Izzy Mandema connected with Kendall Preston. Kendall played and coached for Stanford.

Send info from your alumni interviews to kyle@stanfordwaterpolo.com and start working on your “poster” – a good size for these would be half a poster board, or 11×17 paper. You can deliver the posters to your coach at practice.

What team was your rival when you played for Stanford club?
We really had rivalries with a lot of teams, all of them good hearted though. It was less of a rivalry, and more of, we were very closely matched. I remember Diablo, Set, LA polo, and Commerce were some really fun games for us.

What’s your favorite memory of the club?
All of our travel trips like our bus trips (not sure if you all still do those) and our Canada trips were probably some of my best memories. JO’s is a blast too, but the other ones we were able to take part in were truly awesome.

Do you remember any advice from your club coaches?
I remember a ton of advice… some that stuck were:
Kyle- ALWAYS swim down all the way to the 2m no matter what.
Kyle- Make sure you find what it is that the coach specifically needs from you, and ALWAYS get that done.
Susan- Be a piranha, not a gold fish… don’t be intimidated by being pulled up to practice with the bigger girls. Instead, be better than them (you’re at that practice for a reason).

What high school did you attend?
I went to Mountain View High and graduated in ’09

What college?
I graduated from SCU in ’13 and studied Psychology.

Did you play water polo in college?
I did play, and it was a ton of fun but a ton of work. It’s a huge time commitment, but it doesn’t take away from the other aspects of college. You are still able to get good grades (you just have to time manage well) and you are definitely still able to have a social life. Some of my best friends came from my SCU team, and we are all still very close. It’s like being in a sorority.

Where do you live now?
Right now I am living in Texas and working for the Dallas Cowboys. Really loving it out here, but am missing home (and good water polo haha) I have played a few pickup games, but the level of play is nothing like in CA.

What hobbies do you enjoy?
I really enjoy just relaxing with friends. It’s very flat in Texas, so I miss hiking immensely so I try to do that every time I visit home.

Any life milestones you’d like to share?
No real huge ones yet, outside of the obvious ones, like graduating college etc… But I did buy a cat? Even though I’m a dog person haha… guess that was pretty shocking and different.