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Kelly
Stewart: Always Pushing
Some athletes
let their actions speak for them. For others, every waking
moment is an opportunity to radiate the abundant energy that
makes them champions, whether it's in a competition or just an
opportunity to talk about what motivates them. Kelly Stewart
is one of the radiant ones. This 17-year-old water polo player
has participated in enough different sports to fill three
lifetimes but water polo is her passion. Kelly represented
Canada as a member of the Canadian Youth Women's team this
summer in Australia.
Friends
describe her as original, funny and out going - but she
confides that people don't usually realize she's also an honor
role student at Elgin Park Secondary School. Her strongest
subjects are science and math and she wants a career somewhere
in that realm - as long as it serves her appetite for action.
She is "leaning towards kinesiology, personal training,
sports medicine… I want to do something - ANYTHING - that is
NOT behind a desk. I have to be active!"
"I've
always been in sports," she says. "It began when I
was two and scaled the front of the fridge. I was put in gym
class immediately -- that was the beginning!" Want more
examples? How about this list of sports she plays, or has
played: "Soccer, volleyball, basketball, dance,
gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, cross- country, track and
field, ultimate, kickboxing, fencing, swimming, water polo,
synchro, tennis, kayaking, biking, equestrian, skiing,
snowboarding and CIRCUS CAMP!!!" As a community
volunteer, Kelly coaches swimming and water polo in the
summer, Pacific Storm water polo in the winter, and through
her gym does charity events - she describes them as adventure
races - that benefit Canuck Place Children's Hospice.
She started
out five years ago playing water polo with the Crescent Beach
swim club, signing up "because all my friends were doing
it … and it looked fun!" "I had always played
soccer… so I was in the mindset of either play offense or
defense…. So I would kind of chill in the middle of the pool
and "stay back on D" while my team was on offense…but
I was a really slow swimmer then so by the time I realized
that the other team had the ball they would already be past
me! It's a miracle I kept playing."
Three years
ago she took her water polo game to the next level as a member
of Pacific Storm. She has fond memories of several coaches who
encouraged her along the way. "Surrey Orca coach Randy
McKluskie got me really interested in it and encouraged me
first. And then Justin Mitchell, Ian Goodman, James Gardiner
and John Stockdale all coached me at some point and got me
hooked -- for life! I'm 'in' as they say!"
She has been
a member of national championship teams in 2005, 2006 and
2007, and hopes to catch the attention of U.S. scouts so that
she can play collegiate water polo south of the border. After
that, she wants to win a spot on the Canadian senior women's
team. After that, perhaps an Olympic or World Championship
medal.
The sport has
already given her a lot of memorable moments. The best was the
2007 youth nationals, when the gold medal game went into
overtime. "We all came together and played as a team and
we didn't let our nerves get to us and in the end we pulled
through!"
Asked what
she likes best about the sport, she jokes that she enjoys
smelling like chlorine. Seriously though, it's the complex
physical challenges of playing an intense sport where
multi-tasking is essential. "You have to be really fit
and coordinated and fast because your legs are constantly
treading water, kicking the girl next to you and pushing your
body in all different directions while your upper body is
wrestling with your check, throwing the ball and swimming all
at the same time. It's crazy! I love it."
Kelly said
she is motivated to keep improving by the knowledge that
"there are still so many people out there that are better
than me. I want to keep getting better and better-keep
pushing." Asked about the sport by someone who'd never
seen a game of water polo, she would describe it like this:
"Full contact European handball in the water with the
same plays as basketball." Becoming an enthusiast, she
adds, is as simple as trying the sport, as she did.
Kelly Stewart
is available for interviews:
Contact:
Cheryl Wilson-Stewart
BC Water Polo-PR
Telephone: 604.737.3148
Email: pr@bcwaterpolo.com
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