Sami Hill never imagined she would play water polo for a program as prestigious as UCLA’s. Yet Hill – now a redshirt senior – has not only asserted herself as a team leader for UCLA, but also positioned herself as an Olympic hopeful.
Hill came from an athletic household – her mother played basketball at Brigham Young University and her father played football at Fresno State.
However, Hill didn’t expect to play water polo at the collegiate level, let alone continue playing at the highest level of competitive water polo: the Olympics.
“Because we don’t really have a pro team for water polo, I am competing at the highest level,” Hill said. “And that’s what I’ve been working for since I was little. I’m just really excited. I think this (point in my life) has been my proudest moment.”
While redshirting her sophomore year, Hill was able to train with the USA Women’s Senior National Team. In doing so, she exposed herself to a new level of competition and added new aspects to her game.
“One of the reasons I took off my sophomore year was to get some experience under my belt so it wouldn’t be fresh when I first go into (Olympic training),” Hill said. “I learned a lot that year and I’m just looking forward to working my butt off this year.”
Though the UCLA water polo season is far from over, Hill has already made significant contributions this early in the season. Last month, she broke UCLA’s all-times saves record with 747 total saves.
“I feel extremely proud of who Sami has become as a player and a person,” said coach Brandon Brooks. “She has taken great steps forward in her career. She will leave UCLA as one of our finest goalies ever.”
After impacting UCLA through her leadership and record-breaking achievements, Hill looks to continue her journey with new goals and aspirations for her Olympic career.
“It was more of a dream to be training with the Olympic team,” Hill said. “I had been training with the junior national team for some time, so I was familiar with the program. I hoped that I would be provided the opportunity to train with the Olympic team somewhere in my future. It was definitely my goal.”
Hill plans to enter full-time training with the Olympic team after graduation in hopes of making the 2016 U.S. Summer Olympics team. The final roster for the Rio team has not yet been decided, but will be established as training progresses.
“I am just so excited to have this chance and opportunity to try,” she said. “To be able to say that I have represented our country and I could potentially be going to the Olympics and represent our country – I think that’s so cool.”
Though Hill is on the cusp of being an Olympian now, she didn’t start playing water polo until she was 10 years old.
Hill was playing on a basketball team with her sister, Kodi Hill, when one of their teammates recommended that the two try to play water polo. Each of the Hill sisters took their teammate’s recommendation to start playing water polo, and now are teammates on the UCLA team.
“I’m so incredibly proud of her,” Kodi Hill, now a junior attacker on the UCLA women’s water polo team, said. “I can’t think of anyone else who deserves to be an Olympian more than she does. She works so hard and has such passion for the game; that’s really something to look up to.”
In efforts to achieve her goal of making it to the Olympics, Hill’s parents continue to be her number one supporters.
“Knowing their work ethic and them instilling it in me has helped me reach my full potential as an athlete and a human,” Sami Hill said. “Even when I didn’t want to go to practice or do homework, they always pushed me. Even though I resisted them many many times, now looking back I couldn’t picture it any other way, nor would I want it any other way.”
Hill explained that this last go-around this season has been a wild ride.
“I’ve been so blessed to go to UCLA and be here doing what I love to do,” Hill said. My life turned out differently, but for the better.”