Coach Howell Steps in as Girls Water Polo Head Coach

By Brandon Teela

As the season comes to a start, the girls water polo team was left in shock as their former coach made a surprise step down. Everyone was in shock, and felt a lot of emotions, but this team has a great concept of next man up.

Coach Howell said that though it is a tough situation she thinks the team is better than they realize. She emphasized that “it does not really matter who the coach is as long as the girls in the water are working hard to be the best they can be.”

Jersey Hays, ’21, is most excited for Coach Howell. She says that she has always loved her from the beginning and she is going to do a great job this season. She says, “The team dynamic will still be very positive and supportive as it’s always been.”

Along with Coach Howell, the rest of the team was extremely shocked at the news of their former coach resigning. Howell states, “We were all blindsided, surprise is an understatement.” Lauren Kneeland, ’21, said, “We were completely shocked. When the AD was telling us our coach had quit, I remember girls laughing because at the time we thought it was a joke.”

This resigning of Coach Serna was really shocking to the whole team. Although it was sort of saddening news, they still trust in their new coach greatly as, “she is very caring and loving towards all of us” as Kneeland says.

Coach Howell says she is very excited to see what her girls can do. The more and more she thinks about it the more she believes they can pull through, “We have a resilient group of girls that trust and respect each other even in the face of adversity.”

Coach Howell has a great understanding of standing together as a team, they are rough and tough and all of them, including all of Redwood, are very grateful for everything Coach Serena did for them.

Tags: girls, girls polo, girls waterpolo, redwood girls basketball, waterpolo