Underwater Showdown: The Girls Waterpolo Playoff Race

Players discuss their season, coaches, motivation, and their playoff run.

By: Sophia Rodriguez

The Redwood Girls Varsity Water Polo team went into the 2024 Central Section Division II Playoffs and fought against Exeter with a winning score of 17 – 6, and against Atascadero with another winning score of 9 – 6. When they went up against Morro Bay and became outmatched by a score of 6 – 10, they did not let that discourage their confidence and motivation to learn from it.

#11 Mia Larsen, ’26, says her toughest challenge is “mental blocks. Sometimes when you start [the game] bad, finishing it with a good attitude and playing your best is hard. Always having others encourage you, especially our coaches who tell us it is okay.”

Larsen says making it into the playoffs “felt nice, but we lost, and that sucked because we were expecting a win, but I’m happy that we got this far because I love being with my team.”

To stay calm under intense pressure, Larsen says, “I get nervous but my coach always tells me it’s just water polo. You just have to play the game and as soon as you get in the water, just think about the game and don’t let anything else get in the way.”

Larsen says the biggest team motivator “was our coaches. They encouraged us and helped us know and do our best for each other because it is rough but helping each other out.”

“Getting to know my team and growing together,” is Larsen’s memorable highlight of this season while describing the team as “connected.”

#3 Emily Dean, ’26, says making it into the “playoffs is so much fun, I think we got far this year and our team chemistry is really good, so I mean we won and lost with dignity. It took a couple of days to get over that loss, but our team’s young so next year we will come back a lot better.”

Dean says the biggest motivation from being part of this team is “we are just one big family and so we each look out for each other, even our coaches look out for us, and it is fun just to hang out. We hype each other up, maintain endurance, and push ourselves far like you just want to be motivated.”

Dean says to prepare for the intense playoff games, “During tournaments and stuff, we take the day to hang out and figure out how to mentally prepare ourselves for the game. We will visualize our wins and try our best. I don’t really stay calm in intense games and so anytime we have time to talk to our team they’re like, yeah you got it, and very encouraging so that’s helpful.”

One word to describe the girls’ water polo team this year is “chemistry,” Dean says, “I think we have a lot of chemistry, as our team does and so having that close of a family and a bond with these people just strengthens our team for the next year in the previous years it wasn’t always like that, they weren’t always super connected and involved and this year there’s just been a shift in our team and I think it definitely comes from our coaches too and just being very connected and having this chemistry is very important.”

Dean says the best bonding experience is “all of our team dinners, I think they’re a lot of fun to do after practice and before [the season] ends.”

#10 Karli Rasmussen, ’25, says the highlight of the season was “bonding with the girls on the water polo team. We’ve had a few trips where we went to the beach and stayed at a hotel together. Being with them is so fun, coming together as a team and working together. We’ve gotten so much better.”

Rasmussen says she “felt amazing” making it into the playoffs and says “Our team got so much better from the start of the year to the end of the year. We tried and practiced hard and I’m so grateful for everyone who made it exciting.”

Rasmussen says keeping her energy up in the pool is “hard. Sometimes tough games tear us down when we are not doing our best so I try my best knowing it is not the end of my life if I lose the game. We have worked so hard for this and I have been playing my hardest. It was what got me there.”

The toughest challenge Rasmussen says she faces is “In terms of my life, I’m so busy, I have dance and everything, so the toughest challenge is being busy and tired, but just knowing how much I love the sports I’m in and the things I do is something that helps me overcome it. I love doing it, it is so fun, and an opportunity that not everyone has so that is what motivates me to do better. What also motivates me is my coach and teammates because they worked so hard and I wanted to push myself to work hard too.”

Rasmussen says she remains calm under pressure when “my coach [sees we are] struggling and going crazy. He says ‘Okay guys, just take a deep breath, we’re okay,’ and I trust him because he’s a good coach who helps me stay calm and helps me think that everything is going to be okay with also saying prayers.”

To describe the team in one word this season, Rasmussen says it was “incredible.”

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