Daily Pilot High School Male Athlete of the Week: Cooper helped CdM build a successful season

Mitchell Cooper likes to build things, and not just chemistry in the water as a senior captain for the Corona del Mar High boys’ water polo team.

Cooper is the president of the CdM Robotics club. Now that the boys’ water polo season is over, he will turn his attention to that after the holidays. Members of the club compete in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) robotics competition.

“We build 120-pound robots to compete in a game that’s announced to us in January of each year,” Cooper said. “We have six weeks to design and build our robot, then we compete for another eight weeks in regional competitions and an international competition at the end. It’s nice that robotics season and water polo season are separated. I guess I don’t really have to compromise.”

Cooper said his extended family includes several engineers. He has a 4.3 weighted grade-point average at CdM, and his course load as a senior includes Advanced Placement classes in Calculus BC, AP Physics, and AP Computer Science Principles.

As far as compromising, Cooper never does it. The Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week was known as a hard worker for the Sea Kings. This is the same guy who left CdM club polo as a freshman to train at Vanguard in Huntington Beach, just because he wanted a harder and more serious practice.

That wasn’t a problem for Cooper as a senior, one of nine of them on the team. He helped lead the Sea Kings (21-10) back to the CIF Southern Section Division 2 title match for the first time in six years, before No. 2-seeded CdM fell to top-seeded Foothill 10-7. Cooper had two goals, two assists and four steals in a semifinal win over Agoura, and two goals and two assists in the final against Foothill.

Being back in the big game at Irvine’s Woollett Aquatics Center meant a lot to Cooper. In his first tournament as a 10-and-under player, Cooper said he played there in the finals with CdM senior teammates like Alex Taxman and Ryan Schildwachter. The opponent that day was Anteater Water Polo Club, which featured other current CdM players like Henry Wilde, Shane Papa, Joe Rosensitto and Charlie Jacobs.

Someone like Cooper who enjoys math can appreciate the symmetry.

“I guess that’s kind of where it all started and where it all ended,” Cooper said. “It’s pretty cool to see that and be able to look back over nine years of water polo.”

A three-year varsity player, Cooper grew into his current 6 feet 3 frame. And as a senior especially, he became a guy that coach Kareem Captan could trust with any assignment. Cooper said he learned from guys like Will Rodosky, who played on the “four-five” side like Cooper does. Rodosky, who became a great distributor for the Sea Kings, graduated from CdM last year and now plays at UC Santa Barbara.

Cooper ended up showing a similar type of versatility. In the Division 2 semifinal, Cooper played set guard against Agoura center Aaron Arias. He helped hold Arias to two goals, each coming in six-on-five situations.

“Mitchell’s one of those unique players,” Captan said. “You could put him anywhere in the pool, and he would automatically become an instant impact player. The kid can do everything, and that’s why he was so valuable to the team.”

Captan said that Cooper, the oldest of three children, is just an overall great student-athlete. Captan knows first-hand, as he had Cooper, Wilde, Jacobs and senior center Will Klein all in his history class last year as juniors. Cooper and Wilde became the team captains as seniors for Captan, who took over as the head man after Barry O’Dea resigned in May following 12 years at the helm.

Cooper, not one to mince words, said this season was frustrating. The Sea Kings came close but never quite got a win against some of the top teams in Division 1, resulting in their placement in Division 2 for the postseason. Even in the offseason, Cooper said there were a number of one-goal losses that were hard to take.

“We’ve had more one-goal losses in this offseason and season combined than in my entire career,” he said. “It’s very frustrating. I tried to change my play and the way I interacted with teammates after every one of those [games]. In the end, I think it was good for us, because it really challenged us. Several players on our team said they were going to quit, but in the end, we’re all still here.”

Cooper certainly was. He said he plans to continue to play water polo in college, though he’s keeping his college choice close to the vest for now. Not surprisingly, he did reveal that he wants to study either mechanical engineering or computer science.

“I have a lot of nerdy interests, like 3D printing and laser cutting,” said Cooper, who also enjoys rock climbing and hiking. “Definitely a nerd.”

And also a steadily improving water polo player who helped CdM make it back to the CIF finals.

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Mitchell Cooper

Born: April 20, 2000

Hometown: Newport Coast

Height: 6 feet 3

Weight: 185 pounds

Sport: Water polo

Year: Senior

Coach: Kareem Captan

Favorite food: Teriyaki chicken

Favorite movie: “Inception”

Favorite athletic moment: Rallying to beat Mater Dei in sudden-death overtime in a South Coast League tournament quarterfinal game as a junior. Cooper scored the game-winning goal.

Week in review: Cooper had two goals, two assists and four steals as CdM beat Agoura 10-7 in a CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoff semifinal match Nov. 8, helping the Sea Kings make their first CIF final since 2011. He then had two goals and two assists in the title match, a 10-7 loss to top-seeded Foothill.

[email protected]

Twitter: @mjszabo