While her senior season of girls water polo at The Bishop’s School waits, Dominique Sardo has been plenty busy this summer.
Sardo, who is being recruited by the likes of USC, UCLA, Stanford and Cal, was a member of the United States Women’s Junior National Team that recently returned from Australia with the gold medal. Team USA captured the Born in ’90 Global Championship with a 10-8 win over Australia ’88. Sardo tallied three goals in the title game.
After an opening-day loss to Australia ’88, it was smooth sailing for the USA team, which rolled to seven straight victories to close out play in the tournament.
“This year’s junior team had the basic girls from the three years, plus a few helpful additions,’ Sardo said. “The team got along really well, not only in the pool but outside as well. We worked together in and out of the pool, and soon enough we were so close that it felt like we were family. The day we arrived in Australia we had a practice and worked on the basic fundamentals and just swam. It felt good to get in the pool after a 15-hour flight.
“The next day we were off to play the Australian ’88 team. We knew that out of the three teams, they were going to be the hardest. We ended up losing to them by two points. We went on throughout the week having practice almost each day and then one to two games every day. We beat all the other teams in the tournament and we were off to the gold medal game.”
That game was against the Australian ’88 team, which had beaten the U.S. team earlier that week.
“We played as a team and cheered each other on,” Sardo continued. “We definitely improved not only as a team but as individuals as well. Having been our first out-of-the-country tournament, I think we all did very well. I was happy to be a part and contribute to the team and take home the gold medal.”
Making the team is not a given. Sardo had to try out just like everyone else. The tryout was five days up in Los Alamitos, with the top 40 or 50 girls attending.
“Throughout the tryout, we worked on positioning, shooting, defense, offense, counterattack ” basically all the fundamentals to play a good game of water polo,” Sardo commented. “It was a long and hard tryout. The last day we scrimmaged, and the coaches got to see us put all the stuff they taught us into our game.”
Sardo was then one of 14 players chosen for the squad.
She said the trip to Australia was a good experience for both herself and her game.
“It taught me how to play a good and physical game of water polo,” Sardo remarked. “Next season is going to be very difficult for our Bishop’s team. We lost a great amount of key seniors, which left some pretty wide and open spots to fill. While in Australia I learned how to be a good teammate and how to help my teammates prepare and work together as a unit. Next year I will use what I learned and try and build our group of girls to become a team.
“We have a lot of young players, and if we got them involved and make them feel like they were a part of the team and that our team would benefit from their help, we would have a very successful season. That is my goal, to bring our group of girls together and make it a close team, like a family.”
Going to Australia was also interesting as far as learning about a new culture for the future Bishop’s grad.
“Australia was a very pretty and peaceful place,” Sardo said. “We didn’t really get to visit many places; our days mostly consisted of going to the pool and then to the hotel after to rest, but that’s what we were there to do, play water polo. The times we did go out and visit the town it was beautiful; perfect warm and sunny weather.
“Driving on the wrong side of the road and having to look the other way before crossing the streets was a challenge, but by the end of the trip we had it down. The people were different; they had a very classy, businesslike style. They were all dressed pretty nice.”
Sardo added that the food was OK, but by the end of the trip, all the young ladies were craving some delicious American food and some good restaurants.
“The trip was awesome, one that I will never forget,” she added.
It is a trip that may just help The Bishop’s School team greatly next season.