Overcoming Adversity Is Allaire’s Strength

There aren’t many UC Irvine water polo players who can one-up Coach Ted Newland. So it’s with no small amount of respect that Newland talks, giddily, about senior Robert Allaire.

“We do these physical tests--bar dips, chin ups, bench pressing your own weight, stuff like that,” Newland said. “He kicks everyone’s [butt].”

Everyone.

“I did 80 bar dips, so he had to do 81,” Newland said. “So I had to come in the next day and do 82. I told him, ‘I covered you, Robert.’ ”

Newland knows, though, a day will come when Allaire walks in to announce he has done 83. He is that determined; he has had to be.

More than once Allaire his hit pot holes on his journey through Irvine. He is still working to overcome the most serious obstacle, Bell’s palsy.

In the spring of 1996, Allaire awoke from a nap with a strange feeling in his face.

“I started telling this joke to my roommates and it involved whistling and I couldn’t whistle,” Allaire said. “I thought that was strange. That night I went to dinner with my roommates and kept asking them if there was something weird about my face. They said that it looked kind of droopy.”

Within 24 hours, he was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, which causes facial paralysis. The left side of Allaire’s face was frozen, leaving him unable to blink or smile. It made his face look askew.

“It took me about four months to get to the point where I could close my eye again,” Allaire said. “I was really self-conscious about it. I felt like I was smirking at everyone instead of smiling.

“At first, I had to go to a physical therapist and they would shoot electrical pulses through my muscles to try and contract them. I also saw a therapist to practice being symmetrical all the time.”

Allaire didn’t step in the pool for five months because his condition amplified the sound in his ears when he was under water. But once the season began, he never missed a game.

He has nine goals to lead the Anteaters (2-4), who were ranked fourth in the nation last week before losing Saturday to No. 1 Pepperdine. He was named to the All-Southern California Tournament team two weeks ago after leading Irvine to victories over UCLA and Air Force.

“I don’t think the thing he had was such a big deal,” Newland said. “There are a lot worse things than having a little bit of a distorted face. The problem was he had to stay out of the water. But he stayed in excellent shape. He’s the most knowledgeable guy in the weight room that I’ve ever coached.”

If Newland’s assessment sounds a little harsh, it’s because he sees too many positive attributes in Allaire to dwell on any problem. Allaire, a bio-medicine major, had a 3.7 grade-point average last year and was named to the American Water Polo Coaches All-Academic team.

“He’s probably the brightest kid I’ve coached,” Newland said. “You can sit down and talk with him on any subject, from history to ethnic problems to women’s rights, and he’s extremely knowledgeable. I just love sitting down and talking with him.”

The two have a mutual admiration society. Allaire, in fact, selected specifically to play for Newland. He also had been recruited by Stanford and California.

“He has this quality about him,” said Allaire, who attended Carmel High School. “You trust him. I figured that hanging around him, I would learn what was going on.”

That experience has gone without a hitch. The rest, well . . .

Allaire contracted mononucleosis as a freshman just before school began. His car was stolen in the spring of 1996. He had a bad reaction to penicillin two weeks later. Then came the Bell’s palsy.

Allaire has regained considerable control over his facial muscles. However, he is still self-conscious about his appearance.

“It has been weird,” he said. “But I’ve recovered well. People don’t even notice anymore, but I do. I know how I used to look and I see myself in the mirror every day.

“They give you two years to recover, then what you have is what you get. I still have until May to be fully recovered. [But] the doctors don’t think it’s going to happen.”

*

Who’ll stop the rain? Women’s soccer Coach Marine Cano, never at a loss for metaphors, has a new one to describe his team’s progress.

“We want to be El Nino,” Cano said. “We’re going to arrive in November and rain on everyone’s parade.”

Storm warnings are already out. The Anteaters opened Big West Conference play Thursday with a 5-0 victory over UC Santa Barbara. They then avenged their loss in the 1996 conference tournament by beating San Luis Obispo, 2-1, Sunday.

The Anteaters host the conference tournament in November. Bring a raincoat.

Anteater Notes

The men’s soccer team ended a four-game scoreless streak Friday with a 2-0 victory over Loyola Marymount. Shaun Callahan and Pat Lee scored the Anteater goals. . . . Larissa Carter, a freshman on the Anteater volleyball team, was ranked 18th in the nation in hitting percentage last week. . . . Irvine’s Fiona McLean won the Women’s Single-Handed Pacific Coast Sailing Championship last weekend. Irvine’s Danielle Hill finished sixth.

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Coming Attractions

Here are the key games for UC Irvine this week:

* Men’s and women’s cross-country faces UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Fullerton and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Saturday at the UC Santa Barbara Invitational.

* Women’s volleyball hosts Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Friday and UC Santa Barbara Saturday. Both matches begin at 7 p.m. in Crawford Hall.

* Men’s soccer opens Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play 4 p.m. Sunday at Cal State Fullerton.

* Women’s soccer hosts Pacific 7 p.m. Friday and plays at USC 1 p.m. Sunday.

* Water polo plays at Pacific at noon Saturday and meets California at 11 a.m. Sunday at Diablo Valley College.