The Weekly Kiki #4: Who is Ashleigh Johnson?
Dear Readers,
I hope you have had a great week!
In this edition, I wanted to talk about a famous water polo player who I look up to a lot: Ashleigh Johnson! (Whoop whoop) I am excited to share more about her and her past as I think others will find her achievements and water polo history inspiring. Ashleigh Johnson was born in Miami, Florida on September 12th, 1994, and attended the Ransom Everglades School. She later went on to study at Princeton University and graduated with a degree in Psychology in 2016.
Side note: I consider her my idol because she is the goalkeeper for Team USA…If you didn’t know I am one of the goalies for the Saints Team! 🙂
Why water polo at Princeton (Go Tigers!) in particular? Johnson is quoted saying, “I didn’t really have this perspective when I was going into it, but now, I realize that my mindset was I will be me wherever I go.”
Moreover, Johnson chose Princeton because she wanted a place where she could balance her water polo career as well as her academic work. During her time at Princeton, Johnson helped the Princeton Tigers Women’s Water Polo team secure, “two College Water Polo Association conference titles, two NCAA women’s water polo championship bids, became the program’s all-time leader in saves (1,362) and notched 100 career victories.”Johnson was also able to play collegiate water polo with her sister, Chelsea, while at Princeton. In 2016, Johnson was the first African American woman to represent the United States in Olympic water polo. Personally, I look up to Ashleigh Johnson so much as both an athlete and a woman. She’s incredible and I hope to emulate her when I play water polo.
Alongside Ashleigh Johnson, there are so many other incredible female water polo players, such as Maggie Steffens, Brenda Villa, and Kate Gynther. I sincerely encourage you to look them up and read their stories.
Thank you for tuning in this week! Please come back next week when I will be interviewing alumni from the Saints Water Polo Teams. 🙂
