All the Water Polo World is a Twitter

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Jack Stewart, a 60-year-old business lobbyist based in Sacramento, California, and Lou Tully, the 65-year old head coach of the nationally-ranked San Jose State University women's water polo team, born at the onset of Baby Boomer Generation, defy the stereotypes of age and technology. Still in their professional prime, Stewart and Tully grasp consumer durables clearly foreign to them as youngsters and embrace one of today's new media forms - the social media.

Stewart's 19-year-old daughter, Allie, is one of 10 freshmen on the Spartans squad, currently ranked sixth in the coaches' poll prior to the start of the 2009 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Women's Water Polo Championship on April 24 at the University of Hawaii's Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Center. Allie plays the 2-meter position, the offensive role in front of the opposing team's goalkeeper. Jack will be in the grandstand in his Twitter persona as "jackstew" tweeting his account of each one of San Jose State's three matches.

"I work around and in the capitol (Sacramento). When the (state of California) budget hearings were going on in January (2009), one, a reporter for Capital Public Radio started doing a play-by-play of the budget proceedings using twitter.com. I thought, boy, wouldn't that be a good idea for water polo.  My sister (Betsy Geisel) lives in Pennsylvania, is a huge fan of Allie and follows her water polo career. So, I'll tried it out on a few early season games," says Stewart, president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Association that represents manufacturers, processors and technology-based companies in the state.

"Of course, some the players' parents noticed I was typing into my phone during games and when I explained what I was doing, they began to sign up on Twitter and follow my posts when they were unable to attend a game," he continues. Age aside, Stewart considers himself technologically proficient. "About a month ago, I sent an email to all the parents inviting them to sign on and be a part of the action when they are unable to attend a game in person. Now, on any given weekend, I have 15-to-20 Spartan fans following my tweets.

"I originally thought about giving tidbits of the game like scores and kickouts. As I got a few games under my belt, I got more and more detailed. I was posting times and scores and everything along the way," says Stewart. At San Jose State's final regular season match, a 14-5 win at #10-ranked UC Davis, Stewart pounded his cell phone with 92 tweets in 82 minutes of real time. Unlike Allie who warms up with her teammates before a match, "jackstew" to the Twitter universe needs no time to get his two thumbs ready for action.

TWEET #3: IT'S TERRIFIC TO SEE COACH TULLY ON DECK

Lou Tully is the only head coach San Jose State has had for women's water polo since the program's initiation in 1996. The 1967 graduate played for the 1963 through 1965 Spartans' men's water polo teams.

Among the many relics in his office is a black-and-white photo of him wailing away as a member of the locally-known band, Big Bop & The Choppers. Specializing in 1950's rock and roll, former high school physical education teachers and sports coaches at San Jose's Oak Grove High School patterned their style after better-known groups - Sha Na Na and Butch Whacks and the Glass Packs. One of Tully's singing partners was Green Bay Packers Super Bowl-winning coach Mike Holmgren.

"(At one time) Mike was my mic partner. He really could sing and I had to stand far enough away from the mic, because I sang in R-sharp," laughs Tully about the band that had 14 different members and performed from 1973 to 2000, four years into his reign as the Spartans' top water polo master.

The UC Davis victory on April 18 was the 200^th in the history of San Jose State women's water polo - a program that has finished in the top-10 national rankings seven of the last eight seasons, all with Tully at the helm.

When the Spartans go for win #201 against #5-ranked University of California in the first round of the MPSF Championship, the head coach will be in his San Jose home intently glued to his computer with pen and paper totally reliant on thumbs of Jack Stewart to tweet the action as it happens.

In August 2008, Tully was diagnosed with multiple myeloma - a cancer of the plasma cell, vital to the immune system producing antibodies to help fight infection and disease.

"It (the pills) shrunk the tumors and it was the best I felt in two years, because my ribs were very, very sore. That helped a lot," says Tully, who completed two rounds of chemotherapy since the diagnosis. His next chemotherapy treatment, the most extensive to date, is scheduled for April 27, the day after the MPSF Championship concludes. "The first two chemo treatments I had were to knock down the cancer cells so they could take stem cells from me. It's a transplant, but I'm going to get my own stem cells back. That will come after this heavy dose."

TWEET #11 - THE GIRLS ARE IN A PREGAME HUDDLE

One of Allie Stewart's teammates is sophomore Adriana Vogt, now in her second season in the starting lineup. In 2008, Vogt scored 45 goals, the most ever by a San Jose State freshman. The graduate of Sacred Heart Prep in Menlo Park, Calif., sensed something was amiss with her college coach late last year.

"For morning practice, I was in a set routine. I would bike in (to the pool) and his car would be there. And, his car wasn't there any more. There were little things. I have been around him for a long time being a local (player). I noticed little, subtle changes. He's a real consistent person. That's for sure," says Vogt.

Only a select few knew of Tully's exact plight prior to the team finding out. He decided to break the news at the team's annual Christmas party.

"It's always a really good day for all of us. We had a real good time," remembers Kelly Kennison, a goalkeeper from Long Beach, Calif., and one of three seniors on the 2009 team. "Lou sat us down and explained it to us. He made us feel better, because he was optimistic about it.

"He said, ‘If you ever get cancer, this is the one you want to have, because it is so treatable.' He said he had been taking medicine for a really long time and he felt better now than he has ever. We knew he had health problems and he had not felt good some days. He wouldn't make it known, but you can tell."

"When he said it, I kind of went into shock," Vogt recalls. "I started crying when I found out. It put me in tears. I've had a lot of people around me die from cancer. If you're going to pick someone who can get through it, because of his strength, he'll (Lou) get through it."

"He said, ‘I'm not going to abandon you guys. I'm not going to separate myself from the team. I'm still going to be very much a part of it.' When Lou says he going to do something, he really does do something. He's been there for us. While he's trying to fight his cancer, he's been an awesome coach," continues Kennison.

TWEET #82 - SJ TIMEOUT - MAJOR SUBSTITUTIONS BY SJ

When Tully has not been at a weekday afternoon three-hour practice or at a match, associate head coach Johnny Bega and volunteer assistant Doug Robinson take charge. Bega, whose left foot is in a walking cast due to an injury he suffered when exercising his pet dog earlier in the season, is very vocal and in his third season at San Jose State; Robinson, quiet and calculating, is in his 10^th season.

Tully has been at less than half of the team's 2009 matches. There were all three home matches at the Aquatics Center; one of the two four-match tournaments at Santa Clara University, less than 10 minutes from his San Jose residence; and the UC Davis match.

Flying trips to the University of Michigan, number-one ranked USC, UC Irvine, San Diego State and Arizona State did not include Tully. And, he missed the Stanford Invitational, not far from the Stanford University Medical Center where he will be visiting on a daily basis after his stem cell transplant.

"...I'm used to him being around. This year, it's changed. We're doing our best to cope with that and get those ‘W's' for him and show Lou we're still good. I'm sure it's in the back of everybody's mind, especially mine. We try to go out and do the our best for the team and for Lou, Johnny and Doug," says Juliet Moss, an All-America player who set both the San Jose State single-season and career scoring records in the April 18 match at UC Davis.

"Before every game when Lou is not there, we always talk about him and say, ‘Lou is waiting for that call. Hey, Lou, we won this game.' No matter where he is, he is waiting for us. Before every game, it's let's do this for Lou. He is a very big part of it," says Kennison.

The Spartans enter the MPSF Championship with a 19-12 overall win-loss record. The 2009 team set a school record with nine consecutive wins and finished the regular season with a flourish winning 11 of its last 12. San Jose State has eight wins against top-10 ranked teams so far, but is going for its first win in three tries this season against Cal. En route, the current Spartans are the highest scoring team ever at the university with five players who already have 40 or more goals. Moss, a lanky 2-meter player, tops the squad with 74 scores in a brilliant senior season.

TWEET #81 - THIS LOOKS LIKE A FOOTBALL SCORE

"I've never been involved in broadcasting, just lobbying. I'm pretty good at sharing information," says Jack Stewart, who is totally at ease with Twitter's 140-character limit per tweet. "I will be tweeting all the games in Honolulu. It's a commitment I made.

"You have to be succinct. You can't get too wordy. You have to give the facts. I do a little color along the way, too," adds Stewart, whose wife, Diane, acts as his Twitter spotter.

Tully knew nothing about Twitter or ‘jackstew' coming to life during San Jose State matches until the end of March, more than halfway through the season.

"I was so excited when I found out he was doing that. At (the) ASU (Tournament), that was the first time I had a chance to go through all of that. It's like being at the game, almost. It really gives you a good feel for what's going on. He does about 50 a game. Every time something happens - a steal, turnover, shot, goal, he does them all," says Tully, who describes himself as an average user of today's technology. He relies on his players' savvy to introduce him to the ins and outs of the latest technological advances.

"What I do is set up a little sheet. I have the goal scoring for each team. As somebody scores a goal, I'll write down their name if it's not already written down and put a tally and what kind of goal it was - a power play goal, a natural goal or a penalty shot and do the same for the other team. I do the same thing for the ejections. I keep track of who is in foul trouble. And, I keep the goals by quarters so I know the quarter scores and how the game is going. It's a stat sheet, basically, for myself so I don't have to go back and read the tweets. It's wonderful. It's really a great way to follow a game if you can't be there.

"My wife gets on me, because I starting yelling a little too much. She wants me to calm down. Most of it is excitement.

"...The stuff's been so positive, it's been so much fun."

TWEET #57 - THE LADY SPARTANS ARE LOOKING STRONG AND CONFIDENT...

Tully hopes to be back to the with the Spartans full time for the team's summer training regimen. And, he hopes to be at the USA Water Polo Summer National Tournaments scheduled for late July in Stockton, Calif.

But, his immediate attention on April 24-26 will be to log on to www.twitter.com/jackstew for Jack Stewart’s tweets. The opening match against Cal starts at 7:30 p.m. (HST). That’s 10:30 p.m. (PDT) for Tully in San Jose.

If the Spartans win the MPSF Championship, then it’s off to the University of Maryland the second weekend in May for the school’s first trip to the eight-team NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship.

“jackstew” is likely to be there, too, tweeting the action for you and Lou.

Lou Tully

Editor's Note: This release is courtesy of Lawrence Fan, Sports Information Director of San Jose State University.  Apologies to Lawrence for the delay in posting due to other commitments.  Although not a CWPA member institution, the story of Coach Tully and Jack Stewart is bigger than an athletic conference, but rather a story of dedication and a love of the game that surpasses league boundaries to the heart of the game - the student-athlete experience and the excitement of collegiate sports.