Stories and Articles

The Magic at 12

by Jackie Gauthier, AGP Intern

hen I was a baby, I played in ice chests full of warm water. A little later, at 18-months, my parents moved me to swim lessons—I loved it! The water was like home and you couldn’t get me out. I loved it like kids love candy.  I began swimming competitively at age 4 and continued through grade school. I swam two different strokes, freestyle and butterfly. I also had an older sister, and when I was 12, she was playing water polo.

I’d never thought about anything but swimming, but one cold March night, a night I will always remember, something changed. 

My sister just finished her first water polo season for Woodbridge High and was going to join a club to expand her water polo experience. I was with my parents and I remember hearing many whistles and seeing a mass of people in the water moving all around, throwing a yellow ball.  I could not stop staring at the spectacle.  Meanwhile my parents were talking to the club coach. As I stood next to them, he looked down at me, then at my older sister who was a couple inches shorter, and back at me.  He says, "So when do you want to start?"

It never even crossed my mind or my parents' minds for me to play this fast, loud, intense, sport at that moment. His suggestion for me to play was like…magic! I started the next week along with my sister. That fateful day was 9 years ago. In the beginning, I had no idea what was going on. The rules were confusing at first and for the first couple of months, it was tough. But with my coach’s and teammates’ support I learned quickly. I earned MVP in my first tournament and from that day, I was hooked on the sport.

Today, where it is not unusual to start a sport at a young age of 5 or 6, I smile and am proud of my achievements, after starting an unknown sport at the age of 12.  With hard work and persistence, I continued to play not only with my high school, but with the youth national team as well.  I currently play with Stanford Water Polo. It is a complete dream come true to play at such an elite university with such a supportive and talented team. You never know when it’s going to happen, but at 12, magic happened to me!

Jackie preparing to pass to one of her Stanford Water Polo teammates.