By Ed Piper
Margo Tempel is a senior on the La Jolla varsity water polo team. She is a commit to attend and play at UC Davis next year. These comments were made before the Vikings' game at Coronado Thurs., Jan. 11.
Are you ready to go today?
Yeah, I'm really excited to go today.
So, why UC Davis?
I chose UC Davis partly because the team environment was amazing. The culture was amazing, and honestly, the coaches were supportive of all the team and their academics and athletics, and their balance between the two was great. And it is still a very strong program, and they really want to make it (even) better in the next couple of seasons.
What division is that?
They're Division 1.
And what would you study?
I'm going to study neurobiology and physiology, and do a minor in food science.
What would you be thinking about for the long term?
Long term, I'm thinking about maybe a culinary shop and the culinary arts. I'm super interested in that. Honestly, the study of neuro is really... I combine neurobiology and physiology and I'm going to try that career path. And if that doesn't work out, there are plenty of classes I can take at UC Davis.
I went to Chico, kind of like the poor relative. They'd get killed in sports by them. Where do you play?
(On offense) I play usually on the 1-2 side (left side of a rectangle in front of the goal), at the 2 spot, mostly (back row). At the Bishop's game, I played on the 4-5 side (right side on that imaginary rectangle).
What's your role in the offense?
I'd say my role in the offense is to release the ball and get the offense going. On the 1-2 side, I want to attack a lot. My main position is to be an attacker, so to be a threat and to be a threat for others. So if I'm going to pass the ball to Jordin (Morrow) at center, I want to attack into the goal and be a shooting threat and then I can pass to Jordin. She can get the job done.
You have to be a viable threat, otherwise everyone is going to slough off.
Exactly. And honestly, playing the two spot is so fun. I love attacking and getting in and doing whatever. I pride myself on being a utility player, playing every single position in the pool, because being versatile is great.
Defense, your role?
I play on the 4-5 (right end of the rectangle), pressuring the 4-5 side. Usually, we'll play 4-5 rockers. We take pride in playing super high in the lane. Again, pressing super hard. If we need to, we go in a 4-5 draw and rocker,
Explain a rocker.
Basically, a 4-5 rocker is when the set is getting pushed out to the 3 post (back row on the rectangle), and then we need to drop. The players like me and Sophia (Soltero), we're playing in a drop to force a shot from 4 wide or 5 wide. We don't want a pass in the center. That's what we're trying to stop.
No comments:
Post a Comment