Elise Ponce

Where did you go to high school?
Menlo

Where did you go to college? Did you play in college?
Ponce attended Loyola Marymount, and played water polo while she was at school.

Where do you live now?
Long beach, SoCal.

How old are you?
25

How/ Why did you start playing?
When Ponce was a freshmen at Menlo, her best friend at the time, Kylie, convinced her to start playing. At the time she did not know how to swim, let alone eggbeater. In fear of her drowning in the field, she was thrown into the goal. Her love for the sport was born. [editor’s note: Ponce signed up for water polo PE class in 6th grade, and on the first day, she popped out of the water and touched the top of the goal. Kyle said, “Do that again.” She did. And she was a goalie from that moment on.]

Who did you look up to as a player?
Jackie Frank, 2004 Olympic bronze medalist. Ponce had the pleasure of meeting Frank when she was just 14. She was the first professional goalie that Ponce knew about and met.

Advice from a coach that you remember?
Although she cannot remember a specific piece of advice, so does recall that Kyle was her most influential coach.

REGRETS?
None. She would have loved to play international, but other than that none!

Least favorite set
100 vertical bar touches with a weight belt on

Hobbies? Do you ever get in and play?
Ponce still plays, and has recently started coaching goalies on the weekends. She also
coaches 12 and under, and has a new found respect for field players.

If you can give a piece of advice, what would you say?
“When deciding the college that you are going to attend, make sure that you really like all of the girls on the team. Don’t just go to it, because of the school, but go to it because you can see yourself making lifelong friendships.”