After the Girls’ Water Polo Team’s 6th place finish at the state championship, we sat down with Shannon Kress to reflect on her high school career.

How did you get introduced into water polo, as it is not an especially common sport compared to others? How long have you been playing water polo?

I have played for three years. I used to swim my freshman year. Through from 3rd grade to 9th grade, I was on the Swim Team, and one of my neighbors told me that they think I should be on the team so I tried it out sophomore year.

Besides water polo, do you play any other sports?

Not any longer, but I used to swim.

What is your favorite memory from water polo?

This year’s game against McDowell, which went into double overtime.  It was the one game that would determine if we went to states, so if we lost we wouldn’t have gone —  but if we won, which we did, then we would go to states.

What is one thing you will miss most about water polo?

The team. They’re my favorite people

How do you feel about the overall performance of the team this year?

We had a couple things happen but given the circumstances, we did pretty well because our goalie was missing for some of it, so 2 other girls really stepped up and went in goal. They were some of our best players so that kind of brought the team down but we still stood pretty well.

How does it feel to be part of such a successful team and program?

It feels good. The coaching staff and everybody on the team is so dedicated that it makes it so much better than if we all hated each other.

Would you say there is one thing that stands out as a major contributor to the team’s success?

Just how close we are as a team and how well we work together. We all know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

What has been the hardest part about playing water polo?

Some of the training has been really hard. The first couple weeks of the season before school starts is two-a-day and they are brutal.