new found home 

By Daisy C. 

Description: 17 year old Yerba Buena senior Angel Juarez, a water polo athlete finds his determination and passion in the sport he plays and with the people around him. 

When making a decision to put yourself into a sport, what do you think of? Do you picture yourself researching it? Or is it something that’s recommended to you from a friend? For 17 year old Yerba Buena senior Angel Juarez, his sport came as a surprise, but ended up leading to a new passion, determination and some life long friends. 

In his sophomore year, Angel Juarez was tricked into joining the YB water polo team. However, Juarez learned that he was in fact really good at the sport and chose to stick around. 

Juarez: It was the first sport I did and I got really passionate about it. It was my sophomore year, I was tricked into joining because they were like “oh yeah you’ll lose hella weight” –obviously they lied– but I got pretty good at it. I got really good at it actually.

When it comes to his career as an athlete, Juarez felt his source of support came from his coaches and their push on him to maintain himself and keep going.

Juarez: My coaches y'know just pushing me more and more everyday–I don’t know if it’s in a good way though–nah they’re pretty good at what they do.

Not only were his coaches a big support, but his teammates and good friends also contributed to aiding Juarez in feeling a sense of belonging on the team. These friendships have even expanded to where Juarez keeps up with teammates that have already left Yerba Buena.

Juarez: I met some good friends there. Friends  that I’m still friends with today; they graduated too. We still keep in touch and it’s nice y’know.

The sport has even followed Juarez outside of seasons, he went on to join a club involving water polo and describes it as a good experience. So much so that it made him feel good about himself.

Juarez: Honestly i did it a lot crazily after playing it for one year then I went on to do club for a couple of months that was a pretty good experience playing with the junior olympic team. I think it was just great overall. It gave me a reason to make myself feel better everyday. You just feel great afterwards.

Juarez recognizes the trials and tribulations that come not only being an athlete but an all time high school student.

Juarez: Probably the motivation. Some days you’re like holy crap but you still get up and do it all over again. 

As well as being a full time student, Juarez had to figure out how to balance his homelife. This proved to push Juarez sometimes and challenged his schedule and time management.

Juarez: You have to pretty much let the people you know down. There are sacrifices you have to make. If you can’t go somewhere and have to go to practice instead of this or y’know. You have to prioritize something over something and I personally prioritized that. Not in bad ways but I do try to make sure I’m doing well in all aspects.

Although water polo was initially a surprise to Juarez, he found himself feeling a sense of belonging with the sport and the members of the water polo team. Keeping up has proved to bring some tribulations but at the end of the day, Juarez is able to get up with the motivation of being better than he was the day before. Not only a better athlete, but a better student. His critical thinking and determination will take him far in any and every sport he will pursue.