Cayden Griffith '19 Recruiting Profile

At the end of my freshman year’s swim team season in 2016, after our swim and dive team finished in 3^rd place at State, I decided to join our school’s water polo team. I was fairly new to the sport, only having played it a little bit during the summers after swim practice. The endurance from swimming the mile and thousand free at the state level helped me to get into water polo by allowing me to focus more on skills rather than swimming. Having fast times in my 100 yard freestyle my coach decided to put me at wing and driver to try and win swim-offs to get the ball first for our team. It was a rush I never felt before in swimming as I was now part of a team that relied on everyone working together to score or stop a goal! I was given immediate playing time on the junior varsity team and in addition to learning wing and driver I learned how to play every position to better understand the flow of the game. In the 2017-18 Season I had 119 Goals and over 100 assits to be the best possible teamate I could be.

Our coach encouraged us to focus on learning as much of the game as possible, and the varsity players became our practice team. It wasn’t to run up the score on us, but to rather teach us all that they had learned about teamwork and commitment. Our focus was on becoming more skillful and experienced players, not those who cared about wins and losses. That has helped shape me as the player that I now am. By the start of my sophomore year I was a starter on varsity at wing/driver, and my team mentor was the captain of the team who has been teaching me how to be a future leader for the team. I continually try to improve the aspects of both my academics and athletics to become a better student-athlete and challenge my learning with honors and ap courses to help prepare me for college and a future after sports.

In addition to playing water polo and swimming I play piano, since age 6, and still am part of a studio where I give yearly recitals and performances. Piano, swimming and water polo have given me a wide variety of outlets to explore while at high-school. It is because of these experiences with my teammates that I have learned to true meaning of commitment and sacrifice. Getting up and being in the water at 5:30 am has taught me how to balance my social, athletic and academic life. These three aspects of my life have made me realize the importance of teamwork and leadership which is required to become a better player of the sport. My ideal program is one that will be good for me athletically and academically. I want a program that will prepare myself for a future in graduate school and as a professional.