ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Freshman Sara Campbell wanted to be a University of Michigan Wolverine from the moment she first stepped foot on campus. Thanks to water polo head coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi, her wish came true.
Campbell was first introduced to the University of Michigan before her eighth grade year when two Wolverines’ student-athletes, Julia Campbell and Emily Sejna, who were also from Naperville, Illinois, showed Sara Campbell’s Olympic Development Program team around. Julia, not related to Sara, was actually Sara’s first goalie coach, so Sara naturally followed her career at Michigan. That trip made Sara fall in love with the campus.
Fast forward to her junior year of high school, when her team took a bus to Ann Arbor to watch Campbell and Sejna play. She was immediately struck by the talent of the water polo players and drawn to the energy from the girls on the bench. That trip made her want to play water polo for the Wolverines.
As she got older, she continued to see Michigan as the perfect fit for her, between the excellent water polo program and the school’s larger emphasis on academics.
When she was not initially recruited in the fall and subsequently wait listed when she applied as a regular student, it looked like her dream of attending Michigan was coming to an end. Campbell applied to 15 other schools and ultimately decided to attend the University of Alabama. Luckily, the story didn’t end there. In the spring, she received an unexpected call from Leonardi.
“She was actually not going to come to Michigan to play water polo … but her coach had called me and said, ‘Hey, she’s still hungry, wants to play’ and I remembered watching her at a camp,” said Leonardi.
He left a voicemail asking if she was still interested in playing water polo for U-M. Not only was Sara going to be able to attend her dream school, she was also going to be able to continue her water polo career in college.
“I got his voicemail during eighth hour of school and he asked if I wanted to go to the University of Michigan,” said Campbell.
While Sara’s journey to becoming a Wolverine was unique, she couldn’t be happier with the way things have turned out.
“I was initially worried about the team dynamic going into a program where there are girls from across the country,” she said. “I started playing with girls I’d been friends with since kindergarten, so I’d always kind of took for granted the friendships and the culture that we had.”
Regardless of these initial concerns, she has found her teammates to be welcoming and the team environment to be extremely positive.
Despite coming from an extremely successful team in Chicago, she has come to realize that she has a lot to learn from her teammates that grew up playing water polo in California and those that have international experience. Two of her teammates who have been the most supportive are her fellow goalkeepers, Heidi Ritner and Cameron Cordial.
“I have the opportunity to learn from both because they have different strengths and weaknesses, so they’ve learned things differently between the two of them,” said Sara.
In her first season, Campbell hopes to improve upon all aspects of her game, especially when it comes to leading and communicating with the defense. From coach Leonardi’s perspective, however, she is learning quickly and is already an impactful member of the team.
“She’s learned how to play the goalie position at this level,” said Leonardi. “I feel like she’s done a great job bonding with the freshman class and feeling like she’s really part of the team, and I feel like her work ethic just really translates to everybody.”
Sara is currently in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, but plans on transferring to the Ford School of Public Policy. Through all the roadblocks and obstacles, Sara is working hard to prove that Michigan is where she’s meant to be.
Release courtesy University of Michigan Athletics Communications
