The Lake Nona High School girls’ water polo team has certainly had one of the best seasons in Lake Nona’s history, coming out with an incredible team of dedicated athletes who worked to their full potential to create a dynamic, wellrounded and incredible group of young women in the sport. It wasn’t always like this, however. At the start of the season, the team was faced with the difficulty of having to build from the ground up, training a fresh group of swimmers to play the sport, and having to make something out of almost nothing.

“Because we graduated almost our entire starting lineup last year, this year was a season of rebuilding, and our team was the definition of an underdog,” said Ally Deak, a captain and starter for the team. Deak was able not only to work hard with the rest of her team but was given the chance to watch players on the team grow and develop their ability, creating a stronger lineup than anticipated, as most girls on the team had only played water polo for less than a year prior to the season starting.

“There is something wonderful in discovering a new team dynamic that allowed our girls to hold the mindset of having nothing to lose and everything to gain. We pushed ourselves beyond every limit conceivable, both mentally and physically, and through all of the training we found ourselves to be fierce competitors in games that most people already counted as losses.” Karsyn Stewart, another member of the team, discussed some of the biggest highs and lows of the season, as well as the advice she was given by the girls’ water polo coach, Alex Bennett. One of the most difficult defeats the girls have had thus far came in a match against Ransom Everglades. In the final few seconds of the game, Lake Nona was able to score a shot that tied the game, but the referee did not count it, leading to a tough loss. This didn’t stop the girls from continuing to work hard and push through in their other matches, working together as a solid unit of individuals with a common goal: a unified team. “The most important advice we have received from our coach is that it is okay to make mistakes and to mess up, as long as we learn from them and have fun,” said Stewart. The girls are certainly taking all the experience, knowledge and athleticism in stride as they move forward into the rest of their exciting season.