Norah von Yeast '22 Recruiting Profile

Neither of my parents are athletes, so to say that being one was in my blood would be wildly inaccurate. Even though I didn’t have parents to model what being an athlete looks like, I spent most of Elementary school trying every sport there was, determined to find one that I loved. I tried soccer, volleyball, softball, ballet, gymnastics and even Irish dancing, but every sport I tried never stuck; I either didn’t enjoy it or wasn’t motivated. It wasn’t until my best friend at the time convinced me to join her summer swim league that a single sport became constant in my life. I went to two practices a day, five days week for the whole season. I had never connected with a team like I did with my summer league, and that connection transferred over to my love for the sport. After that summer season, I swam year-round for my local YMAC and although I was good at it, I could feel myself outgrowing the sport, and not loving the pressure it was putting on me. 

When my mother and I moved to Branford, Connecticut the summer before eighth grade, I decided to take a break from swimming, and sports in general. Although I think this was the right decision for me at the time, I almost instantly missed being on a team and navigating through school as an athlete. 

When we moved back to St. Louis, I knew I wanted to get involved with sports again to help re-build a sense of community. Initially, I always assumed I’d only jump back in the pool as a swimmer,  but a close friend of mine convinced me to try polo as well. I remember going to the open pool and being only one of two girls there. I was so intimidated by all the boys on the pool deck that I kept mostly to myself until the first practice when I saw the other five girls. I slowly became more comfortable in the pool, but it wasn’t until the 2019 Girl's Lafayette tournament that I felt confident in myself and allowed the game to just come naturally to me. I was beginning to enjoy myself in ways that I never did with swim. In swim, I always focused on trying to beat the competition and felt pressured to be the best. Instead, polo showed me how to make the team’s accomplishments my own, how to love the game without having to be the best, and how to keep my drive even when I missed the shot or the play didn’t go my way. The friends I made on my freshman year polo team are my closest friends today. They gave me a sense of belonging and the motivation to keep going even when I felt insecure. 

It was at the last game of the Girl's Lafayette tournament when I realized what polo had truly given me. I was in shallow-end goal and my team was on offense in the deep, when I looked at the stands and saw the guys from my home pool cheering us on. They drove all the way from their own varsity tournament at Pattonville just to watch us play. At the tournament, I scored my first ever goal, played four quarters in shallow-end goal, and brought our JV coach his first win with North. That was the first game of my freshman season and as the season went on I only became better at the game, and more importantly formed stronger bonds with my team mates. 

My freshman year I scored only two goals, but I learned more about myself as an athlete than my five years of swimming had ever taught me. I learned that a team bond will mean more to me than winning every game I play. I learned to trust myself and my abilities, instead of shying away from a shot, because of the constant encouragement from my teammates. It was through being on a polo team that I learned about the importance of sportsmanship. That I became someone who thinks about how my choices and actions, both in and out of the pool, will impact those around me. 

When I envision what higher education looks like for me, my ideal location and my major sometimes fluctuate, but my desire to continue with this sport as I navigate through college remains consistent. Continuing my education without having polo to keep teaching me something new every practice would feel incomplete, and I never want to stop letting this sport teach me more about myself.