Indiana University Athletics
Doherty and "Family" Look Forward To 2021
8/5/2020 12:44:00 PM | Women's Water Polo
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—Tina Doherty finished her sophomore season for Indiana Water Polo achieving a lot of accolades in 2020. This includes finishing on the Second-Team All-MPSF and Third-Team All-America. Helping her get to this point were the MPSF-leading 50 goals that she scored to go along with five assists and 16 steals in only 18 games. These achievements are not stopping Doherty from improving, however, as she plans for herself and her "family" to be even better in 2021.
Despite pools being closed throughout much of the country, Doherty noted that does not mean there is no reason to not improve and hold each other accountable. The athletic performance coach for water polo, Lanie Deppe, has provided the team with their own customized workouts and players like Doherty are making sure teammates are following these workouts to help improve over the summer and fall months. This also goes hand-in-hand with how Doherty is trying to improve from her sophomore to junior campaign.
Many of the water polo players at IU have talked about the chemistry this team has but Doherty takes this even further by saying the team is more of a "family" than just a team. The players are always together, whether it is at meals or just at each other's houses. These bonds that have been created help the players both in and out of the pool as Doherty noted and it is what makes this team unique from any other team.
The "family" aspect has also helped Doherty in her leadership skills as she is pushing her teammates so the team will not start out "fresh" in 2021 but, instead, will continue where it left off. Doherty wants everyone to feel comfortable with each other from day one, including the incoming freshmen. By doing this the transition from last season to this season will be that much smoother.
The full transcription of the interview with Doherty conducted by IUHoosiers.com can be seen immediately below.
Q: On how the team is preparing for 2021…
DOHERTY: Some of our pools still aren't open so it's hard to prepare like we normally would. We're fortunate enough to have our weight trainer, Lanie (Deppe), send us packets so a lot of us are keeping each other accountable and controlling our controllables outside the pool for now.
Q: On how you are looking to improve your performance from sophomore year to junior year…
DOHERTY: I plan on pushing myself past my limits so that helps my teammates, coaches and staff. Without them I wouldn't even be considered a contender for All-America. I'm spending my time right now to make sure my body's healthy and injury free for the next season. I'm currently spending a lot of time with my personal trainer here to become a better player outside the pool and I also plan on sticking with the team plan to pick up where we left off and have an even better season.
Q: On the team chemistry and the importance of it for this team…
DOHERTY: Our team chemistry is like no other team in my opinion. We are constantly spending time together. It's more like a family instead of a team. We love being together and we're constantly eating dinner together or at each other's houses. A lot of us actually live together. It's like I'm constantly with Izzy (Mandema). I live with her. She has a house near me at home so I can see her a lot of times. Our team chemistry is more like a family rather than a team.
Q: On all the experience returning to Bloomington…
DOHERTY: I would say the upperclassmen have taught me a lot and everyone a lot about just leadership skills. One thing they did teach us is how to live in college and not really survive. A lot of people joke around and just survive through college. Our seniors made it a big thing and you need to live in the moment and not just go through it to go through it. I think they pushed everyone to be a better player and a better person. Everyone's just gathered leadership skills from them and we all hope to pass on their legacy to the rest of the team.
Q: On your goals for the 2021 season…
DOHERTY: I've always had a lot of small goals like beating my own swim times and beating my own shooting percentage to make it lower in games. I would say my main goal for this season is to be a strong leader for my team in and out of the pool. I think a way to achieve this is I'm trying to keep the team connected over the summer so when we come back in the fall even the incoming freshmen, try to get them to talk to the whole team. So when we come back in the fall, it's not just like we're starting fresh. We're continuing on.
Despite pools being closed throughout much of the country, Doherty noted that does not mean there is no reason to not improve and hold each other accountable. The athletic performance coach for water polo, Lanie Deppe, has provided the team with their own customized workouts and players like Doherty are making sure teammates are following these workouts to help improve over the summer and fall months. This also goes hand-in-hand with how Doherty is trying to improve from her sophomore to junior campaign.
Many of the water polo players at IU have talked about the chemistry this team has but Doherty takes this even further by saying the team is more of a "family" than just a team. The players are always together, whether it is at meals or just at each other's houses. These bonds that have been created help the players both in and out of the pool as Doherty noted and it is what makes this team unique from any other team.
The "family" aspect has also helped Doherty in her leadership skills as she is pushing her teammates so the team will not start out "fresh" in 2021 but, instead, will continue where it left off. Doherty wants everyone to feel comfortable with each other from day one, including the incoming freshmen. By doing this the transition from last season to this season will be that much smoother.
The full transcription of the interview with Doherty conducted by IUHoosiers.com can be seen immediately below.
Q: On how the team is preparing for 2021…
DOHERTY: Some of our pools still aren't open so it's hard to prepare like we normally would. We're fortunate enough to have our weight trainer, Lanie (Deppe), send us packets so a lot of us are keeping each other accountable and controlling our controllables outside the pool for now.
Q: On how you are looking to improve your performance from sophomore year to junior year…
DOHERTY: I plan on pushing myself past my limits so that helps my teammates, coaches and staff. Without them I wouldn't even be considered a contender for All-America. I'm spending my time right now to make sure my body's healthy and injury free for the next season. I'm currently spending a lot of time with my personal trainer here to become a better player outside the pool and I also plan on sticking with the team plan to pick up where we left off and have an even better season.
Q: On the team chemistry and the importance of it for this team…
DOHERTY: Our team chemistry is like no other team in my opinion. We are constantly spending time together. It's more like a family instead of a team. We love being together and we're constantly eating dinner together or at each other's houses. A lot of us actually live together. It's like I'm constantly with Izzy (Mandema). I live with her. She has a house near me at home so I can see her a lot of times. Our team chemistry is more like a family rather than a team.
Q: On all the experience returning to Bloomington…
DOHERTY: I would say the upperclassmen have taught me a lot and everyone a lot about just leadership skills. One thing they did teach us is how to live in college and not really survive. A lot of people joke around and just survive through college. Our seniors made it a big thing and you need to live in the moment and not just go through it to go through it. I think they pushed everyone to be a better player and a better person. Everyone's just gathered leadership skills from them and we all hope to pass on their legacy to the rest of the team.
Q: On your goals for the 2021 season…
DOHERTY: I've always had a lot of small goals like beating my own swim times and beating my own shooting percentage to make it lower in games. I would say my main goal for this season is to be a strong leader for my team in and out of the pool. I think a way to achieve this is I'm trying to keep the team connected over the summer so when we come back in the fall even the incoming freshmen, try to get them to talk to the whole team. So when we come back in the fall, it's not just like we're starting fresh. We're continuing on.
Players Mentioned
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