By: Kym Whitney

Senior four-year varsity water polo player Anna Reed is set to graduate from Newport Harbor High School this month. That alone is a wonderful accomplishment, but she ended her last season on a high note earning first-team All-Surf League and first-team All-CIF honors and being named to the Daily Pilot's 2022-2023 Girl's Water Polo Dream Team Player of the Year.

According to her coach Ross Sinclair, Reed was a four-year varsity starter in the goalkeeper position who never had a bad game. This year she helped her team take home the prestigious Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions for the first time in program history, and she earned tournament MVP.

The Sailors didn't breeze through the 2022-2023 season; it took a lot of fight and determination. Although the Sailors finished third in the Surf League, they beat league champion Los Alamotios once. They did make it to the Open Division playoffs but were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Los Alamitos.

As her time at NHHS comes to a close, Reed is looking forward to what is ahead. This fall, she will attend the University of Southern California and play water polo for the Trojans. Reed is excited to live somewhere different and play on a new team. She is motivated to play at a higher level with and against talented players. Although USC is close to home, she knows it will be an entirely different world for her.

"It has been my dream school for a long time. I used to go to water polo camps there with my friends when I was younger, and we always had so much fun. I have been a fan ever since. It is still crazy that I now get to go to school there!"

Reed can't thank her coaches, Ross Sinclair, Christina O'Beck, Carlee Kapana, Rachel Whitelegge, Kenzie Snyder, Drew Netherton, Kat Manderino, and Diggy Riley enough for grooming her into the player she is today. Interestingly, all her coaches except Synder and Netherton also attended Newport Harbor High School.

From Then to Now

Reed has been playing water polo for nearly ten years. After becoming bored with soccer, she turned to swimming at the urging of her mom. During that time, she recalls frequently watching the kids playing water polo and thinking it looked much more fun than staring at the bottom of the pool for hours at a time. Reed's mom helped her transition into water polo, but at the time, the program didn't have a 10u girls' team, so she had to play with the 10u boys' team as a field player. At first, she found it very intimidating and didn't enjoy being the only girl among all boys.

When Reed was ten, a mom with a daughter on the 12u girls' team, Nicte DelVillar, approached her mom and told her to come to one of the practices. She ended up playing with the team, and that is when her passion. She really connected with the girls on the team and her coaches, Kat Manderino and Diggy Riley. During one of her initial practices, Reed asked if she could play goalie, and she never returned to playing in the field again.

Reed is competitive and enjoys the adrenaline rush she gets when playing. "It is fast-paced, making you think, move, and react faster. I find it interesting and unpredictable. No two games are ever the same. You may see similar scenarios, but it will never be precisely the same thing which I enjoy. It keeps me on my toes and adds to the fun of the sport."

Her first year on the NHHS girls' water polo team was challenging because they had a very young team with only three seniors. Despite having so many first- and second-year students, they still did very well, placing third in CIF, which surprised many. Then covid hit, and they maximized their time the best they could by having workouts over Zoom. When the team was allowed to be in person, they participated in beach practices to stay in shape. Once school started, they had limited practices with many restrictions. Many of the big water polo tournaments were canceled along with CIF. COVID was still a concern during her Junior year, and a few tournaments, including the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions, was canceled again. Fortunately, they still had CIF and won the top division, which had yet to be accomplished in girls' water polo since 2012. The boys' water polo team also won that same school year. The first time this has happened in the top division.

Many players on Reed's team graduated that year, so it was a completely new team going into her senior year. Reed had no idea what to expect because she had only played with the older previous team. However, she was pleasantly surprised when she saw how full of youth and excitement they were for the sport, which kept her motivated too. Although the team didn't do as well as in seasons past, being in the best division of CIF with such a young team was a significant accomplishment.

Reed concluded her time at NHHS with an impressive resume of awards and accolades:

Freshman Year 2019/2020 - Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions All-tournament Team , USA Water Polo Academic All-American, CIF D1 3rd place and All-CIF 2nd team.

Sophomore Year 2020/2021 - Futures Water Polo League Champion and Top Goalie Tournament Selection, OC register All County 2nd Team, Daily Pilot Girls Water Polo Dream Team, 2nd Team Junior Olympics Silver Medalist and Second Team All-Tournament Selection.

Junior Year 2021/2022 - 1st Team All-Surf League, 2nd Team All-CIF, CIF Open Division Champions, OC Register 3rd Team All-County, Daily Pilot Dream Team, 1st Team Junior Olympics Champion and tournament MVP honors.

Senior Year 2022/2023 - Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions MVP, 1st Team All-Surf League ,1st Team All-CIF, OC Register 2nd Team All-County, Daily Pilot Girls Water Polo Player of the Year

Reed was born in Newport Beach and has lived in the same house since birth. She attended St. Joachim before going to Newport Harbor. She has one brother who also went to St. Joachim and Harbor. He is now studying psychology at the University of Seattle. Reed's mom is a marriage and family therapist, and her dad is a retired salesman. She enjoys going to the beach, dinners, exploring new coffee shops, tanning, and traveling in her free time. Although Anna is very active, she values downtime and watching her favorite shows with her best friend. She also loves playing with her cat Buddy and dog Henry.