Girls’ water polo team has had a fantastic season this spring and is quickly becoming a powerhouse. Tied for second place in the league with Loomis, the Big Green are the only ones to have defeated Choate, with their 10-2 record. They are well on their way to competing for the New England Championships.
In the final tournament, which falls on the same day as senior prom, the top four teams play each other for the New England crown. “We will definitely be in the top four teams,”Coach Debra Dohrmann said.
The team’s success is largely due to the experience and determination of the players. Among the stars are captains Meg Beimfohr ’09 and Selby Jenkins ’09, and starters Julia Pielock ’10 and Hannah Broadhurst ’11. Ms. Dohrmann mentioned two other strong players, Britt Westerman ’09 and KC Morris ’10. Westerman leads the team in scoring, and had 27 goals in her first five games.
Yet veterans in the pool are not the only ones making a splash. Nastassia Adkins ’11 started playing water polo in her freshman year but is one of the first players off the bench.
“Water polo is one of those really interesting sports that not many kids come to with prior experience,” said Ms. Dohrmann. “Combining girls who have never played before with girls who have experience creates an extraordinary kind of camaraderie on the team, as the veteran players show the younger ones the ropes.”
Ms. Dohrmann also has a great deal of respect for the young women who make up the team because water polo is an extremely physically demanding sport.
“You’re working in the water to stay afloat. You never stop,” Ms. Dohrmann remarked.
Water polo involves dunking, pushing, pulling, and holding, a great deal of which is legal or unnoticed by referees, as it occurs under the water. The girls who play water polo require a great deal of mental as well as physical strength to avoid getting frustrated with the physicality of the sport. Ms. Dohrmann said the sport necessitates a “mature athlete.”
“I think that they have amazing chemistry this year, and incredible work ethic. They have a really strong desire to work together and see how far we can go,” Ms. Dohrmann said of the team’s dynamic.
Captain Jenkins also had glowing things to say, “It’s definitely the best team I’ve ever been on and the first team that I’ve felt like we could win New England’s.”
“I think that each and every one of us is determined that we will be at the tournament and leave everything we have in the pool that day,” said Adkins.
Jenkins affirmed, “I’d rather be at water polo than at prom.”