When you spend your childhood just a five-minute drive from an aquatics complex as famed and friendly as Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach, California, chances are you strapped on swim goggles even before you slid on your first backpack.
That's how Maureen O'Toole grew up, churning through the water on a near-daily basis, first as an age-group swimmer in this seaside city, and later as the greatest women's water polo player in the world.
It's a childhood many have experienced on the southeast side of this global maritime hub, a way of life that's catapulted some -- like O'Toole -- all the way to the Olympic Games.