Nolan Higgins '12 Recruiting Profile

     My name is Nolan Higgins and I am a Senior at Rancho Cucamonga High School in California and I play Varsity Water Polo as the starting Goalie.I am also on the Men's Dive Team as part of the swim team.  I am 6' tall and weigh 174 pounds and am pursuing an opportunity to play water polo and dive competetively at the collegiate level. I am looking for a college that matches my intense  desire to perform at a high level consistently and strives to have a winning program as well as a school that I can fulfill my academic goals and graduate on time to lead to a successfull career.
    
     I pride myself as having a great deal of character, commitment and dedication and am looking for a school that matches that commitment and has the same values that I possess always driving to be the best and also has the right attitude regardless of the score. I like to lead the team and give direction while communicating with my team on offense and while the team is countering on defense.
     
     I have been playing water polo since I was nine years old and have started as the goalie on Varsity Water Polo at Rancho Cucamonga High my Sophmore, Junior and Senior years. I received All Baseline League honors this past season and was awarded "Most Valuable Defensive Player of The Year" as well as "Most Valuable Defensive Player of the Year" and  "Most Improved Player" in my Junior  year. I was also Co-Captain in my Juinior and Senior years. I also play Club Polo year round for CHAWP (Chino Hills Aquatic Water Polo) and have done so for the past five years. My High School and Club Team coaches are listed as references upon request and will testify to my performance, character, work ethic and attitude at practice and in the games.  

     I am also on the High School Dive and Swim Team and I participated in Dive my Junior year for the first time. In the 2011 Dive season I  qualified for CIF Finals by finishing fourth in league finals and am currently ranked 14th in CIF in Dive. I placed in the top four in every dive meet last season and placed first at an Invitational meet last season.  I have recently joined the Turn and Burn Club Dive Team in Riverside California to ready myself for the 2012 Dive season. I would also like to continue to Dive at the collegiate level. I truly believe that hard work and dedication can allow me to succeed at any level in and out of the pool.
 
      I also have played baseball since I was 5 years old up until my senior season in high school until I decided to focus more intently on water polo and dive as the sport I want to advance in. While playing baseball all of those years, I was selected by my peers and coaches to play on the All Star teams my 10 - 13 year old years and made the All Tournament Team my Junior year. Baseball helped to develop my strong and accurate arm and helped to make my transition to water polo easier. I have scored 4 goals coast to coast from the goalie spot over the last two seasons as time was about to expire on those occasions and believe that my arm and field vision led to those goals.

     I am a good student and have consistently maintained a GPA of 3.2 - 3.4 throughout high school and have always received solid grades making honor roll and honor society numerous times in elementary, junior high and high school. I am looking for a school that has my major in Film Studies or Animation. Although I prefer colleges on the West Coast, I am willing to go to any one of the 50 or so schools in the country that offer water polo, diving, and a good education.

     I learned my work ethic and attitude from my parents and my father is the hardest working man that I know and he has taught me how to excell in sports as well as work. He coached me for several years and always led me to make the right decisions to be the best and taught me the value of practice and dedication. My parents have helped to put my two older brothers through college and I have a third brother also starting college in the fall of this year and I know that it has been a financial strain on them over the years as well since college is expensive and we all played sports year round as well on school and club teams.

     From the time that my parents took me to the PacTen water polo Championships my freshman and sophmore years in high school I decided that I wanted to play water polo in college and even would like to play beyond college in Europe. So please consider me for your water polo program and your dive team and I will give my word that I will perform up to your expectations once the whistle blows until every game or meet ends.

     Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to speaking with you regarding playing water polo in your program and diving on the swim/dive team.

Sincerely,


Nolan Higgins