When did you start playing water polo?

I probably started in about Year 8 - our girl’s team at school started with me and a few friends when they took on a new sports teacher who knew how to play. I was reluctant at first: the idea of chucking a ball around in water wearing a silly cap didn’t seem that appealing, especially as at that point we were training with the guys! However, I soon saw past that and began to love it. We built the team up over the years, and by the time that I was captain in my final year of sixth form we had a really strong set and were doing well in school competitions.

Why did you choose water polo as your sport ?

If I’m honest, it’s the only sport I’ve ever been very good at! I doubt that at school many people would have thought of me as ‘sporty’ but I decided I wanted to play something at University so stuck with that. I found it incredibly tough at first as there was a big jump in ability and fitness but I stuck at it because it’s so much fun to play! It’s fast-paced, physical and it gets you super fit very very fast. It combines so many different disciplines and is most importantly a team sport – the team has to work together otherwise it all falls apart.

What is your favourite personal sporting memory?

Scoring my first goal for Cambridge felt pretty awesome but my best memory has to be winning Varsity last year! It was a close match, even though we’d beaten Oxford by an impressive amount earlier in the season, so the elation when the final whistle went was incredible! We play a lot of other matches through the year, some of which are equally important in terms of the success of the team, but there’s nothing quite like the celebrations after beating Oxford.

How did you feel before your first university game and how did the game go?

I was absolutely terrified! I hadn’t been playing for very long and felt miles behind the standard of the rest of the team. I ended up really enjoying it though: because a match squad is thirteen players, the newer players get a chance to play early on without being put under too much pressure. I probably made loads of mistakes but I was just proud to be picked.

Who is the best player you have played with?

We’ve got some incredible players on our team, but I think the absolute best for me would be Jeanie Ward-Waller, who played for us last year. She was very experienced having played over in the States, and what set her apart was her ability to bring up the standard of the entirety of the rest of the team. She could handle being tackled by about four of the opposition at once, and still calmly make sure that you were ready to receive the ball!

What is the dressing room like before a game?

Our coach is always complaining that we talk too much during training, but it gets pretty quiet before a match. We try to get everyone pumped up before a game, though, and not let it get too serious.

Who are the characters in the dressing room?

Liane Grant has got to be one - she is always having a laugh with someone, which invariably means that she takes an AGE to change! And then she wonders why the lifeguards are annoyed. But we love her.

What motivates you to get out of bed every morning and go to training?

I think all in all it’s got to be my team. Being captain this year has so far been incredibly rewarding. Everybody works very hard, plus they are great fun to be with! We’ve taken on a lot of new players and seeing how they’re improving from week to week is brilliant.

What are you hoping for in the coming season?

We were promoted into the top division of BUCS in my first year, so staying there is naturally a priority! We are up against some of the best universities in the country for sport – they have great facilities and their teams play at the top level so it’s always a challenge but I think that if we keep pushing we could do really well. We are going abroad on tour over Christmas for the first time in several years, which just shows how committed the team is. I just hope we get the success we have worked so hard for.

Will you beat The Other Place?

Hell yes! Nuff said.