Nieve Courtney '22 Recruiting Profile

I started water polo at age 12 which for Utah is young. I picked up the game quickly and became a starter on the High School team. This was not easy working with girls who were older than me and had played the game for a long time. I've worked hard for years to improved my skills while also mentally and emotionally working to have those skills improve my team. It's important to me to build others and to support and highlight their best skills in order for us to have the best team. Women can be very emotional and there is a large mental aspect to the game. I've been lucky to have a coach who leads us through mediation and who understands the mental barriers we each have to break through. I've had many opportunities to work with different teams and different groups of women from ODP to national team to SET to Tony Azevedo's All Star team. I feel a strength of mine is supporting the team in any way they need and providing skills that can fill in weak areas where necessary. I have a talent of seeing the game and knowing where to get the ball. I know where others should be and I can be directed or direct team mates during games. 

The last few years I've been a member of both my High School swim team and the water polo team. I don't have an off season. With practices in the mornings and afternoons I have worked hard to keep my GPA up around a 3.9. Education is very important to me, I want to work in the medical field and I know I need top grades in order to do so. I also know that the colleges I want to attend have very high academic standards and I want to make sure I give myself every opportunity to be accepted into these colleges. During COVID I moved to California to train with Rico and Tony Azevedo, I'm an athlete in their elite athlete program.