Aden Bishop '24 Recruiting Profile

My water polo career started when I was 10 in Santa Barbara, CA. with Premier Water Polo Club. My start in the sport was admittedly slow as a little guy, however the last two years are a different story as I’ve gotten bigger, stronger, and faster. In my early years I had to scrap for playing time against the bigger kids. I quickly figured out I had to work harder than others to develop if I was going to make it in the sport and gain an advantage. I got used to defending boys much bigger, which serves me well now. I never missed a practice...still don’t. On weekends and between seasons I worked with my dad on stroke technique and swim fitness to get faster. 

Now I’m 17, 6 feet tall and growing, and my mindset to outwork the competition hasn’t changed. My game is rooted in great defense instincts and smart offensive facilitation—and more recently as I’ve gotten bigger my shooting has improved. I have a 4.7 GPA and use my intelligence to my advantage in processing offensive and defensive gameplans. At 160 pounds I can defend bigger players and am highly coachable. During 16U club season I played 2-meter defense and this year in 18U I’m shifting to attack. I was a key starter on a Dos Pueblos (Goleta CA) high school team that made a run to the CIF D2 semifinals, playing attacker and occasional 2M defense on a team that had just 1 sub. We were fit, fast, selfless, and had a defense-first culture. I’ve also begun a strength training program this year.

Playing college water polo is my goal—and believe I’m just starting to scratch the surface of my potential as a player, a team leader, and as a dynamic student athlete.