Talk about Navel Gazing!
Dispelling the myth that this blog will never cover women's water polo, we are pleased to present this item about four former high school stars appearing on the cover of a national magazine just out.
Oopsie, looks like someone forgot their swimsuits.
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The local gals (and their alma maters and positions in the photo of the U.S. women's water polo team below) are: Erika Figge (Santa Margarita, third from left), Courtney Mathewson (Anaheim Hills, sixth from left), Emily Feher (Santa Ana, seventh from left) and Anne Belden (Newport Harbor High, far right).
The unusual image is one of six covers for ESPN The Magazine's “The Body Issue,” which explores the athletic form in artistic nude photography. A behind-the-scenes special on the photo shoot is scheduled to be shown at 4 this afternoon on ESPN.
“I was apprehensive at first but after thinking about it, I knew that
we had the opportunity to showcase a truly healthy, and athletic female
body,” Belden says in a press release. “It's important for younger
girls to recognize how much hard work and dedication that goes into
being an elite athlete. So many times there are negative stereotypes
that are attached to athletic women and the 'Body Issue' is a great way
to break it. I was honored to be a part of the shoot and I'm excited to
see how it turns out!”
From up here in the press box, it turned out as well as her team's No. 1 world ranking.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.