| Jakie
Kohli - Water Polo Sharp Shooter
Jakie Kohli
may only be 16, but she's been around water polo so long she
can't recall details of her first game. The sharp shooting
Burnaby resident was just six years old when she joined the
Burnaby Barracudas water polo club at the urging of a friend.
She does
recall one thing - she expected her first game would be fun.
Over the last 10 years this Grade 11 student at Moscrop
Secondary has participated in a wide array of sports - soccer,
volleyball, swimming, gymnastics, diving, track and
cross-country - but it's water polo that still gives her a
unique inspiration.
The things
she loves most about it are "the way I feel when I swim
through the water with the ball in front of me on a breakaway
with everyone cheering. Also, when I help someone score
instead of myself."
She savors
the memory of winning a national title with Pacific Storm at
Water Polo Canada's youth championship in Toronto in 2006. It
was Storm's first youth girls' championship title, a tense 6-5
victory over number one seed DDO of Quebec in the tournament
final.
Down the road
Jakie hopes to represent Canada as a member of the junior
national team, and eventually, play in the Olympics. She's
already making moves in that direction, with selection to the
Top 25 Canada West team camp in February 2007.
Her most
vivid memory is a recent one, the B.C. Open youth gold medal
game between Storm and Stanford. The U.S. team took a
commanding, and ultimately unbeatable lead, although the Storm
girls made a game of it in the second half before losing 10-5.
Jakie, who appreciates the opportunities water polo has
afforded her to make new friends and improve her own game,
remembers the Stanford game as intense and exciting.
"I
remember I was so on fire that I didn't see anything but the
pool and the players. I wanted to score every goal and win so
badly," she recalls. She compares water polo to soccer -
"but you play the ball with your hands, and there's a lot
more contact. And of course, it's in the water."
Farther down
the road, she's considering a career as a veterinarian because
"I like animals" or possible a high school physical
education teacher.
Friends
describe Jakie as friendly, athletic and bright. Something
they might not realize, she says, is that she used to be
left-handed.
Jakie Kohli
is available for interviews.
Contact:
Cheryl Wilson-Stewart
BC Water Polo-PR
Telephone: 604.737.3148
Email: pr@bcwaterpolo.com
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