NCAA Tournament Thoughts

NCAAs this year was really a dream come true. When I was a freshman we came in third, and
then as a sophomore we placed second, and finally as a junior we finished first. It really has been
a three year process for my class and there was no better way to send off our seniors into the real
world and Mel and Anni into the world of the Olympics than to win a National Championship
together. From McDonalds to Disneyland and finally to Band Run, last weekend truly was
unforgettable.

A great memory from the weekend was watching the "40 Greatest Speeches of All Time" with

my roommate, Monica, before our semifinal and championship game.

"A day may come when the courage of men fails... But it is not this day!  -Aragon

It was an influx of emotions topped off by celebratory squeals and quite a few tears. It felt
surreal; we had done it. I made it a point to focus on and really take in everything that was going
on in that moment. It's a great feeling when you know you're experiencing something that you'll
go on to talk about and remember for the rest of your life.

No team I've played on has ever been this good.

No team I've trained with has ever pushed me this hard.
No team has supported me in and out of the pool in this way.
There is no team like Stanford women's water polo.

When JT said "Do it for each other and do it for the seniors," that’s when it hit me, winning the

National Championship was so much more than my hard work paying off, it was knowing that I
had 18 other girls giving it their all and trusting in each other. In the end when I think about the
weekend what I believe really got our team going wasn't about winning for ourselves, but for our
teammates and that is what made all the difference.

 I am just so proud of everyone on the team. We all are such a diverse group of girls and everyone has something in and out of the pool that they are absolutely incredible at. This weekend, we were together, played to each other’s strengths, and then dominated as a team. The feeling during the seconds counting down to the end of the game was a mix of every strong emotion you could think of. Yet, the only word that came to my mind was: LOVE. Love for my team, for the coaches, for Stanford, for the parents, and for the sport that brought us together.

The Monday before we left for Michigan, we had our last weight lifting session of the season. This of course meant it was time for dress up weights, a long standing tradition of Stanford Women's Water Polo. Our theme for this year: #winning, perfect to get us in the mood for what we planned on doing the coming weekend. So whether we were dressed up as the lottery, superman, Coach Susan, or Kate Middleton (clearly, she won), we completed our final weight program of the season as winners.

As we jumped into the pool to celebrate I remember thinking to myself, "This it is. All of those swim sets, early morning practices, and weekends forgone. To experience this moment."

One of my best memories from this past weekend was during the final game against Cal. It was late in the 3rd quarter and JT was standing about the 5M line and wanted to call a time-out. The

ref could not hear JT and back on the bench Susan and Kyle searched frantically for the horn. In a moment of panic Susan yells, "where the hell is the horn!?" and Kyle, finally finding it, does this wind mill move with his arm and finally slams it down. KB and I were dying laughing.

When all is said and done, it's not the shots that won the championship that you remember, but the friendships you made along the way.

 I am so proud to be a member of this team. Looking around at the faces of my teammates after that buzzer rang, I knew all the hard work, the early mornings, the lost weekends, the stress, the
pain, the struggle, the everything...was worth it. It's worth that feeling of pride. It's a feeling from which I am still "warm" (as Kimbo would call it). That feeling and those girls surrounding me are my inspiration.




With a minute and a half left thinking to myself "try and score 4 goals before the game is over Cal ... because you can't". And then they didn't score another goal.

"Cherish and savor this now and for a good time to come. You will remember it until the day you die. Draw on it when necessary as it will buoy you when you are down. You have a well- earned “magic elixir” that will be with you ad infinitum."--family friend

 I will never forget how the whole team found where my Dad was sitting (slightly away from the other parent section due to the pool set up at Michigan and my Dad being in a wheel chair), so they could make sure they waved to him during the introductions before the championship game.

NCAA's was amazing. It feels as though we have truly finished a season off. Every year season ends, and it is just over. But when you work so hard for something as big as an NCAA title, your season never ends. This one stays with you for a lifetime :)

Winning a national championship was WAY better than eating a McFlurry!!

My favorite part of the weekend was the feeling I got watching the clock go down for the last minute in the fourth quarter of our Cal game. Vee sitting next to me on one side and all of us on the bench had our arms around each other, while the girls in the pool had huge smiles on their faces. The feeling I had at that moment was unlike any other I have had in my entire life. Playing with such an amazing team and knowing that we had finally reached our goal with the help of every single person on the team!

To finally go to NCAAs and come back a champion was the greatest experience I have

had. The last three years it was disappointing coming up short and this year made all of the

disappointment finally worth it. To go out on top is just so exciting and I loved this year and all

of my amazing teammates.

 I will never forget the feeling relief and ecstasy that came over me as the burdens of training,

the pressure to win, the disappointment of losing in the past, anything that could have possibly

weighed me down, literally flew off my body as I lifted our NCAA championship trophy in the

air.