COLLEGE DEAN FLOATS WATER POLO AS WOMEN'S SPORT.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

College of the Canyons, in continuing efforts to meet gender-equity requirements, may add women's water polo to its roster of intercollegiate sports.

Michael Wilding, dean of student services, said he will recommend that the college board approve water polo as the next Cougar women's sport. This year, the campus added a women's soccer team and a men's football team.

There was no immediate decision on when the proposal will be submitted to the five-member board, whose next meeting will be Jan. 20.

Statewide, 29 community colleges offer women's water polo, according to Joanne Fortunato, commissioner of athletics for California community colleges.

Among campuses in Los Angeles and Orange counties that field women's water polo teams are ones at Santa Monica, Long Beach, Cerritos, East Los Angeles, Cypress, Fullerton, Santa Ana, El Camino College in Torrance, Citrus College in Glendora, Rio Hondo College in Whittier, Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, Golden West College in Huntington Beach, Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, and Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.

``Water polo has been growing very quickly the last two years,'' Fortunato said, especially among women college students. The number of women's water polo teams in California community colleges almost equals the number of men's, Fortunato said.

The community college system sanctioned women's water polo three years ago as a sport that campuses could offer, and many schools opted to start teams. ``There's a lot of interest in water polo in California . . . among women,'' Fortunato said.

Wilding said that administrators also considered adding tennis or golf as the next women's sport.

He said golf was ruled out because it's a spring sport for men and a fall sport for women, so adding a women's team would significantly increase the coaching cost, rather than let the same person coach both concurrently.

Wilding estimated that starting a tennis team would cost about $1 million because the college would have to build at least eight lighted, fenced courts.

The college already has an indoor pool that can be used for water polo, he noted.

Another reason water polo was favored is because, as a fall sport, it would be compatible with the swim team's use of the pool in the spring season. The same athletes also would have the opportunity to compete on both teams.

Estimated costs for the program would be about $20,000 per year for a part-time coach and bus transportation to and from games.

Wilding predicted athletes for a water polo team would come from the swim teams at College of the Canyons and Santa Clarita Valley high schools.

``We had the largest swim team ever last spring. Several of our swimmers expressed interest in water polo,'' Wilding said.

There are already 14 Cougar teams on campus - seven for women, seven for men. The college will conduct a survey in January or February to gauge student interest in women's sports and water polo in particular.

``What if we offered a women's sport and nobody wanted to play?'' Wilding said.

The college also recently completed some upgrades to the indoor swimming pool, improving the ventilation system.