Berryman "Shaughnessey" Smith '19 Recruiting Profile

What makes me a good candidate for your team is my knowledge, strength, and diverse IQ in the pool. Being born and raised in Hawaii, I swam a lot and got into water polo in 7th grade. Water polo being such a large and popular sport in Hawaii gave me opportunities to learn different ways of playing whether it was through school teams or club teams such as ODP. I grew up in an athletic family, with two older brothers. One, a dominant high school football player and the other, a powerful regional champion rower. So I was always working out and at the gym growing up. When I moved to Dallas at 15 I brought my water polo with me. Determined to bring my knowledge of the sport from Hawaii to Texas. I started at a club team and immediately found my fit as a strong hole or outside shooter. My school didn't have a team so I played for a neighboring school. When the school season rolled around I played mainly hole and found a good fit there scoring 10 goals in my debut game for the school I was playing for. I am always a confident but humble player, I play not for myself but for my team, and I play with the open attitude of knowing I can get better everyday. I would love to play water polo in college. I have such a love for the sport because I grew up with it and devoted so much time to making myself better. Water polo has always been there for me to fall back on in times of stress and confusion. Although I have a unconditional love for water polo I put my academic succession goals in front of water polo goals. I would love to play water polo as much as possible and hopefully have a future in it but I was raised as a student athlete so I would be very grateful for a great college education.