Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: Burlingame’s Adrian Gong

In a strange, roundabout sort of way, an exodus from the Burlingame pool is the best thing that has happened to the school’s water polo program in recent memory.

It was two years ago when a group of then boys’ water polo underclassmen left the Burlingame Aquatic Club for greener pastures. With the Burlingame varsity program establishing itself as Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division champion in 2023, Adrian Gong was one of five players who departed from BAC to join the Stanford Water Polo Club.

Now, Burlingame boys’ water polo is in the midst of establishing itself as a bona fide contender in the upper PAL Bay Division for the first time in program history. The Panthers’ strides have never been more apparent than last week’s 13-10 victory over reigning co-Bay Division champion Menlo-Atherton.

“Really good way to validate our effort,” Burlingame head coach Rory Hocker said. “Because, at the end of the day, no matter who we beat in the non-league, if we don’t win in our league, the rest of it means nothing. ... As far as the guys, that win meant a lot to them.”

Gong has been selected as the Daily Journal Athlete of the Week, not because of the metrics, but because of the effect he has on his teammates to put up numbers.

Senior attacker Matthew Derrosett currently leads the PAL Bay Division in goals scored, and recorded a double hat trick in the pivotal M-A win. But it was after the Panthers fell behind 1-0 on an early M-A goal that Gong started flashing some intangibles, as the senior drew 5-meter penalty.

“It was a huge momentum kind of definer,” Hocker said.

Indeed. Derrosett went on to convert the penalty shot. Burlingame went on to score seven straight goals.

“We did score that next goal and it was a pretty electrifying game, so we just used that first goal to keep pushing forward,” Gong said. “I think we really used some motivation from losing to them last year, and wanting to beat them this year and make it to [the Central Coast Section playoffs].”

Burlingame has a bleak history in heads-up play with M-A. With spotty MaxPreps.com records dating back to 2009, the Panthers had lost 11 straight against M-A, including a season sweep last season as Burlingame finished in fourth place in the PAL Bay behind a three-way league title shared by M-A, Woodside and Sequoia.

Things started to look up during Burlingame’s 2023 PAL Ocean championship season, though. All seven starters from that team are still in the starting mix — Adrian Gong; his younger brother, junior attacker Damien Gong; the senior center defender Derossett; senior driver Oliver Canniffe; senior attacker Alexander Bozinovic; junior center Lucas Carlson; and junior goalkeeper Colby Dang.

“I feel like our starting lineup is mainly seniors and juniors .. .and we’ve been growing up together for these past four years,” Adrian Gong said.

It was a quintet of the Gong brothers, Canniffe, Derossett and Dang that switched to the Stanford Water Polo Club. Burlingame has been on the rise ever since.

“Playing at Stanford definitely affected me a lot,” Gong said. “It made me play at the highest level you can play at here, and I’ve just gotten so much better since.”

Growing up a competitive swimmer, Gong switched to water polo in the eighth grade. Now with SWPC, he plays for the 18-and-under “A” team, and has played internationally over spring break for the past two seasons, including a trip to Barcelona as a sophomore, and playing for the SWPC Select Group in Recco, Italy last year.

Hocker — a 2018 graduate of Sacred Heart Prep in his first year running the program at Burlingame — immediately saw Gong as a game changer.

“I know him as really smart, fast, quick attacker who can think well in the heat of the moment,” Hocker said.

“He is just a consistent goal scorer,” he said. “He’s really good on the counterattack ... He’s so tactically smart and capable of influencing the flow of the game.”

Gong finishes the M-A game with one goal and three assists, but added four draw exclusions. He ranks second on the team with 20 goals on the year.

Of course, Burlingame isn’t the only PAL team to benefit from the SWPC pool. Sequoia’s top scorer, junior AJ McDonald, is teammates with Gong on the 18U “A” team. The two squared off in Bay Division action Monday, with Sequoia earning the win to force a four-way tie for first place between Burlingame, Sequoia, M-A and Woodside.

It was a similar showdown of friendly rivals from the SWPC in last Monday’s win over M-A.

“Both teams have seen all of each others players because of offseason club,” Gong said. “So, it made it a little easier but also a little harder, because we all know each other, but it’s also harder to show your strengths.”