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Jessie
Mather-Lingley - Loves the game!
Jessie
Mather-Lingley lives what you could only call a full life.
This Grade 12 honor role student at Garibaldi secondary school
is not only a national-caliber water polo player, she finds
time to compete in soccer and swimming - and she's also an
avid snowboarder. Jessie also enjoys horseback riding, which
is a favorite activity for many residents of Maple Ridge's
scenic rural neighborhoods.
Finally,
something Jessie thinks most people would never imagine about
her is that she's "really big into drama."
She got hooked on water polo seven years ago after joining
Haney Neptunes' summer swim program, and decided to give the
club's team sport an audition. "My friends were playing
so I thought I'd try it," Jessie recalls. Ian Mitchell
was the Neptune's coach, but other details of that first game
are a bit sketchy - "when it was over I was probably
relieved to be on solid ground," she jokes.
For the last
four years, she has competed for Pacific Storm, and enjoys the
memory of competing at the 2006 Youth Cup, and winning a
national cadet title with Storm.
"The most exciting was the cadet nationals final game for
first-second, which we won. The game was so intense. We were
so nervous," Jessie says. It was memorable because they
won, but Jessie says the part of the sport she loves best is
"the exhilaration you get when you play, and the fun I
have with my friends. "Her friends on the team appreciate
her, too, calling her "exuberant, honest and loyal."
Jessie's
motivation is "the rush" she feels when she plunges
into the pool to warm up for a game, and the surge of
adrenaline she gets when she scores a goal. Over the longer
term, Jessie's ambition is to carve out a career in journalism
because she loves writing and describes herself as "very
creative." By contrast, she has no specific goal for her
ongoing 'career' in water polo. "I truthfully don't know.
I just want to keep improving and having a ton of fun in and
out of the water." She would describe water polo to a
newcomer as a combination of soccer, rugby and basketball that
provides a lot of character-building side-benefits, "You
learn teamwork and meet a ton of new people, and meet
friends."
Jessie
Mather-Lingley is available for interviews
Contact:
Cheryl Wilson-Stewart
BC Water Polo-PR
Telephone: 604.737.3148
Email: pr@bcwaterpolo.com
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