Amy Olsen

Team members are: Caleb Haynes; coach, Amy Haynes, Jodie George, Joanna Patrico, Tony Darr, Melissa Darr, J. D. Olsen, Amy Olsen, Mike Dilley, Mike Harvey,Jonathan Hurlbut, Nicole Hurlbut, Darin Withrow, Jeffrey Hooper, Dan Fontana, and Stephen Shotts.

Such an honor was bestowed recently on Amy Olsen, a 13-year old student at Cedar Bayou Junior High.

Olsen, who plays water polo for the Dirty Bay Buccaneers, was named to the USA Women's 2005 Futures Training Team.Olsen and Taylor Barnett of Houston were the two representatives out of the Southwest zone named to the team, which is comprised mainly of Californians.
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Olsen went to Long Island, New York to try out for the national team as a member of the Southwest zone team, one of 11 zones in the United States for women's water polo.

"It was so much harder," said Olsen."They (players) are so much bigger and a lot stronger."

After the cut to 48, Olsen became a little more comfortable."When we dropped to 48, we were all at the same level," she said.

The next cut was to 40, which was the number that would make up the team.Olsen made the cut and became a member of Team USA.

"I played my best there," said Olsen.
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"She (Olsen) is definitely developed for her age," said Shelby Slay, a former All-American at Sterling and a member of the Arizona State women's water polo team.
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Olsen began to play water polo three years ago.Prior to that, she swam for the Buccaneers swim team.

"It was scary," said Olsen."But when I began to get used to it, it was fun.I got really tired.Swimming is hard enough, but then you have all this extra stuff, like treading water, passing the ball and getting to your position faster."

Olsen still competes in swimming, which helps her to build speed in the pool.Her favorite events are the breaststroke, freestyle and individual medley.Olsen also plays volleyball and basketball for Cedar Bayou Junior High, but her first love is water polo, a sport she hopes to win a state championship in at Sterling.Olsen will have plenty of help attempting that, as both her and McDonald say that there is plenty of talent.

"There are some good girls still here from my team that didn't get to go to the tryouts," said Olsen.

2nd-Dominika Snodgrass and Amy Olsen, Cedar Bayou Junior School