Jax Milasincic '24 Recruiting Profile

I have been an athlete my whole life, and I have come to realize that there are three integral parts to achieving sucess: be a great teammate, be coachable, and always give maximum effort.

Being a great teammate, especially in water polo, means I make the extra pass on a counter. It means I try my best to build up teammates even if they miss a shot. It means I share things I have learned with them and take their experiences and adding them to my own set of skills. It does not mean to I coach my teammates, because that is the coach's job. These qualities are of utmost importance in a team sport like water polo.

Being coachable means I do not make excuses, or justify my mistakes. These are a waste of time, and I have learned that putting my own ego aside to learn what I can do better is much more effective than trying to defend myself. 

And lastly, giving maximum effort does not neccessarily mean sprinting all out for every practice. It means I give maximum mental effort all practice to recognize the purpose of drills and techniques, as well as recognize when I need to push my physical effort to the limit. To me, this can mean literally sprinting all out during a sprint drill, but also focusing on good technique during a shooting drill. 

So, why am I a good athlete? Because I listed a few good qualities that athletes should have? No, these qualities outline the way I practice. Some of my achievements inside competition highlight my own individual abilities. For example, my extremely good memory allows me to memorize plays after seeing them drawn only once even if they have 3 or 4 different phases. I am also extremely analytical, and can improve a lot from watching film due to my ability to internalize every scenario and recognize areas for improvement. Outside of water polo, I am also a swimmer, primarily a breaststroker. I was able to cut my 100 yard breast time down from a 1:07 to a 0:59 during sophomore year due to my intellectual approach to the importance of the technique. My background in swimming and also being a pitcher in baseball have helped contribute to me being a successfull water polo player as well. I am very open to the idea of playing sports in college, which could mean both water polo and swimming or simply one or the other depending on my opportunities.