- 2017 Highlights
Personal Statement
I began playing water polo at age 12, about two and a half years ago, and immediately fell in love with it. Every time I entered the pool for practices I was overjoyed with excitement and I was feeling the way any little kid would feel after they had their mom buy them a lollypop at a candy shop. I knew then that this was something I wanted to do, and I that I wanted to continue with this dream of becoming an Olympic Water polo player. Each time I went to a practice, they just kept getting easier and easier and even after our dreadful leg and swim sets, I still was beyond happy to be there, no matter if I wasn't enjoying the harsh sets my coaches came up with because I knew that the only reason they were pushing myself and my teammates so hard was because they knew we could get better and that they wanted us to succeed and accomplish our goals.
When I'm in the water nothing else matters except getting better at the sport I am in love with playing. I am built as a bigger girl, I'm 6ft tall and weigh about 240lbs, meaning I have a lot going for me when I get in the water. With me playing hole set, I'm able to get in front of my defenders when I'm fronted most of the time. I am a lot stronger than most girls when they try to defend me and I have learned ways of being in set where I get my defender ejected because of the way I'm able to get around them. I am a very competitive person and I love this sport because its never easy, and no matter if we win or lose, playing time is all that matters, I mean don't get me wrong, winning is nice too, but it doesn't always happen. When playing in Colorado, we don't have many girls who play water polo, so as we practice were stuck with the guys. Sometimes its a little hard because the guys definitely don't play as "dirty" or "grabby" as the girls do, so when I get chances to play with the girls its always a different amount of intensity because of the way we play. When playing coed its definitely a different game. The guys never really think of us girls as their toughest competitors so they never really play their hardest until were able to show them that they need to play the same on us as they do with the guys. Playing with different genders is definitely a game changer because playing with the guys is always a more high speed game where everything happens above the water and nothing really below. Although playing with the girls, in my opinion is a lot more fun. When playing with my girls team, were having so much fun together because were all just happy playing the game. When I'm playing with our girls team I'm the one who leads our team. I'm the bigger one who knows how hard this game can be and how to direct my teammates when they don't know what to do. While playing, our Pirates team doesn't have a lot of girls like I said before, so while we play in our 18 and under division our team is majorly made up of girls who haven't been playing that long and they look up to our few older girls, me being one of them, and they look for us to direct them around. I'm not much of a yeller at the girls because I don't like being yelled at, so why would I want to yell at my own teammates? I am very vocal in a helpful and respectful way and I love seeing our team blossom in ways that we can become better together. Being the one who is looked up to while I am playing is one of my greatest accomplishments within the sport and I love it when some of our younger teammates ask for my help within a game. I love seeing their faces light up when they make a goal or even just make a good play because it shows how were all becoming better players and were creating a stronger bond within our team.
With my swimming background of about 10 years I have been able to become a Jr. Coach for my swim team, and I have done it for the past two years and have loved every second of it. Along with coaching, I have swam for my swim team since I was about 4 and have broken some team records throughout my swimming career. Colorado doesn't have Water Polo as a high school sport so I swim for my high school team, Columbine High School as well as playing club water polo year round. This past year was my freshman year of swimming and I made our Varsity team, and I also lettered. Academically I have a 4.0 GPA and I have been taking honors classes to better my GPA. I really enjoy the learning portion of school and enjoy math because I love solving problems. With my understanding and love of solving problems, I want to become an FBI agent and study in the Behavioral Analysis unit. I want to be able to solve crimes and investigate why people do the things that they do. I enjoy being the one in charge and I like to be able to show people what I am made of. When I was younger I used to go hunting with my dad and I have loved going with him ever since. When I first started hunting, I didn't know how to do anything. Although as time went on and I got older I realized I loved being the one in control of the situation, and it made me want to become an FBI agent, not only to be in control, but to help people in serious situations. Water Polo has helped me realize that not everything always goes as planned but you can always make the best of what you have going for you.
As I plan my future ahead, playing collegiate Water Polo is a huge step in the right direction for me and is also on of my biggest dreams. My main goal and dream in life is to become an Olympic Water Polo player and show the world who I am and what I am able to do. If I could play collegiate Water Polo and then make my way to becoming an Olympian, it would be an unbelievable dream come true.
