Swimming is easy; there’s no need to be the best, just keep afloat, but imagine trying to still stay up while in a full-contact sport, being dragged and pushed underwater by the opposing team.
For Emily Snyder, that is a big part of her life.
Starting in seventh grade, she joined water polo, a full-contact sport with a pool filled with six people and a goalie on each side as well as six subs, making each team a total of 12 people.
Snyder’s position is the hole set, which is centered right in front of the goal and is one of the most crucial positions.
The hardest part for Emily being in her position is that she gets the ball the most, even when she’s not open, making her the target for the opposing team.
“I’ve had my suit ripped,” Snyder said
Her sport clearly gets very competitive with everyone trying to get the ball without any solid ground; nevertheless, Snyder loves her sport
“It’s a unique sport that not a lot of people play or know about,” Snyder said.
Her brother, a senior at Lakeland High School, started her love for this sport. He started water polo during freshman year, starting as a goalie, and plays in the field; to this day he still plays.
Snyder is now a freshman; she has been playing for about four years. During Emily’s time playing, she had Amanda Longan, an Olympic goalie, come and teach goalies on her team.
Being on a team that needs to communicate comes easy to Snyder. She is a social person who loves talking to anyone she can. When she brings up her sport, she’s ready to tell anyone all about it.
“I like being able to have great conversations out of it,” Emily Snyder said
Being able to educate the people who never knew it was a thing.
Maybe even get more people interested in the sport.
Unique Sport
