Being the only girl on the boys water polo team was never easy for Bear River senior Natalie Darr, but she never felt like an outsider.
“At first it was really hard but once I was in the pool, I had the boys help me out and told me to do things in a different perspective then what I would learn playing with the girls,” Darr said. “It was really intimidating playing against other teams. I was a target, but it was a fun experience. I love the boys.”
Senior Jake Van Bourgondien knew that Darr had a challenge in front of her.
“She’s a good teammate and she’s the only girl so she had to step up,” he said. “She was playing on both the levels of teams, but she’s just really positive.”
Darr’s journey started in the Bear River pool when she took swimming lessons here at 2-years-old. Eventually a coach thought she was good enough to swim competitively.
It was love at first splash.
“All of it the sport is amazing,” Darr said. “I’ve done it for so long and I just love it. Idid lessons here since I was 2-years-old, then I did rec swim.”
For the Bruins this year, Darr swam the 100 butterfly, 200 individual medley, 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 200 relay and 400 relay. In the 100 butterfly Darr got 4th, in the 200 relay and the 400 relay her team got first.
Senior Makenna Hensley enjoyed having the always positive Darr on the swim team.
“I thought that she was really sweet, really nice,” Hensley said. “She was always really kind to everybody and encouraging. I enjoyed being around her a lot.”
Darr is a positive and caring person. She is always trying to be nice to her teammates, and is always encouraging and congratulating them.
“She was always really supportive of her teammates,” Hensley said. “She always talked to everybody and did not leave anyone out. She always congratulated everybody after they were done swimming. She’s just a positive influence to all the other athletes.”
But being a girl in the boys water polo world required a good attitude.
“She is really positive and she’s really good at adaptation,” Van Bourgondien said.
