Saint Mary’s College Launches New Aquatics Programs
Saint Mary’s College (Calif.) will expand its athletic offerings with the addition of men’s and women’s water polo and swimming. The varsity programs will debut alongside a new $15-20 million aquatics facility, marking one of the most ambitious additions to the Bay Area’s collegiate athletics landscape in recent years.
For Michael Matoso, Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics at Saint Mary’s, the decision to launch four programs simultaneously represents both a strategic opportunity and a chance to address a critical need in the local community.
“In nine years as athletic director here, this is probably the most positive thing we have put back in terms of community response,” Matoso said.
The planning process began roughly six months ago as the athletics department evaluated the feasibility of adding aquatics programs. Located in one of the country’s largest youth swimming and water polo hotspots, Saint Mary’s found itself in a unique position to both serve student-athletes and fill a significant gap in the community.
“We are in a really popular area for both swimming and water polo,” Matoso explained. “One of the things we came up with in talking with a lot of both water polo clubs and swim clubs is the lack of pool time in the community.”
That shortage has forced some local teams to schedule practices as late as 8:30 or 9 p.m., creating scheduling challenges for families and limiting opportunities for young athletes to develop their skills. Saint Mary’s envisions its new facility becoming a community resource that extends well beyond collegiate athletics.
“The idea is to really be done with the facility at 4:30 and turning it over to the local club teams,” Matoso said. “We want them to be involved and to have them use the pool.”
The facility will feature a 50-meter pool with seating for approximately 1,600 spectators, plus locker rooms designed to serve the aquatics programs. True to Saint Mary’s character as a private school campus nestled in the hills, the aquatics center will be integrated into the natural landscape.
“We are a really beautiful private school campus tucked up in the hills,” Matoso said. “A lot of our venues are tucked in with the trees and mountains. We have identified a site and have been working with a lot of architects and engineers.”
Within two weeks, the college plans to establish a committee focused on community connections and fundraising. Matoso acknowledged that community involvement will be essential to the project’s success, noting that the initiative will bring in different donor bases than previous athletics projects.
“This is something new and exciting,” he said.
The response from prospective student-athletes has already exceeded expectations. Within three days of announcing the programs, Saint Mary’s received nearly 90 questionnaire submissions from interested students. The college has moved quickly to hire coaching staff, bringing in three experienced leaders who should be announced within the next two weeks.
“The one thing we said when we started brainstorming the idea was, ‘We need to do this and be good. We can’t do this and suck,’” Matoso said.
Saint Mary’s has also benefited from guidance by Olympic gold medalist Maggie Steffens, a Bay Area native who has met with the athletics department multiple times to help launch the programs.
“We have gotten to know Maggie Steffens very well,” Matoso said. “She has been involved with helping get the program off the ground.”
The timing of Saint Mary’s expansion comes as many athletic departments across the country face pressure to reduce roster sizes and cut teams. That national trend makes the college’s decision to add programs all the more significant.
“The one thing we have found beyond water polo and swimming is how many athletic departments are cutting back in terms of roster sizes and teams,” Matoso said. “We have been talking with schools like USC and Cal who have to cut around six players this year. This allows us to provide an opportunity for people to come in and play and participate at a really high level.”
Saint Mary’s plans to be generous with scholarship allocations, particularly for the water polo programs. The college is structuring scholarships creatively to support student-athletes while also helping with overall enrollment at the institution.
Representatives from USA Water Polo and USA Swimming have expressed enthusiasm for Saint Mary’s addition to the collegiate aquatics landscape. For Matoso, the project represents something increasingly rare in college athletics, a genuinely positive development in an otherwise challenging period.
“The last four or five years in college athletics since COVID has been very difficult,” he said. “You are dealing with everyone in the portal, NIL, and schools like us without huge budgets trying to find out how to keep our athletes here. But something like this is just new and exciting.”
Beyond the competitive opportunities and community access, Saint Mary’s sees the programs as a chance to impact the lives of student-athletes who might not otherwise have the opportunity to compete collegiately.
“It’s cool we are adding these four sports and impacting the lives of 100 people who might not have the opportunity to play,” Matoso said.
As Saint Mary’s moves forward with architectural planning and fundraising, the project represents more than just an expansion of athletics offerings. It’s an investment in community infrastructure that will serve youth athletes for generations while providing collegiate opportunities for student-athletes who want to compete at a high level.
“The one thing we have found is how passionate people are among the aquatics community,” Matoso said. “People are really excited we are adding these four sports.”
