When Priscilla Gil first took up water polo, she did not expect to like the sport. Ten years later, not only does she love the sport, but she is preparing to head to California in two weeks to compete in a tournament at the Junior Olympics.
“My mom wanted me to play another sport, and she saw that after swimmers were done with the season, they go into water polo season,” Gil said. “She decided to sign me up and I totally didn’t want to do it, but I ended up doing it my first year. I ended up loving it.”
In California, she will compete in a Junior Olympics water polo tournament. This is her first time as an athlete on a Junior Olympics team, an opportunity she said she is very excited for.
“I was obviously really nervous, but I made it,” Gil said about the tryouts. “I think it’s really fun because some of my friends are on it, and I met new people. It’s just really helpful too, because I’m going to play in college, and I think it’s really special that I could continue to train in the summer going into my freshman year.”
Born in Chicago, Gil moved to Brookfield when she was seven years old. She started playing water polo at Lyons Aquatics, a club aquatic team, where she practiced and honed the skills that are leading her towards her future.
With the Lyons Aquatics team, Gil had the opportunity in June to spend 10 days training in Barcelona, Spain. It was her first time in Europe, and she spent it mainly training and competing with other water polo players. In the little bit of downtime they had, they were able to explore the city and soak up their time abroad.
Gil said that from the moment the team landed in Spain they began working on their skills. They dropped off their bags at the hotel and went straight to the pool at Club Natació Barcelona.
“We would go against a team from Spain, and we would use the skills that we learned and put it in the game,” Gil said. “It was just a really fun experience to do that.”
A highlight of Barcelona was the opportunity to train with two-time Olympic silver medalist Roser Tarragó. Gil’s team was able to show off their skills to the Olympian and get personalized advice from her.
“I thought it was really cool, because she was working with us one on one and she was telling us what we were doing wrong,” Gil said of meeting Tarragó the first Olympian Gil said she had ever met.”
Ahead of the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics in France, Gil is now finding inspiration from watching the U.S. team prepare and train. It motivates her, she said, to work even harder.
“Watching water polo is really good because you see things and are like, ‘Oh, I could do that in the game!’ or “Oh, I could improve on this!’” Gil said. “Just watching them is really good for anyone who wants to improve.”
Gil graduated from Riverside-Brookfield High School this May, earning a leadership award and MVP award for her time on the school’s water polo team. This fall, she will start college at Penn State. She plans to study business and play water polo for the school’s team. She said her coaches and family members are excited about her success so far.
“My college coach is pretty excited,” Gil said. “She’s been to some of my games already, so I’m pretty excited. My mom and dad are super proud of me and some of my extended family as well.”
Gil will spend the next few weeks training in Brookfield for her competition at the Junior Olympics before embarking on her college athletic career in August.