Jacob Matt '20 Recruiting Profile

Since I started playing, water polo has been an anchor for me. When times got tough and emotions got high, I could rely on the sport to keep me grounded. My dad has been a United States Marine for more than 25 years, and I have lived the military lifestyle for my entire life. This meant moving around and leaving behind friends and family. After seven moves, it became the norm. But, I didn’t always have water polo. I discovered it when my family moved to California, and it took me a whole year to even find it, and realize it was the sport meant for me. All of my life, I had gone from one sport to another - from karate to flag football, from tennis to soccer. I found water polo and began a journey that I am still traveling today. Although I had found my passion, I definitely was not a natural at it.

I swam for about four years before I transitioned to water polo, and it was anything but smooth. Compared to swimming, water polo was much more intense and required more endurance. Despite not having either of those attributes, I was committed to this brand new sport. I had no idea how the game worked or the rules, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to learn and play. In California, I was an average player. I made up for it through my leadership skills and innate ability to forge relationships. I never started in a game, and was barely substituted. But I kept trying. Every practice was an opportunity to get better, and I made it my mission to improve in any way I could. I still apply this principle to my life every day, almost five years later. I know I’m going to be poor in something, but I can’t be poor at it for the rest of my life. This outlook paid off, improving my skills, allowing me to become a mentor for those who also wanted to move outside of their comfort zone.

When I was in 8th grade, my family got the news that we never wanted to hear- we had to move to Rhode Island. There was no water polo team in Rhode Island, so I had to learn how to be patient. I decided to run to stay in shape and ended up making Varsity on the cross-country, outdoor track, and indoor tracks teams at my school. I still remained focused on my true passion. Despite not knowing when I would get to play again, I constantly trained on my own; I would be back to water polo eventually. Finally, we got the call to move to Florida.

I learned one thing quickly in Florida; the water polo players in California may have been better, but the Florida players were much bigger. As always, this didn’t bother me. I still played my heart out and played as if I were twice my size. 

That’s what I like to equate my life to: a 250-pound teenager with a beard between me and the goal. I will always take that shot, no matter what.