From the Dec 16 – Dec 22, 2004 issue

News

Pinup Boys

Mercer Island High School Water Polo Team Takes It Off to Raise Money

by Amy Jenniges

Earlier this fall, a substitute teacher in the Mercer Island school district was taking a break from the classroom, enjoying lunch with other teachers, when someone broke out what looked like porn. "My first thought was, 'Jesus, are all those men naked?'" the anonymous sub says, recalling a photo-filled 2004-2005 calendar teachers were passing around. But when he was able to get a closer look at the calendar, the sub was even more shocked: The photos were of Mercer Island High School (MIHS) students. More specifically, the images were of the MIHS boys' water polo team, and the calendar is a fundraiser--their sixth annual. (For the record, though, the boys aren't exactly naked--teeny black Speedos provide some coverage. "Our boys tend to wear them a little small," their coach, Tim Reed explains.)

The team isn't allowed to sell the calendar on school grounds, owing to the Speedo factor. But despite that restriction, it turns out that MIHS--where the water polo team is revered (state champs since 2000)--is laidback about the calendar. "It's boys in Speedos, what's the big deal?" the MIHS receptionist said, before handing this reporter off to the athletic department. Ann Meisner, the Athletics and Facilities Coordinator, chuckled at the idea that the water polo calendar was controversial. "It's a pretty fun calendar, and those teenage girls really like it," she says.

What's really shocking is that an American high school--where you're more likely to find mistake-filled abstinence-only education (you can catch HIV from spit!) and stodgy administrators (like those at Edmonds Woodway High School, who yanked a Planned Parenthood ad from the school paper ["Promiscuity Policy," Jenn Green, Nov 25])--is so blasé about boys showing off their washboard abs. The calendar may be every teenage girl's--or gay boy's--fantasy, but the school, and parents, clearly aren't terrified by teen sexuality.

The calendar hasn't been controversial since the first year they published it, says Reed--who brought the idea with him from a team he coached in California. "The first year, it was a big deal. After six seasons of it, it's just a 'whatever.' I think we're sort of under the radar," he says. This year, the team sold the entire 250-copy run, at $10 a pop. The calendar's become a novelty item on Mercer Island (high school alums, mostly girls, have been known to order them to decorate their college dorm rooms). "It's the first year we've sold out," says Eileen Sterling, mother of Mr. November, Colin. The cash raised by calendar sales helps the team pay its way. And the boys have fun posing. "They really look forward to their senior year," Reed says. "[That's when] they each get a page."

This year, the seven seniors each got a three-photo spread: passing the yellow water polo ball, running on the shore after a Mercer Island-to-Seattle swim across Lake Washington, and posing coyly for a black-and-white portrait, all of them in slick Speedos. The rest of the team--juniors, sophomores, and freshmen--get class group shots, while the last page is reserved for some soapy carwash action photos and another senior class portrait, this one from the rear.

"The firemen have their calendar," says a proud Sterling, so why not Mercer Island's water polo team? "The kids are at their prime there, in the best shape."