Water Polo
Favorite athlete: Ashleigh Johnson
Favorite team: USAWP
Favorite memory competing in sports: Playing at states my freshman year
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: The funniest thing that has happened is when Ianni got a red card at Pennridge and he had to jump through the windows to watch the game.
Music on playlist: Electro Swing, Alternative Rock, Lo-fi
Future plans: I plan to either start my own stationery business or go into something psychology related.
Words to live by: “Never put your happiness in someone else's hands.”
One goal before turning 30: Get and train a parrot
One thing people don’t know about me: I like to cross stitch
By Craig Ostroff
A picture is worth a thousand words.
In this case, the picture was a photo of Upper Dublin girls’ water polo goalkeeper Jasmine Thek leaping out of the water to make a save in a game against North Penn.
The photo—which appeared in a local newspaper —was a fairly routine save by the then-freshman keeper in a regular-season game.
But for Upper Dublin water polo coach Chris Ianni, that photo spoke volumes about Thek’s potential.
“It really hit me when she was in ninth grade how good she could really be,” Ianni said. “I think about that picture, she’s blocking the shot and you can see how high she is out of the water. It’s an incredible photo, and that’s when I realized she could be outstanding, she really had no limits to how good she could be.”
Ianni wasn’t the only one who noticed Thek’s abilities and marveled at her progression. After being named Honorable Mention All-League as a freshman, Thek garnered First-Team honors as a sophomore and junior and collected numerous comments from local coaches and officials.
“After States her sophomore year, the assistant commissioner of the CWPA saw her play, and she was making save after save, blocking breakaways, 5-meter shots,” Ianni said. “He told me, she’s going to be MVP of the state by the time she’s a senior.
“That was such a great compliment for her to get. And I’ve been seeing other coaches and college coaches pointing that out about her. Once she started blocking breakaways consistently, that really caught the attention of everyone. You’d see and hear all these other coaches saying how phenomenal she is. Jasmine’s embraced that. She’s a humble kid, she can be very quiet, but she takes those compliments and they make her stronger.”
While Thek admits that she tends to be critical of her abilities, she’s able to use such honors and commendations as fuel to improve.
“I’ve always kind of struggled with compliments,” Thek said. “I think as a goalie, you’re always hard on yourself. I have a pretty hard time with, ‘Was that good enough? Was that a good block? Was that a good throw?’ I always think I could do better.
“I know that I must be OK, the coaches and everyone wouldn’t all be lying, but I still have trouble believing it sometimes. But it is great to hear that. It can be really motivating - these people believe in me, maybe I can maybe live up to that.”
But while Thek might not be one who plays up her own accomplishments and abilities, her actions in the pool—both in games and during practices—speak volumes about a the journey of a young woman who has dedicated herself to improving as a keeper and developing into a leader for her teammates.
Having a steady presence in net is critical for any team, but this year in particular, Thek’s steadiness and leadership have been critical amidst all the uncertainty that has surrounded the summer. For a time, it appeared that the pandemic that cancelled the spring 2020 sports season may do the same to water polo and several other fall sports. As it is, the last few months have been anything but normal, with the team using area outdoor pools for preseason practices. And while the season may not be a typical water polo season, the senior captain is enjoying any and every opportunity to spend time with her team in the water trying to achieve the goals they’ve been working toward.
“We were all really worried we weren’t going to have anything, so I’m really happy,” she said. “It’s been tough, we had a lot of trouble with getting pools, no one knew if our pool was going to be open. Everything that’s going on makes people bummed out. So it’s important to keep things positive, and I think practice and being together makes people happy.
“It means a lot to be named a captain this year. I have always tried to be the person who calms everyone down and brings everyone together, reinforces that we’re in it together as a team. I don’t feel any extra pressure because of the situation. We’ve faced challenges before, this just another challenge.”
Being a positive influence and being a part of a team she loves has always been Thek’s primary motivation. Competition is great, winning is fantastic … but there’s nothing like the camaraderie and sisterhood that develops among teammates. That team spirit has been the driving force behind Thek striving to improve as well as being key to helping her become more vocal and outgoing, which is crucial for a goalkeeper.
“That team atmosphere is definitely the number one thing that really makes this sport special for me,” Thek said. “Being a part of this team and seeing how it’s grown and how some of the girls have grown and gotten better, I just love my team so much. It’s really kept me going.”
“Once Jasmine joined the high school team, she just absolutely loved the sport,” Ianni said. “All the girls were super friendly and the camaraderie was excellent and she really clung to that, it helped her break out of her shell. Seeing everyone every day, having pasta parties, hanging out as team, she was always in high spirits. She got to a point where she would reach out to people who were kind of interested in playing, and she would draw them in, not necessarily to the sport but to the camaraderie of the team.”
Thek is nearly unrecognizable from the sixth grader who first came out for the middle school water polo team in its first year of existence. She was a quiet, introverted kid … and she didn’t exactly look all too comfortable in the water.
“When I met her in sixth grade, Jasmine was a very happy-go-lucky kid, always smiling and having fun, but she didn’t seem to speak often, kept to herself a lot. And swimming really didn’t look like it was her thing,” Ianni said with a laugh. “I’m not sure what drew her to the sport, but I couldn’t be happier. It’s been amazing to see her develop not only the skills but the confidence she’s developed through the sport.”
“One day at summer camp, we played this weird version of what they called water polo and I just loved it,” Thek said of her introduction to the sport. “And we’d have treading competitions in summer camp and I’d do well. I found out the school was starting a water polo program, my sixth-grade year was the first year for the program. I asked my mom if I could try out, she said I could do it.
“I took to the treading part of it pretty well … the swimming, not so much. My first year I played in the field, and I was not great. I had pretty good ball control but I was not a great swimmer. I was not that fast, didn’t have a lot of stamina. But the next season the middle school team needed a goalie. I told them I’d try it, and I’ve never left.”
While the physical skills and abilities came with hard work and practice, Thek admits that adopting the proper mental mindset as a goalkeeper and learning to become more vocal proved to be a daunting task.
“That was definitely the toughest thing for me,” Thek said. “As a freshman or sophomore, you think about, is it right for me to be shouting at and directing girls who are older and have more experience than me? Or you go to clinics and play with people you don’t know, and you’re wondering, ‘Are they listening to me? They’re really good, do I have the right to tell them what to do?’
“The past couple years have been my big breakthrough years in learning how to communicate. I went to this clinic, and there was a goalie coach there who saw I wasn’t communicating with the defense, and he kept telling me, ‘You need to talk to them. You need to direct them.’ I would do it, and he’d tell me, ‘No, do it louder.’ He kept telling me over and over, and that’s when I think it finally hit me, ‘Oh, this isn’t terrible.’ And the goalie really has to help the field players with ball awareness, and you need to be loud and make sure they hear you with the water and the caps. It was uncomfortable for me at first, but I knew I had to step it up for my team.”
And step it up she has. In addition to her all-league honors and recognition from other coaches and officials, Thek plays for the highly competitive Maverick Water Polo Club and was selected to participate in the USA Water Polo Olympic Development Program in the summer of 2018. Thek traveled to California to play for the Northeast Zone squad, competing with and against some of the top high school players in the nation.
“It was really intense—I was absolutely terrified—but it was also really fun,” Thek said. “Everyone there was so good. It was amazing to see how high of a level you can take it to and can play at. I was just blown away by how good everyone was.”
Thek expects to take yet another step on her water polo journey next year. She is still contemplating her choices, but expects to play water polo in college. She’d like to stay within driving distance of home, and is planning on majoring in psychology with a minor in philosophy.
In the meantime, though, she’s still navigating remote learning while taking three AP and two Honors courses in her senior year. She also plays trombone in the band and is a member of the National Honor Society.
And she’d like to see how well this year’s young Flying Cardinal water polo squad can come together and see how far the team can go. And when it’s all over and she’s hung up her Upper Dublin swim cap … she’d simply like one more opportunity to get together with the team that has meant so much to her.
“The perfect senior season for me would be everyone enjoying themselves and we get back into the Upper Dublin pool and get to practice and have fun with everyone again,” Thek said. “I would really like to have a Senior Night like we’ve done in the past, and once the season is over, I would really like to be able to have a real banquet with everybody there so we can properly thank everyone and say goodbye to everyone.”
Though it’s a moment that will likely arrive too soon for all involved, Ianni admits it’s a moment he’s thought about and dreaded for four years now. Because while Thek would never admit it, Ianni and the rest of the team knows full well what the keeper has meant to Upper Dublin water polo and the type of legacy she will leave.
“For our goalie to be the best player on the team and a leader, going into this season is really exciting,” Ianni said. “We’re all looking forward to how good we can be and to see how great Jasmine can be.
“To have a leader like her is invaluable. She really is the heart of the team, she knows the team and the game well, knows strategies, and when we talk defense, not only can she break it down, but she has the vision and knowledge to explain it to teammates.
“For Jasmine, it’s always been about having fun with her teammates. She’s competitive, she has an edge to her and she pushes others, but this is a kid who always has a smile on her face. She brings such a joy to the game. At the end of day, she’s playing a sport she loves and she wants everyone else to love it.”
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