Agnes Vincent discovered the sport of water polo a bit late in life, but it's been a quick plunge into complete submersion for the 97-year-old.

Spurred by a few young houseguests with bulging muscles and big appetites, the Westlake Village resident has spent the past few months studying the rule book and watching games.

Vincent's aquatic revelation stems from her family having hosted members of the U.S. men's Olympic water polo team while they trained in the county.

Team USA's hard work in the pools at Oaks Christian School and California Lutheran University is paying big dividends in Beijing while generating plenty of excitement locally.

The Americans, ranked No. 9 in the world entering the games, have staged a stirring Cinderella run into the gold-medal game, where they will face two-time defending Olympic champion Hungary just after midnight tonight.

"I am enjoying every minute of it," Vincent said. "I didn't know anything about water polo to start with, but I am a big, big fan now."

Vincent is one of many area supporters tracking the journey of the county's adopted Olympic team.

Coached by Westlake Village chiropractor Terry Schroeder, Team USA's players have become like family to most of the hosts they left behind.

To stay connected, they have been exchanging e-mails and phone calls and posting blogs.

Ventura's Suzanne Birdsall has set her body to Olympic water polo time to watch her "second son" Ryan Bailey play.

For the opening game against China, Birdsall left the computer on before going to bed just in case anyone wandered out of their room to watch.

By the 2 a.m. start time, nearly her entire family was surrounding the screen.

"All these games are killing me, though. They are taking years off my life," Birdsall joked. "But I can't miss them. I told Ryan he better come back and show me his gold. I have no doubt they are going to win it."

While the Birdsall family was already involved in water polo before the Olympics, Vincent's family knew absolutely nothing about the sport.

But her daughter, Martha, and son-in-law, Billy Ridge, didn't let that stop them from responding to an article in the paper asking for host families.

The 9,000-square-foot home they lease to tenants was going to be empty for three months, and could easily be filled with nearly a dozen players.

"At first, we thought we might be crazy for doing it," Ridge said. "But it's been the best experience of our life. It's really been unbelievable."

Ridge still laughs about getting a 6 a.m. phone call regarding a drug tester needing urine samples from the players. After being allowed inside the complex gate by the guard, the tester scaled a 5-foot fence to reach the front door of the house.

"Those guys are pretty nervy," Ridge said. "But they came every week, so we added them to the guest list at the gate so they wouldn't have to call anymore."

Once Ridge's tenant returned, he and his wife invited four of the players to move into their own home for the remainder of their stay.

The players, including goalkeeper Merrill Moses, developed an instant bond with 97-year-old Agnes. They ate lunch with her between practices and had long chats after dinner.

"She is crazy about these guys," Ridge said. "She is a hard-as-nails woman from Jersey who walks around with a walker, but she wouldn't go to bed each night until they came into her room to talk sports and training and what it takes to win."

At Schroeder Center for Healthy Living, patients knew they wouldn't be seeing Dr. Terry for a few weeks. They knew he's been busy adjusting the fortunes of U.S. men's water polo.

"Everyone here is so excited about it," office manager Jeannine Ostrander said. "We have Olympic memorabilia on the walls and scrapbooks in the waiting room. Every time they play, the staff all wears Olympic shirts."

Although area hosts were considered surrogate families, Catherine Rushford Hintz is real family to Tim Hutten.

The Ventura resident is Hutten's second cousin, and her daughter Katie has been staging viewing parties at their house for games.

"It has really been fun for her to have a cousin on the team," Rushford Hintz said. "Some of the water polo kids at Ventura High are her buddies, and they tell us what was going on. Everyone here is really proud."

Ridge realized how head-over-heels his family had fallen for the team once he saw his daughter Taylor's Sweet 16 invitation list.

"There were a half a dozen water polo players on it," Ridge said. "I know if those guys are in town, they will be there."

Ridge is already planning to host a celebration party once the team returns from Beijing. But Moses may be crashing a bit longer.

"Merrill said he is not moving out because the world championships are coming up," Ridge said.