Athlete of the Week: Michelle Ysrael
She gracefully escapes the grasp of a Deerfield player, catches the ball and shoots at the goal. Michelle Ysrael ‘15 is a top contrubtor on both the girls’ water polo team and swimming team. After being encouraged to play water polo by her swimming teammates during her lower year, she decided to take up the challenge. Ysrael is now the captain for the girls’ water polo team that currently owns a record of four wins and two losses.
Ysrael, always excited to meet new challenges, tackled the difficult sport of water polo with determination. “I’ve been swimming for a while, I used to play soccer too. I liked the team aspect of soccer, and I thought that aspect would continue in water polo. It was definitely an eye opening experience when I started it at Exeter. Water polo is a very mental game. It’s more than just sticking your head in the water and swimming laps for three hours. You have to be talking and communicating,” she said.
Ysrael is a great captain and an invaluable member of the Exeter community, according to many friends and teammates. Coach Melissa Pacific commended Ysrael for her committement to her teams. “Michelle is great as a captain and a role model for her teammates,” Pacific said.
“Michelle goes into every game with a positive mindset. Even when we don’t perform as well as we hoped, Michelle looks for ways we can improve and helps us get better the next time around.”
Senior co-captain Janet Chen on the water polo team emphasized that Ysrael has a lot of drive and willpower and that she always helps the team improve. “Michelle goes into every game with a positive mindset. Even when we don’t perform as well as we hoped, Michelle looks for ways we can improve and helps us get better the next time around.”
As a captain, Ysrael is a strong leader of the team. Chen said, “Michelle is a great captain. She looks out for everyone on the team and leads us through close games. When we’re playing a tough game, we can always count on her to pull through.” The balance between the two captains’ roles is known to be perfect. Ysrael described that she acts as the tougher, stricter captain whereas Chen is more the “mother figure.” Ysrael’s coach, Melissa Pacific, emphasized that she has great leadership qualities and other players look for her for advice and to learn how to play.
Ysrael has always been quick to help the new members of the team, some of whom have never played before, learn the sport. “I help the new girls get more acquainted with the sport and I’m so proud because they pick up so quickly. I’m so glad as captain to see them improve,” Ysrael said.
It has been a journey for Ysrael. “I was so bad at water polo when I first came, I had no idea what was going on and I was just scared to do anything,” Ysrael said.
Ysrael looked up to her captains from her lower year and said that she wants to always do her best to help the younger players on the team, just as her first captains helped her. “[My captains] were so patient and encouraging. I wanted to be just like them when I was named captain.”
Ysrael is as talented a player as she is a captain. “She is focused, determined, and one of our top players,” Pacific said.
One of Ysrael’s most admirable qualities is, despite her successes, she remains extremely humble. “Michelle has remained extremely humble, even as one of our top contributors, and that has allowed her to help the team in many more ways than just her contributions during games,” Pacific said.
Outside of valuable friendships she has made, Ysrael also greatly values the tight connections she has with her teammates both in water polo and swimming. When asked about the team atmosphere in water polo games, she said, “Things can get heated, but the thing I love about the sport at Exeter is that these girls are tough. What happens in the game stays in the game. We learn from each other, and it’s really fun.” For Ysrael, the water polo team is like a second family.
Ysrael has a confident and positive outlook for the season ahead. She said the team chemistry is amazing and the season has started off well. Their 4-2 record includes wins over Deerfield, Loomis Chaffee, Andover and Suffield, and they have dropped games to Hopkins and WNH.
The team is already performing above expectations, according to Ysrael. “We were so far only focused on getting the girls used to throwing the balls and such that when we challenged deerfield I thought it was going to end up pretty ugly. But when the game started, we clicked back into the game very well.” That game ended up in a 12-7 win for Big Red.
Looking towards the future of Big Red girls’ water polo, Ysrael knows the team will be in good shape next year and beyond. “This year the girls are getting it so much faster than I would have expected. It makes me very happy. We only have four seniors this year, so most of the team will be returning.”
Expectations are high for the Big Red team that finished last year with a close to perfect 12-3 record after winning their first ten games. With Ysrael leading the team, this season and beyond is looking promising for girls’ water polo.