Sixth-seed Harker varsity boys water polo clings to a one-goal lead against third-seed Bellarmine with a chance to rewrite the team’s history on the line. As goalie Alejandro Cheline (12) rises in the cage, all eyes at the Central Coast Section (CCS) Open Division quarterfinal are on him.
Whistle.
Alejandro resets himself as the Eagles face a five-on-six disadvantage after a teammate’s ejection. He immediately braces himself for a strike at one post. But instead of shooting, Bellarmine’s attacker whips the ball across to their most dangerous player, who fires a shot towards the open side. In milliseconds, Alejandro lunges and deflects the shot wide. Two more strikes follow — he blocks both.
“If I hadn’t made those saves, we would have lost the game,” Alejandro said. “It was the first time that Bell didn’t even make it to the semifinals in Open Division. A coach put out a poll before the game asking who everyone thought was going to win, and somewhere around 97% said that Bellarmine was going to win, and 3% said it was Harker, and those were our players. It was a shock.”
In this game, Harker claimed its first victory in CCS Open Division playoffs, representing the culmination of years of effort and faith in the team.
Alejandro’s journey in water polo began in 2012 at five years old, when his mom signed him up for San Jose Express, a new club founded by Coach Victor Adler. With no 8U (8 and under) division at the time, Alejandro joined the 10U team, playing against kids much older than him.
As a varsity player now, he spends six to seven hours in a typical week in the weight room, usually during long lunch or after school. In the summer, he doubles up on pool practices, consistently training for over 20 hours a week.
“[Goalies] definitely train our legs a lot more than the field players,” Alejandro said. “You need to work on reactions, have complete control of your body in the water at any angle and just be fluid in the water. I really like doing hand speed drills to work on reaction time. Whatever heavy object you can find, just lifting it in the pool, working on strength, doing lunges at each corner of the cage and being fast. It requires a lot of time, effort and dedication.”
This past summer marked Alejandro’s 11th appearance at the Junior Olympics, the largest annual youth water polo tournament in the country. Playing for Stanford Water Polo Club in the 18U Platinum Division, the tournament’s highest level, Alejandro recorded 9.8 blocks per game, the top mark of any goalie nationwide.
He refines his craft by training in private sessions with Olympic goalies Viktor Nagy, Sean Nolan, Jack Bowen and the Stanford Men’s Division I squad. Their mentorship pushed him to refine details of his positioning, head speed and mentality, fueling his rise to become a D-I commit.
Junior Akash Dubey, who has played alongside Alejandro on the Harker team since middle school, highlights Alejandro’s mental approach and his ability to read the game.
“He has a lot of game IQ,” Akash said “He knows when to block a certain part of the cage versus another. If there’s a shot from farther out, he’ll know when to prioritize being further outside of the cage or right inside the cage. He just always knows where he needs to be.”
Aside from his training in and out of the pool, Alejandro devotes time to help his teammates sharpen their skills. He attends their private practice sessions and volunteers to play as a goalie.
“I want to help my teammates,” Alejandro said. “The better they are, the better I get. It’s fun practice, and it’s fun to get to hang out with my teammates. The practice is good because you want to be getting better every minute you’re in the pool. Whenever you’re not getting better, it feels like a waste of time.”
Junior Ian Cheline, Alejandro’s brother and longtime teammate, appreciates his focus on improvement, even after tough games.
“When a bad game happens, he’ll always come back stronger the next day,” Ian said. “He’ll always try to get better, try to not let that happen again and continue to move forward. Without him, the team would not be where it is right now.”
Alejandro earned a top spot on ODP (Olympic Development Program)’s Pacific Blue team, ODP’s second squad for Pacific Zone, which consists of the 24 best players in the state chosen from a tryout. At the national tournament in 2024, where zones across the country competed against each other with national scouts present, his team stunned the field, upsetting top seeds and reaching the final.
In their semifinal against Southern Pacific’s Red team, Alejandro faced Ryder Dodd — current UCLA star athlete and U.S. Olympian — in one of the toughest challenges of the year.
“The Olympic Development Program is the pipeline for the national team,” Alejandro said. “We all wanted to prove that we should get a chance to make the team. I was nervous because Ryder’s one of the toughest shooters I’ve ever faced. He’s so fast, strong and smart, so it was exciting to beat them because they were the favorites to win the tournament. ”
He appreciates the guidance of Coach Lee McBride, who admired Alejandro’s growing leadership skills since 2020, when he first started coaching him.
“Alejandro’s always ready to show support to his team and keep things positive when other players are struggling,” McBride said. “He will help organize the smallest to biggest of things, whether it’s getting our equipment ready before practice or keeping the group on task in the middle of team talks. He’s very vocal in the right way.”
Alejandro’s mentality improved through playing water polo. The sport taught him to not let others diminish his own self-worth.
“Have absolute confidence and believe in yourself,” Alejandro said. “Whenever you do something, believe you’re the best and that you can do it. Plenty of people say, ‘You’ll never amount to anything.’ Now, those players aren’t at my level.”