After a rough start to the season, girls’ water polo, 7-9-1 overall, steadily improved before falling in the semifinals of CIF Division 1 L.A. City Section  last Wednesday. 

Junior Banksy Chen, a co-captain with junior Angelina Golgert, said the team’s growth defined their year.

A shift first came from changing how they practiced. 

“We’ve been doing a lot more scrimmaging, enhancing our aggressiveness,” she said.

Golgert added that practices became more structured. 

“We map out our gameplay scripting the game as how we want it to go,” she said. 

Chen noted that the team also committed to “two hour long Zoom calls” to review professional men’s water polo. This helped the Gondoliers to apply skills more effectively and confidently in real situations and push them to their limit.

Confidence improved as younger players stepped up. 

The captains said the team’s mindset also shifted as playoffs approached. Having more structure helped everyone stay locked in. Chen also said that the team began treating every practice “like a real game.” 

That change in intensity, they said, helped the players stay focused through pressure and gave them a clearer sense of what they wanted to accomplish in the post season.

Their toughest opponent remained San Pedro, a team they couldn’t beat this season. 

Still, Golgert is optimistic against the Pirates in the future.

“I think we got them,” she said.