Leigh Lyter and Coach Reichardt Top Honors
Joylynn Lee
Mira Costa senior Leigh Lyter has loved water polo ever since she was in 4th grade. She started water polo in a club called Trojans, where she gained experience and found her love for the sport. When she got into Mira Costa’s Water Polo team, she had difficulty being in the team.
“It was pretty difficult during the first three years of high school,” Lyter said. “There were a lot of seniorities.”
Leigh Lyter has been awarded top honors as a current senior for water polo. Even though Leigh has received recognition, she still plays with an amazing amount of effort. She never lets her self confidence rise to where she doesn’t think she had anything else to learn.
“I never let it get to my head,” Lyter said. “There’s always room for improvement.”
Leigh has been supported by many people in her life, from her teammates to her family members, but most notably her dad. Lyter says she never really looked up to any professional water polo athlete, she looked up to her coach, coach Jon Reichardt because of the amount of motivation he gave to Leigh.
“My dad could sometimes be intimidating but we all knew that he was getting us motivated,” Lyter said. “My dad always encouraged me, not in the sport itself, but just doing what I want to do.”
Lyter had goals on how far she wanted to go with water polo. She wants to have a future playing the sport that she loves.
“I have this goal to get into college by playing this sport, and I want to be able to coach other kids,” Lyter said.
Leigh Lyter has had moments during competing with this sport when she really wanted to win. During competitions, she set her mind into winning and constantly motivated herself.
“Quarter Finals and even multiple times, but I can clearly remember Quarter Finals and I was so encouraged and motivated to win,” Lyter said.
Lyter gave pieces of advice for incoming Mira Costa’s Water Polo team and current ones too. She has experiences that can help other students reach their potential dreams and goals.
“Stick with the sport, you will realize how much more you enjoyed it when it’s done. I had this realization happen to me,” Lyter said.
Lyter’s main advice she gave was to not give up. She had been constantly putting in effort always, even when things went wrong with her people in her team and her.
“I enjoyed the thrill of winning and competing against each other.”
When Leigh became a senior she found a deeper love for the sport, much more than previous years. She started to believe in herself and her team more during her senior year. Lyter considered this her year to do her best to accomplish her dream by getting into college and playing water polo.
“I started at Trojan water polo club, and I left when I was 14. Now at the Huntington Beach Water Polo Club for the past few years.”
Leigh Lyter has been accepted to UCSB by playing the sports water polo. She
wants to continuously play the sport. Lyter accomplished her dream by getting into college by playing water polo.
“It was always just me and the game. I didn’t care about winning as much as I loved playing the sport.”
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