Water Polo, Swimming
Favorite athlete: Dana Vollmer
Favorite team: USA Women’s Water Polo
Favorite memory competing in sports: I think my favorite was from last year at States when I completed the 200 free relay. No one had expected our relay to break the team record that had just been set at Districts a few weeks before, but we did, and I remember my coach coming up to me and giving me the biggest hug after while he was practically in tears. It was a great way to end the first day of States for our team!
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: One time I was at our winter senior meet and was about to swim the 100 fly in finals. We all stepped up to the blocks as the announcer was calling our names. Just before the official blew his whistle to signal us to step up onto the block it got really quiet. All of a sudden I heard this whispered voice projected throughout the whole pool saying “Mighty Mouse.” It had been the announcer who was the father of one of my good friends. He had nicknamed me Mighty Mouse because of my height. No one else knew what was going on, but it definitely put a smile on my face right before that race.
Music on mobile device: I have a little bit of everything. I’ll listen to almost anything really - pop, country, rap. However, before games and big races I definitely like to listen to music that is more intense and upbeat.
Future plans: I am planning on majoring in geology, and if it is possible, I am hoping to continue swimming and/or playing water polo throughout college.
Words to live by: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
One goal before turning 30: I hope to have a great job that I absolutely love.
One thing people don’t know about me: Ever since I was little I have always wanted to write my own book.
By Craig Ostroff
Everyone strives to leave a legacy for those who follow in their footsteps, to add their page to an already existing story.
Rebecca Pendleton is one of a select few who didn’t merely write her page, she started the book.
And whatever future chapters hold in the Upper Dublin girls’ water polo club’s story, that story began with a then-freshman who fell in love with a new sport and took an awfully big risk to pursue it.
“Our assistant swim coach (Chris Ianni) coached the boys’ water polo team,” Pendleton said. “I had no idea what water polo was, I didn’t even know until our first practice in the spring of my freshman year. I tried it in the spring and I absolutely loved it. I love swimming and I love the water, so it had that. And I love being part of a team, and swimming can be individual. So this included that team sport aspect into it as well. It was really a perfect fit.”
But, as the Cardinals were looking to field their first team the following fall, they still needed enough girls to fill out the roster. And learn the game.
Up stepped Pendleton.
“We weren’t sure if we were going to have a girls team or not,” Pendleton said. “That spring of my freshman year, we had a couple girls come to the practices. But I was like, ‘I really love this sport, I would love to play it in the fall.’
“I really tried to help girls try out over the summer—anyone with a swimming background was great, or a background in a team sport. For myself, I did a lot of watching games, studying plays. Learning how to play the sport is the most difficult part. For a lot of girls it was new—when to pass, when not to pass, things like that. It takes a lot of time and patience, especially when you have a new team, and sometimes you’re in the pool with a team that’s been playing for years now and the ref is blowing a whistle at you and you have no idea what’s going on.
“Somehow we managed to get out enough girls that first year, got the team going and had a great season.”
There were more sacrifices than simply learning and teaching the game. Having played for the Cardinals’ field hockey team her freshman year, Pendleton made the difficult decision of leaving the team in the hopes that Upper Dublin could create and maintain a girls’ water polo club.
“I was leaving a team to essentially join a team that didn’t exist,” Pendleton said. “And I felt bad because I loved the girls on the field hockey team, they were a family to me.
“I remember telling my field hockey coach, and she was very supportive of my decision, but she had said to me, ‘So you are going to be leaving a team that’s developed and going to a team that might not be there.’ I said, ‘I have a really good feeling we’re going to make States within three years.’ I just had a feeling, I’m not sure I understood it, but something told me we could do it.”
And this fall, in just its third year of existence, the Upper Dublin girls’ water polo team earned a berth in States, finishing eighth.
“That might have seemed far-fetched in the beginning, but now people can believe me,” Pendleton said with a laugh.
Just as Pendleton was key to establishing the team, her skills and leadership were crucial to its growth. And sometimes in very obvious ways, were keys to achieving the lofty goals Pendleton had set as a freshman.
“From our first year, any time we would play in close games, you could always rely on her to make a big play,” said Ianni, also the girls’ water polo coach. “This season, in the play-in game to get to the State tournament, we were losing 4-1 going into the second half. In the third quarter, Rebecca was in lights-out mode, you could see it in her face. She scored a couple goals that third quarter, made some big plays, and we took the lead that quarter and ended up winning by two goals.”
That made Pendleton a logical choice to be named a captain of the water polo team as a sophomore. It was a challenge, since there were juniors and seniors on that team.
“I think people were a little more relaxed with the fact that I was a sophomore and a captain because it was such a new team,” she said. “But because it was a new team, the groundwork needs to be laid out, people need to learn what’s right and wrong, and sometimes you have to do things that aren’t necessarily the most popular, but you have to do it to show everyone the way things need to be done.”
“Rebecca is a great leader. She built up the team,” Ianni said. “She’s the one who rallied up 12, 15 girls to start a team, introduced the game to a lot of her teammates. She would not only get in the water and help kids out, but she would push them to the next level. She sets the example. She didn’t miss a practice in three years. She’s really good at setting goals and she finds a way to achieve them, she has a tremendous work ethic.”
And as the team progressed and got better and better each year, so did Pendleton. In her senior season, Pendleton—who usually played on the wing—was stellar on draws and led the team in assists with 51 (the second-highest assist total on the team was 31), kickouts drawn with 51 (while being called for a kickout just three times), steals with 147 (second-highest was 92), five blocks, and a whopping 147 in possession +/- (second on the team was 48). She was second on the team in goals (47) and shooting percentage (46.08%).
“Water polo is one of the, if not most physically demanding sport I’ve ever played,” Pendleton said. “It’s mentally, physically, and emotionally challenging. I don’t know any other sport I’ve played that’s like that, but it’s so much fun.”
Others have noticed her efforts as well, both in and out of the pool. Pendleton was recently presented with the High School Leadership Award from NBC10 and Widener University, which honors “the region’s best and brightest future leaders,” according to a post on Upper Dublin High School’s Facebook page. Pendleton was selected Second-Team All-League, and—along with fellow forward Kelly Regan—was named Third-Team All-State.
“That was really exciting, I was pretty proud of that,” Pendleton said of the All-State honor. “I’ve put in a lot of work, so it’s nice to see that other people noticed it.”
Though Pendleton has finished writing her chapters in the Upper Dublin girls’ water polo story, she’s still got one more to go in her high school sports career, as she turns her attention to helping the Cardinal girls’ swimming team achieve its lofty goals for the upcoming season.
Already a three-year captain in water polo, Pendleton was named one of three captains on the swimming team. But “Captain” is just one way her teammates refer to Pendleton. Her favorite is “mom.”
“Some of the kids call me ‘Mom,’” Pendleton said with a laugh. “I like to worry for all of them and watch out for them. It’s always a difficult thing with swimming, a lot of times swimming is very individual and you end up racing for yourself. But as much as the race is individual, you’re practicing and doing everything with the team, everyone is together. It’s not fun all the time, but you’re there together and supporting each other. The team aspect comes through when someone does well and your teammates are giving you a big hug and are excited for you.”
“Rebecca was the team mom even as a freshman,” said coach Pat Redican. “She’s very selfless, always looking out for other people. She’s team mom, assistant coach, the kind of kid who you hold up as an example. She comes to practice every day looking to improve. She never takes a day off, she’s constantly asking for stroke corrections, how to approach a training set. Rebecca is on top of it all the time. She is giving 100 percent every day and is a model out there.”
If there’s one member of the team that Pendleton tends to be hard on, it’s herself. Always striving to improve, always looking to achieve a specific goal—whether it be a place, a time, or competitor-- it has taken time for Pendleton to properly channel any frustration she may bring out of a race that doesn't meet her high standards.
“Rebecca is her own toughest critic,” Redican said. “I’ve told her many times, ‘You’re allowed to be satisfied sometimes,’ and she’s got a lot to be satisfied about. She’s been to States since her sophomore year in the medley relay, she swam in States in the 100 fly as sophomore.
“For sure, in the past, it would affect my races,” Pendleton said. “My freshman and sophomore year, I was very hard on myself. If I would come out of a race that maybe wasn’t my best, I’d be eating away at myself very quietly in a corner. And then in my next race, I wouldn’t do well because I was still dwelling on last race.”
Not surprisingly, it was the realization that her actions could affect her teammates that made Pendleton begin to change how she handled disappointment.
“What really made me start to change was when coaches sat down and were like, ‘Look, that attitude is affecting the rest of the team. You have a presence on the team and what you’re doing affects the team.’ That really hit me, because the last thing I want is to do something that affects the team like that, I don’t want my actions to hurt anyone else,” Pendleton said. “It’s difficult to change that, but I’ve been working on it the past couple years and it’s gotten a lot easier now. And I’m hoping a few of the kids who are as hard on themselves can see how hard I am on myself, but now hopefully they see you can have a bad race, accept it, and move on from it.”
While Pendleton has corrected the bad habits, she continues to exhibit the good habits that make her so respected by her teammates and coaches.
“I watch Rebecca take kids who are a little reluctant to do things and get them involved,” Redican said. “We have our power group, the sprinters who do a lot of lifting, and in the weight room, she’s the kind of kid that when we bring a freshman or sophomore, she’s lifting with them, showing them immediately how to do the right things. That’s the kind of kid she is.”
With her final season in the pool looming, Pendleton has her sights set on numerous goals she’d like to accomplish. First and foremost on the list is to continue Upper Dublin’s legacy by claiming its 29thconsecutive league title.
“It’s my senior year, so I want it to be my best year, whether that means best times or just placing better than I have in the past,” she said. “I honestly have so many goals that mostly focus around the team. I want my friends to make districts and states, it would be great for them to go and get that experience. And I’d like to have my best showing at Districts and States this year. It would definitely be really cool to make the podium as an individual.”
“I really think this is going to be a big year. Last year, we had the 400 free relay come in first at States, we set a bunch of team records, finished second overall at states. But even though we lost a lot of key swimmers to graduation, we’ve got a very strong team this year. I could see us having a better season this year. That would be a great way to go out.”
Pendleton is leading in the classroom as well. Another of her goals is for the swim team to achieve the Gold Standard honor for academics. She’s doing her part with a courseload that includes two AP and two Honors classes. She is also a member of the school’s National Honor Society.
Pendleton is still narrowing down her choices for college. Ideally, she’d love to find a school where she can play water polo and swim while she pursues a degree in geology.
“Obviously, academics come first,” she said. “If I find a college I really like and it doesn’t have swimming or water polo, that’s OK. But I would really like to do one, if not both. It’s important to have that team and family going into college.”
And once Pendleton has competed in her final race and hung up the cap and goggles for the last time at Upper Dublin, once she has written her final chapter in the Cardinal athletic pages, what would she like her legacy to be?
“I’ve been able to be a part of something I helped to start,” she said. “It’s really neat to be part of that, to be able to leave a mark on the school. I want people to remember that that’s what you work hard for, to make your mark. I want them to remember that no matter how difficult things are, that’s no reason to give up. There’s no shame in putting in the hard work. It’s going to pay off, whether you see it now or 10 years in the future, it will pay off.”
