As the Sage Hill water polo season begins, juniors Rachael Jaffe, goalie, and Alex Rhee, utility player, believe team dynamic is special on the co-ed squad.

“It’s hard fitting in with the guys, but they still respect me,”  Jaffe said.

Sage has worked so hard to include girls onto the team, they get respect from not only their own team members, but also their competitors.

“The other teams will sometimes give us weird looks, but then they get over it,” Jaffe said.  She and sophomore Paige Solaas are the only girls in the league, giving them the extra pressure to stand out and prove themselves to the boys.

However Rhee observes “they are very good players, so they fit in well with the team […] they are better than me, so they teach me things.”

During the spring and winter seasons Jaffe plays on an all-girls club water polo team.  She describes the difficult transition from playing with all girls, to playing with boys. “The ball they play with is bigger and so is the way they shelter,” she said.

Lightning coach Tom Norton is confident in the girls’ ability to play just as well against all boy teams.

“They really really hold their own out there, they really do, they can play against just about anyone in the water and be completely fine.”