Water polo star returns to DVC as coach

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Mike Stehlik | Staff Member | DVC Inquirer | November 16, 2017

If Matt de Trane wants to brag, you certainly can’t blame him; the 27-year-old has had quite a storied career.

“When I was younger I played all the sports. Baseball, basketball, soccer…I swam from a younger age and ended up picking up water polo in high school because a lot of my friends were doing it and I was a pretty good swimmer, so I figured ‘why not give it a shot?’ and it worked out,” said DeTrane. 

The one thing that helped him most he had no control over: he was a lefty. “That’s kind of a rare thing in water polo,” said DeTrane. “You kind of need a lefty.”

De Trane grew up in Moraga and went to Campolindo High School, where he played water polo all four years, including two with the varsity team. A left-handed attacker, he didn’t get much playing time until his senior year. Once he did, he lit up the pool. DeTrane finished off his final year by being named first team all-DFAL (Diablo Foothill Athletic League) and second team all-CIF NCS (California Interscholastic Federation, North Coast Section.) 

He graduated from Campolindo in 2008, and was planning to attend West Valley College in Saratoga, California. “At the time they were the best in NorCal,” said DeTrane.

DVC had a new coach, John Roemer, coming in. “(Roemer) convinced me to come to DVC and we had a great time. We did really well in my two years of playing here.”

“Really well” is an understatement. DVC’s current head coach, Zach Roberts, played alongside DeTrane for the Vikings. “We were on the first two teams that started (DVC’s) streak of 10 straight appearances in the conference championship. We were a part of the re-emergence of DVC water polo.” 

At DVC, DeTrane proved that he wasn’t a one-year wonder by becoming a JuCo All-American and Big 8 MVP in both years while leading the Vikings to a Big 8 Championship. 

“Everything is under control with Matt,” Roberts said about DeTrane’s playing. “Water polo, it’s a pretty physical game, but he never lost his head. He played smart. You couldn’t tell how hard he was playing unless you were playing against him.” 

After two stellar years at DVC, DETrane transferred to Pepperdine. “My top two were Cal or Pepperdine. I had talked to the coaches a little bit, I had another teammate from high school who ended up going there (Pepperdine) and he said he’d let them know about me up in Northern California doing well, and the rest is history. I had a couple other options but Pepperdine was just the place for me.”

He earned the NCAA All-American honors twice, and concluded his Pepperdine career with 80 goals in 44 matches to go along with 41 assists and 30 steals. 

De Trane trained with the US National Team for water polo, going to the 2013 FINA World League Super Final in Chelyabinsk, Russia and the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. 

Following the tournaments, his coaches told him that the best thing for his career was to play professionally overseas. DeTrane’s journey led him to Budva, Montenegro where he played for VK Budva. 

Montenegro, understandably, was a culture shock. “It was interesting, coming from living in California my whole life going to this Eastern Block culture, where it’s cold weather, the people, the attitude is just a little different,” said DeTrane.

After a year abroad, things weren’t looking good; he and Montenegro were like oil and water. “It’s hard to play well and practice well when you’re not enjoying anything around you,” said DeTrane. 

Luckily, a friend of DeTrane’s was playing in Italy and told the team about him since they needed a lefty. DeTrane, who is Italian, went ahead with the move when the opportunity presented itself. He spent two years in “The Boot,” playing with Rari Nantes Bogliasco from 2014 to 2016. 

Playing in Italy meant more time with the men’s national team. In 2017, he was a part of the team that won a silver medal at the FINA Intercontinental Tournament in Gold Coast, Australia and played in the FINA World League SuperFinal in Ruza, Russia. 

In 2016, Zach Roberts took over as the head coach for DVC and asked DeTrane if he wanted to help out. He said yes and the rest is history. “It was a great experience coming back and being able to help out an alma mater,” said DeTrane. “You meet a bunch of great kids, help them get better at water polo and hopefully transfer on…it’s been cool, no complaints at all.”

He’s a proven asset in the pool, but as a coach DeTrane is an asset out of the pool, as well. “Whenever we’ve had an issue with a player, he can connect with them,” said assistant coach Joey Frantz. “He can come down to their level…where he’s got more of like a one-on-one friendship. He can talk to them like ‘Hey, dude, c’mon, what’s goin’ on?’ He does really well with that.”

DeTrane considers himself an even-keeled coach, someone who rarely lets his emotions get the best of him. 

“When I have seen Matt frustrated,” said coach Frantz, “honestly it only lasts like 15 seconds. He’ll stand up, say something about being frustrated and simply because it’s so out of nature for him…it holds more weight (and) adds more substance to it.” 

Both Roberts and Frantz heaped praise on how good of a guy he is. Nice, friendly, great team player, very good at communicating and easy to be around.

Any celebrity swagger is lost on DeTrane. “I’m just another normal person. It’s all in their heads. I’m just another normal guy.”

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