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The Piedmont Highlander

The Piedmont Highlander

Water polo takes Fennell to Hungary

Water+polo+takes+Fennell+to+Hungary

From driving through the Caldecott Tunnel to flying all the way to Hungary, junior Kelsey Fennell has proved that she will go the distance to play water polo.

Fennell traveled to Eger, Hungary on a 10-day training trip with eight girls from her club water polo team. The group departed on March 25. They trained and and toured Hungary before returning on April 4.

“We went and had breakfast and then trained, had lunch and then toured Hungary, and then trained again,” Fennell said.

The American athletes also scrimmaged a local Hungarian team, a memorable experience for Fennell.

“It was different — different techniques and different ideas on how to do stuff,” Fennell said.

Fennell plays for the Lamorinda Water Polo Club, a year-round club team based in Lafayette. She joined the team this winter, but has been playing water polo since her freshman year.

kelsey 3The Lamorinda team enlisted the help of an agency to help organize the Hungarian training trip for the athletes. Fennell said that Hungary was the ideal place to travel to and train because it is the water polo capital.

“They have natural springs and a lot of water so their teams are really good at swimming and water polo,” Fennell said.

She said it was difficult to adjust because unlike their home pool, the Hungarian pool was indoor — covered temporarily to make the pool accessible during the winter.

“It was hard to breath in it and we had to get used to it,” Fennell said. “We usually practice in an outdoor pool because California is so nice.”

Despite the challenges, Fennell said that she enjoyed the trip.kelsey 2

“It was awesome,” Fennell said. “It was really exciting getting to know Hungary and seeing everything we toured and then also getting the experience of playing a sport that I love in another country and seeing how other people are playing, too.”

Junior Daria Mohazab said that she was not surprised when she found out that Fennell was traveling all the way to Hungary to play water polo.

“She’s extremely good at water polo but she’s super modest,” Mohazab said.

Senior Lucy Fast played varsity women’s water polo with Fennell in the fall. Faust said that Fennell is a smart and aggressive athlete. She said that Fennell is a talented athlete who is able to hop from one sport to the next seamlessly.

“She started playing goalie her freshman year and will be one of the strongest players next year,” Faust said.

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