Kaela Whelan

Hello, I’m Kaela Whelan. I’m a student living in Athens, Georgia. Growing up I played water polo. This is a sport that is very popular in California, especially Southern Cal. I am from a city in Southern California called Newport Beach. With being so close to the ocean, my mom through me into a pool around age three to learn how to swim. I’ve always loved the smooth feeling as my body glides through the water. I knew I was meant to be a water kid especially because I never grew to love running! Eventually, swimming every day and staring down at a black line at the bottom of a pool for hours got a little boring…so I decided to play water polo. Water polo, if you didn’t know already, consists of treading water for a long time, swimming, grabbing, scratching, and scoring the ball. It is very aggressive and fast paced game but that is what makes the game so interesting. During water polo you get to play defense and offense, so I could be scoring the ball at one moment of the game or shot blocking it at another moment. It’s the thrill, momentum, and comradery of this game that made me love it so much. There’s no time to rest and I always had to be protecting myself but most importantly my teammates. Water polo has made me who I am. I am tough, driven, protective, and a hard worker.