Water polo and Loyola Marymount University (LMU) run in senior Sophia Boschken’s family. With a sister attending LMU and a brother playing for its water polo team, Sophia’s recent commitment to Division I water polo at LMU follows right in their footsteps. 

“I’m really excited to be joining them next year,” Sophia said. 

But water polo wasn’t Sophia’s first aquatic sport. Before adding the “polo” to water, Sophia was a competitive swimmer until the summer before her freshman year.

“My parents told me I’m very aggressive and I should try out a contact sport,” Sophia said. “So I decided to try something new.”

That summer, Sophia joined NorCal Aquatics, a local water polo team run by the LAHS water polo head coaches. Just a few weeks later, she made the varsity water polo team — the only freshman who did — and has played there every season since. 

During practices, Sophia has always pushed herself to be a role model for the younger players, working as hard as she can in hopes that everyone will follow along. As a captain, Sophia feels expectations to fit into that aspect of leading. 

“My coaches always tell me to be a role model,” Sophia said. “I just want to help everyone around me.”

Sophia also values team bonding and connecting outside of the pool, which translates into improving the team in the water as well. According to her, building those relationships helps improve the team’s trust and their ability to play well together.

“Sophia’s really good at making people feel comfortable on the team,” teammate junior Ava Smith said. “You can always sense how friendly she is.”

Just as she values camaraderie on the Los Altos team, Sophia looked for the same sense of community in a college team — part of why she chose LMU.

“In college, you’re such a close-knit team,” Sophia said. “If you connect outside of the pool, it’s so much easier when you’re inside.”

But while she works on being a supportive teammate during practice, Sophia also lets her competitive side which started her water polo journey, show during games. Similarly, she leans into her competitive spirit to inspire her teammates for that same fire. 

“She’s always fighting on,” teammate senior Serra Kozat said. “Even if we’re getting beat, she doesn’t pay attention to the score and focuses on how she can help the team.”

Though she proudly announced her commitment in July, LMU was almost the complete opposite of what she wanted in a school at first. When she first started looking at getting recruited, Sophia was searching for a large football school with a big student body. But, LMU ultimately pulled through with its strong coaching staff and support system, which Sophia got to know through her brother on the men’s team. 

“I’ve heard so many horror stories about coaches,” Sophia said. “If you hate your coach, you’re stuck there for the next four years.”

Along with its coaches, Sophia was drawn to the school’s proximity to Manhattan Beach and its status as a top 10 water polo team in the nation. 

While it was a challenging road to begin water polo, Sophia wishes she would have started as early as she could have. 

“If I could tell myself anything, it would be to start playing earlier,” Sophia said.