Women's water polo tri-captain Sarah Glick '10 may only be 5 feet 4 inches tall, but she's been a huge part of the team in her time at Brown. Glick ranks as the all-time leader in points in a season and a career at Brown, as her 82 goals and 72 assists this season have raised her career totals to 282 goals and 257 assists. This past week, she scored nine goals, including five in her last home game, a 14-10 victory over Harvard.
For her efforts over her career, during this season and in the last week, The Herald has named Glick Athlete of the Week.
Herald: When and why did you get involved with water polo?
Glick: I started playing water polo when I was 12 years old because my older sister played and she didn't want me to. Being the nagging little sister I was, of course I had to play. Before that, I started swim team when I was four years old, so I've always been involved in water sports. They are kind of sister sports.
What's your pre-game routine? Any songs you have to listen to before every game?
I actually don't normally listen to music before games, which I know is weird for athletes. I know when you watch the Olympics you see Michael Phelps with his iPod on. But my only pre-game ritual is that I like to drink a Monster.
Weird.
Yeah, we're actually really into energy drinks on our team, which I know is horrible. But yeah, I like to drink one. I'm sure its psychosomatic, but I just feel really pumped up after I drink one.
What kind of pressure — because of the records you hold for Brown water polo — do you feel when you are playing in a game?
I don't really think about my stats when I'm playing. The only thing I really want to do is make sure that we do what we need to do to win the game or play the best that we can. I try to keep out of my mind how many goals I've scored or how many assists I have. I just try to make sure we're all doing what we need to do to play our best.
If you could tell someone one thing about water polo, what would you tell them?
The most common question I get is, isn't it really hard to tread water for that long? And actually the harder part about water polo is the swimming. It's definitely a lot harder to get into swim shape than to tread water. I could probably tread water for two days. We're that efficient at it.
Did you play any other sports in high school?
I did swim team and cross country. Cross country I only did my freshman year because of injuries — I'm not meant for land really.
Do you have an athletic — or non-athletic — hero?
I'd say in the water polo community, Brenda Villa, because she's the exact same height as me. And that's one of the disadvantages for me, because I'm only 5' 4" and a lot of the girls on the Olympic team are 5' 8", 5' 10'', even 6' tall. She's an inspiration for me because she shows you that you can be a smaller player and still make a big impact. She's actually the captain of the U.S. Olympic team right now.
Are you planning to do anything water polo–related after Brown?
I'm actually having a difficult time right now deciding if I want to play professionally next year or if I want to get a real job. There are professional leagues all over Europe and Australia. I kind of want to keep playing just because I love it and I'm not sick of it yet, even though I've been playing for 10 years. But at the same time, everyone wants to become independent and not rely on parents any more, and I'm not sure I would be financially stable playing professionally. It's going to be a gamble.
How has your height affected you?
It was really more of an issue when I was trying to get recruited to college. People would look at that number and think, oh, well, she's small, so she's probably not that strong. But I don't really let it affect me when I'm in the pool, so it hasn't really had an impact on the way I play.
Why do you think water polo is the best sport?
I love water polo because every practice and every game you have to push yourself to the limit — and it's a huge adrenaline rush. And I also love it because it combines so many different sports. You don't have to know anything about the game and you can still watch it and enjoy it, having no clue what the whistles mean, just knowing that they're trying to get to the goal.
