Published September 4, 2024
BY NICOLE MIRSKI
After playing club water polo at Davis Senior High School and coaching little kids in the sport over the summer, senior Jayda Sherratt is ready and excited to jump back into the CHS season as the varsity girls’ co-captain.
Jayda Sherratt is excited for her senior year water polo season at CHS. (photo by GEORGE L. SHILLINGER)
Seizing the chance to grow her skills as a player, Sherratt stayed with her family in Davis, California, for a major part of the summer in order to play on the DSHS team, and even train with the University of California, Davis, women’s water polo team.
“I had water polo, weights, swim practice every day and coaching little kids every week,” Sherratt explains. “Every weekend I had some sort of tournament in every corner of California that sometimes I would fly to them just because I didn’t feel like driving.”
Sherratt, who got into water polo because both of her cousins played in college, enjoyed the competitive aspect that the surrounding teams and her own team provided. With many of her teammates going Division I in the sport this fall, she had many opportunities to learn and get better at the game, even though it was challenging.
Jamey Wright, her club coach for the past few years, commends her for the hard work and dedication he’s witnessed throughout Sherratt’s competitive water polo career.
“There are a lot of kids swirling through my head, but Jayda sticks out for a couple reasons,” Wright says. “She’s really eager to learn and improve and get better.”
In addition to the extensive practice and tournament schedule, the co-captain also helped teach children the sport as a way to further develop both her and their love for the sport. While the lessons and scrimmages were in no way high-stakes, she enjoyed the coaching experience and even joined in sometimes.
“Most of them were around 5 to 8 years old, so they weren’t the most attentive,” the senior says. “But it was fun bribing them with popsicles or being able to be goalie when we scrimmaged.”
This experience showed Sherratt that while the team’s strength and rank can be important, the dynamics and personality of it are more important.
“It’s a pretty young team, so winning games isn’t super important right now,” Sherratt says. “Having fun and being kind is a top priority. I’ve continued playing because it’s fun for me–all the strategy and physicality. And sometimes I get a nice tan from it, which is a plus.”
