Athlete of the Issue: Lauren Nadel

Chase WohrleStaff WriterAt age six, Lauren Nadel began swimming with Team Santa Monica. She then swam intermittently until middle school, until she took up water polo in the eighth grade. Her early exposure to water sports came from her family: her father played high school polo and then went on to compete on UCLA’s swim team and her mother swam and her older brother and sister were also polo players.At the beginning of her sophomore year, coach Matt Flanders assured Nadel that he wanted her as a “presence in the pool.” Flanders did exactly this, making Nadel a captain her junior year. As a team leader, motivation is one of her many responsibilities. To her, motivating a team is a continuous process while addressing mistakes with a will to improve in the future.“I feel like I take one day at a time,” Nadel said. “It’s important to tell someone when they do something right, and it’s just as important to tell them when they do something wrong, and tell them how to do it better next time.”Nadel is on the road to reaching her father’s level of college sports. Now committed to the University of Michigan, she pushed aside her acceptance to Indiana University and retracted all of her other applications. The Michagan Wolverines placed in the top five teams in the U.S. last yearWith no major league polo association, players who wish to continue after college train for four years on the national team to compete in Europe and in the Olympics.  However, for Nadel, Michigan will be the last stop of her polo career.“I definitely want to grow and see how much I can improve in college, but I have no plan to try out for the national team,” Nadel said.While attending Michigan, she will study at the school of Kinesiology and pursue a career in physical therapy. This interest was drawn from a shoulder injury, which occurred two years ago.“I went to physical therapy and my physical therapist explained everything that she was doing, and how I needed to strengthen my back muscles to fix my shoulder. It was very interesting,” Nadel said.Aside from polo, Nadel has another talent. After eating Babybell cheese from her packed lunch, she takes the wax wrapper and molds it into a figurine. Her creations are highly detailed and vary from giraffes to “gang-bangers.”  She developed the skill her junior year as a way to relax while dealing with the stress of her classes.“Last year I had some stressful classes,” Nadel said. “When you’re stressed, you need  some sort of outlet, so that ended up being my outlet.”Now for amusement, Nadel is no longer reliant on the figurines for escaping the pressures of school. Classmates now request figures, and she humors them, making what they ask.When it comes to her hobbies, Nadel is often too pressed for time. In her junior year, Nadel competed on Team Santa Monica, Trojan club water polo and the Olympic Development Program (ODP) in  addition to playing for Samo. ODP: Coastal California is the most intense zone, according to Nadel.“We had a nine-hour Sunday practice, with 30 minutes for lunch in the middle,” Nadel said. “It was the hardest day of my life.”In regards to leaving Samo, Nadel hopes to have “left a good team behind” through helping all of her younger teammates improve their polo game.“Our program is always growing and getting better,” Nadel said.With this in mind, the varsity captain works to help others improve by mixing constructive criticism with positive reinforcement.“If we make a mistake, instead of getting mad at us, she’ll explain to us what we did wrong,” sophomore Tori Setayesh said. “We’re going to lose not only a really good player, but we’re going to lose that inspiration that is there in the pool with us.”cwohrle@thesamohi.com