Being There

Sat­ur­day evening last week I went to see the Car­leton Uni­ver­sity wom­ens’ water polo team play McMas­ter Uni­ver­sity. As I was watch­ing, the mother of one of the girls on the Car­leton team struck up a con­ver­sa­tion. She was proud that her daugh­ter had made the team in her first year, even though she wasn’t the best player.

“You must spend a for­tune on food,” I pon­dered aloud, watch­ing the women swim up and down the lanes and tread water. “She eats like a pig,” the mother replied, “but she’s still so skinny!”

These women are impres­sive ath­letes play­ing a chal­leng­ing game.  Although Car­leton won hand­ily, the com­pe­ti­tion was fierce. In one rush dur­ing the fourth quar­ter, one woman broke away from the pack and raced down the pool, only to pass the ball to her team­mate, who threw it into the empty side of the net. Every once and a while they would dunk each other’s heads under the water fight­ing for the ball. Stand­ing in the gallery, I was amazed at the speed and the beauty of the lit­tle white heads whizzing back and forth across the pool.

The young women on the water polo team don’t fit our con­ven­tions of fem­i­nin­ity, they exceed them. Their power, grace­ful­ness, and feroc­ity in the pool is astounding.