflection of what was

instilled in him in his youth by his parents and Smith.

“My goal is to be constructive and positive. I’d like to teach

them life lessons, discipline, responsibility, and I want to show

them what it means to be committed to a group. It’s about people

being reliant on you, and being reliant on them.”