Team USA Goes Greek
Hellas! Hellas! Hellas! The roar of the fans cheering for the Greek National Team in the championship game against the Russian National Team was deafening.
The sold out crowd of 2,400 people was filled with old men waving flags and young children blowing their horns. The energy was intense, it was electric. It was in that moment that I realized what an honor it is to represent your country, while competing with and against the world’s most elite women’s water polo players, in the birthplace of the Olympics.
The United States ended the tournament taking 5th place after seven competitive games against: Croatia, New Zealand, Spain, Serbia, Greece, Canada, and Hungary. Our first game was against Croatia, a team we didn’t know much about.
Without any expectations about what we might see in our opponent, we simply came out and executed our game plan as laid out by our coaches. We ended up destroying the Croatian team 24-1 and learned early on that our team would be able to compete with anyone.
Next we played New Zealand and won 11-4. Unfortunately, our team was not in sync this game, as we struggled to find any rhythm to our offense and couldn’t seem to capitalize on any of our 6 on 5 scoring opportunities. The New Zealanders hung around and scrapped hard to keep it close until we out scored them 5-0 in the 4th quarter to win the game 9-4.
Third we played Spain and fought hard against a team that had several Olympians on its roster. We had a lead the entire game, but due to poor reffing, Spain came by to tie the game 9-9 at the end of regulation.
"It was in that moment that I realized what an honor it is to represent your country."
Fourth we played Serbia which was our backdoor game into the semi-finals. Even with a bad ref, we killed them 10-1. At times the Serbian fans would boo our team and boo our fans when they chanted U-S-A!
In the semi-final game against Greece, we lost 4-3 after an upsetting call that led to a goal. Losing this game put the team into a funk and even though we beat Canada 11-9 and Hungary 4-2 in our final two games, we didn’t play our best.
I earned the privilege of representing the United States of America at the FINA Junior Worlds Water Polo Championships in Volos, Greece over a long journey that started when I was in the fifth grade.
I began playing water polo with minor aspirations of competing and winning championships on the local scene. My dreams changed in middle school when I made the USA Olympic Development Team.
Today I have my sights set on the 2020 Olympics as my participation in the competitions in Greece reaffirmed my commitment to the process and potential of representing the USA at upcoming international tournaments and in Tokyo, Japan in 2020.
To represent our country on the world stage is the highest honor and one I cherish every time I stand on the podium under the American Flag while our National Anthem plays for the crowd.
The Greek team did not win the championship game that day but their fans won a gold medal for their loyalty and relentless enthusiasm. That enthusiasm will keep me eternally energized while I continue on this journey to pursue my water polo dreams.
