Caroline Kiely stuns at water polo Junior Olympics

In the sweltering summer heat, Junior Olympics water polo athlete Caroline Kiely held her breath as the ball came whirling towards her, seemingly at the speed of light. Straining to pull herself up against the water, she lurched forward, curling both arms around the ball and clutching it as she dove back into the water, successfully securing the big third place win for her team.

Kiely, a junior at CVHS, starred as the goalie for Neptune Water Polo Club in Alameda, a team that successfully qualified for last summer’s 2024 Junior Olympics held in Northern California.

Anxiety had infiltrated the atmosphere in early June for the team of 16, as they waited impatiently to hear the results of the Junior Olympics Qualifier they had played a few days before.

“If your team played well enough in that, they would be placed into different divisions and would play in the Junior Olympics,” Kiely recalled. 

Upon their qualification, the team was entered in to play in the Girls 16 and Under division, competing in session two: classics. These tournaments occurred in early June, with Junior Olympics happening on the last four days of July at the pools of high schools in the Stanford and San Jose area. 

Training for this event really pushed Kiely’s skills to the limit, as it had taken place all throughout the summer for two hours every three days of the week.

“Training was much harder on my club team than for high school because of the higher skill level,” explained Kiely. 

Despite the sore muscles and mental exhaustion acquired from the rigor of the training, they placed third overall out of the competing teams in their respective category with a successful record of five wins and two losses. 

Kiely felt this was one of her biggest achievements in her water polo career because although this was her first year participating in the Junior Olympics on this team, she contributed greatly to the wins by blocking the opponent’s goals. 

She’s not the only one on the team; several other CVHS water polo players have also played alongside her in the Junior Olympics. 

A very active athlete, Kiely has been swimming for seven years and playing water polo for two. She has been a varsity player for both of the CVHS teams since her freshman year. Additionally, she worked as a lifeguard and swim coach during her free time in past summers. 

While she doesn’t want to play water polo in college, she still hopes to continue her high school water polo career for the next two years. 

“I would love to participate in the Junior Olympics next year,” exclaimed Kiely.