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Meadow's Carmen Eggens - One of Canada's Best!
What first
strikes you about Carmen Eggens is how this beautiful young
woman described by friends as thoughtful, helpful and outgoing
can be such a fierce, strong and powerful force on Canada's
Junior Women's Water Polo team. It's just this dichotomy that
makes her stand out-and that's exactly what she been doing for
9 years.
Carmen comes
from a family rich in swimming tradition. In fact her
grandfather is credited with naming Haney's Neptune Swim Club.
"Everyone in my family swims," she laughs. So it was
a bit of a surprise to mom Cathy when a 7 year old Carmen
looked like she'd rather be anywhere else than standing atop
the starting blocks waiting for the sound of the starting
buzzer. After that first swim meet she refused to go back.
Individual racing had left her cold, so to speak. She was
however, fascinated with a game that looked like a mixture of
soccer and basketball but played in the water. Carmen's
introduction to water polo soon followed.
Haney folks
still remember watching the little girl pound the ball into
the goal with a power that seemed unbelievable for her years.
"Here was this little kid with an absolutely amazing
shot", they seem awestruck still by the memory. Lucky for
Carmen the Neptune swim and water polo coaches were Ian and
Justin Mitchell, both former National team water polo players.
They recognized the talent packed into this little power house
and began to build the skill base to support her natural gift.
The next 9 years would chronicle the emergence of a world
class water polo player.
When Carmen
was 12 years old and a grade 7 student at Pitt Meadows
Elementary water polo had become her focus edging out soccer
and basketball. It was about that time she began to draw
serious attention. First it was from Michael Roy, provincial
coach of B.C.'s Pacific Storm. Later National team scouts were
watching her intently. Three years later, at 15, she was the
youngest player named to Canada's National Junior Women's
water polo team. A year later she was on the fast track as a
National team athlete. Significant changes were happening.
Topping the
list was leaving home in Pitt Meadows and relocating to
Montreal for 4 months where National team training is
centralized. The love and warmth of family and friends was
replaced by the care and camaraderie of coaches and teammates.
Keeping up with grade 11 studies would be a challenge for this
Pitt Meadows Secondary honour role student, her classroom was
now a virtual one. The schedule was grueling, the training
intense and of course-- the competition. First up were the
Junior Pan Am Games in El Salvador and then it was off to
Australia for the Junior Worlds. As one of the Canada's
leading goal scorers, Carmen characteristically pounded the
ball into the goal and led her team to a top international
finish. Her eyes sparkle as she talks about water polo,
"the Junior Pan Am Games and the Junior Worlds were
definitely highlights….I love the intensity and the physical
part of the game and not knowing what could happen next".
So what's up
next for BC Water Polo's Top Juvenile Player of the Year and
Most Valuable Female for 2005? "I'd like to go to the
Olympics", she says simply. That would be Beijing, China
2008. Her dream seems well in hand …she is, after all, one
of Canada's Best!
Carmen Eggens
is
available for interviews.
Contact:
BC Water Polo
Cheryl-Wilson Stewart
Telephone: 604-737-3148
pr@bcwaterpolo.com
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