BEIJING — The Mexican town of Tecalitlan lies in the heart of mariachi country, but Brenda Villa's mother didn't have much time for music. As the oldest of nine children, Rosario left her native state of Jalisco for El Norte when she was 18.

Her journey three decades ago wasn't particularly unusual for a Mexican immigrant. She worked as a seamstress in the Los Angeles area. She sent money home to help her mother, a widow. She lived in the burgeoning Mexican community east of L.A., married another immigrant and hoped for a better life for their children.

But much of what happened since hasn't followed script. The Villas settled in Commerce, a gritty, working-class L.A. suburb that happened to have a community aquatics complex. The mother sent her children to the pool to learn to swim because she was afraid of the water.

Brenda, along with her older brother Edgar, soon began playing water polo as a diversion from swimming. Then she and her Latino teammates began winning junior tournaments, often defeating all-boys' teams from more affluent areas.

Finally, Brenda became America's best young women's player, earning a scholarship to Stanford. And she began her third Olympics today by scoring a goal in the United States' riveting 12-11 victory over China.

"I couldn't have imagined it," Rosario Villa recently said in an interview conducted in Spanish.

How could she? Rosario had never even heard of water polo, growing up in dusty Tecalitlan. When her kids said they wanted to join the Commerce team, "it was a little strange to me," she said.

Now Villa, 28, is competing in what might be her final Olympics. She helped the Americans win a silver medal in 2000, when women's water polo made its debut, and a bronze four years later. She wants to end her career with a gold medal, but after the match against China, it appears the top-ranked Americans won't waltz to the title. It took fourth-quarter goals by Kami Craig and Lauren Wenger to prevent an embarrassing upset at Yingdong Natatorium. The Americans face reigning Olympic champion Italy on Wednesday.

Whatever happens, the U.S. water polo community has Villa to thank for helping the program develop. Villa said it couldn't have happened without her parents, who traveled to Beijing to watch their daughter compete.

"She never said there wasn't enough time or money," Brenda said of Rosario.

While her father often was protective of his only girl, Rosario encouraged Brenda to play the rough-and-tumble game — even against the boys. Because of her mother's influence, "I never felt I had to motivate her," Stanford Coach John Tanner said.

Tanner's first recruiting visit as Stanford's coach was to the Villas' home in Commerce. He hadn't been to the city before, but he knew its water polo reputation because of Villa's exploits starting when she was 13.

Commerce now has five coaches and spends more than a quarter-million dollars on its youth programs. When Villa played there, the city provided transportation to tournaments and gave the kids a per diem for overnight trips.

Villa earned her keep because of the limited number of girls who played. Often she would drive from one pool to another and yet another to play in three age divisions — as many as six matches a day.

But the demands made Villa better. So did playing against boys in junior high when they were similar in size. "You're a boy, but I'm better than you," Villa said in reference to the confidence boost it gave her.

She recalled playing against former Stanford star Tony Azevedo, who is leading the U.S. men in Beijing. "I beat him up," Villa said.

When she starred at Bell Gardens High, Villa played on a mixed team because the school didn't have a girls' program. Her teams became legendary in Southern California by often defeating teams from the beach cities and Orange County.

"It gave us motivation, as cheesy as it sounds. If you put in the work, you can match up with anybody," Villa said.

Added Tanner: "She makes it sound like it was all so easy." Many "things could have kept her from being great."

And not just because of her background. "She doesn't have long arms," Tanner said, "like other great water polo players."

She has become one of the world's best scorers because Villa can anticipate opponents and teammates alike. "I was surprised at how much better she made other people," Tanner said.

Rosario Villa once felt the same way because she knew so little about the game.

"I didn't know she could do so much," she said.