Each Monday through Friday, Saturdays too if it's a bye week, the girls of the Kapolei water polo team gather at nearby Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park for a couple of hours of pool time.

High school slackers playing a little hydro-hooky?

Hardly.

Without a pool at its school, the team has availed itself of the park's generosity for the past three seasons, conducting practices in the oversized confines of the the park's Hurricane Bay wave pool.

Perhaps not since legendary local swim coach Soichi Sakamoto trained Olympic hopefuls in an irrigation ditch in front of Pu'unene School (team members, most of immigrants or children of immigrants, were not allowed in Maui's whites-only pools) has a water sports team honed its skills under such unique circumstances.

The facility isn't perfect. It's dimensions are a good deal larger than regulation. But Kapolei head coach Dexter Lee couldn't be happier.

"We loved it from day one," Lee said. "Our success is based on them allowing us to be there."

It's certainly better than the alternative.

Before gaining access to the wave pool — an agreement made possible by assistant coach Jason Fife, who is also director of operations at the water park — the team spent a frustrating year training at the Kapolei Recreational Center pool.

Lee said administrators at the rec center bent over backwards to help his team, but there wasn't much they could do.

The pool was too shallow for players to train properly. There were no goal posts, which didn't really matter anyway. The team wasn't allowed to throw balls because of safety concerns for people around the pool.

And, because of set public swim hours, practice couldn't get underway until 7 p.m.

"We were going to give it up," Lee said. "If we couldn't find another facility, we were going to pack it up."

Enter Fife and Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park.

"It's a problem statewide," said Fife, who played water polo in high school and college and coached the sport at the high-school level for three years in California. "Water polo is growing, but there aren't enough pools here."

Fife made arrangements for the team to use the wave pool free of charge, and park staff constructed goals made of light-weight PVC for easy set-up and removal during practices.

The park closes to the public at 3:30 p.m., making it possible for the team to begin practice at the more agreeable time of 4 p.m. each day.

"Ultimately, it's a win-win for everybody," said Fife, who notes that the agreement is in the spirit of the park administrators' desire to contribute to their surrounding community.

Despite their festive surroundings, the team's agenda at the park doesn't revolve around fun and games. They aren't lettering in inner tube. They aren't vying for Surfslider championships.

Each practice begins with 30 minutes of swimming, followed by basic ball-handling work, specialized drills that focus on shooting and defense, and run-throughs of offensive and defensive play. Practice concludes with another 15 minutes of swimming.

"The water polo team is basically the Kapolei swim team," says senior Nicole Hagi. "We come in straight from the swim season and we swim a lot in practice. I don't think other teams swim as much as we do."

Lee makes the most of his teams superior conditioning in the pool with a style of play that emphasizes advancing the ball quickly, taking open shots early in the shot clock, and attacking on defense.

"I don't think we've had the clock run down on us yet, unless we've wanted it to," Lee said.

For an extra challenge, and for a little fun, Lee said he sometimes turns on the wave machine during practice.

"They get seasick," he said, laughing.

The team relies heavily on senior leaders Hagi and Ashlie Salas-Selem.

"They're our dynamic duo," Lee said. "They're really fast, and they have great ball skills and great instincts."

The team also gets solid contributions from players like Alexandra Jamora, Shantel Chong, and freshman goalie Kanani Mazzone.

"We're more of a team," Hagi said. "No drama. We all get along and we do things together. There's more team unity."

And that, as much as their unique training facility, could be a determining factor in how far the team advances this year.

Kapolei's one loss came early in the season to rival Roosevelt.

"We're licking our lips for a rematch," Lee said.

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.