ANN ARBOR, Mich.Alex Brown‘s first love was basketball, and that sport helped her grow her love for water polo and led her to becoming a freshman goalkeeper on the University of Michigan water polo team.

A native of Clayton, California, Brown started playing basketball when she was five years old. She grew up playing in the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) and then joined a club team before switching to club water polo once she got to high school.

Although she switched to playing club water polo, Brown still wanted to continue to play basketball in high school.

“I knew I didn’t want to give up basketball, so I played in high school and was on varsity all four years,” said Brown. “A lot of people looked at it as a negative because I wasn’t in the pool as long, but I think it really helped my love for water polo grow. I still practiced water polo a couple of times a week, but having time away for another sport I loved allowed me to have the best of both worlds.”

Brown was successful on the basketball court, leading her team to four consecutive North Coast Section championships. She played in the post and was a successful shot blocker, just like she was as a goalie while setting Carondelet High water polo records for career (1,066) and season (302) blocks.

Alex Brown playing basketball

“Playing goalie and playing in the post are actually very similar when it comes to blocking shots,” said Brown. “You obviously have to be very technical and put in the work to gain the leg strength, but honestly it is just how much you want to get to the shot. It is your will to want to go get the ball. It is a heart position: you have to have a lot of heart to play it.”

During her first six weeks at Michigan, Brown is learning each day behind seniors Heidi Ritner and Cameron Cordial and sophomore Sophie Jackson. She has also been impressed in the defense in front of her. “Coming here has been different for me because I have teammates in front of me who are great shot blockers and are really fun to watch.”

The biggest things she is working on now are consistency and learning tendencies, making good passes to her teammates, and blocking shots on a consistent basis.

As a goalkeeper, communication is one of the key attributes in success. Her role as a captain on her high school basketball team has helped her develop leadership skills she can apply to her position in the cage at Michigan.

“Learning how to talk to different people, your style of communication,” said Brown. “I had a lot of basketball teammates that responded to different styles of communication, and I had to figure out what worked best. A lot of what I do in goal is talk to people. My teammates here are really receptive to that.”

Water polo came easier to Brown, but basketball was a sport she felt she really had to work at. That work ethic translated to her water polo practices, and the cross-training between land and water helped her develop her game differently than some of her teammates.

The success she gained from being a multi-sport athlete in high school led her to the University of Michigan. She missed attending junior day because of basketball, but later, when she took an official visit, the team’s personalities really clicked with her and made Ann Arbor a college destination.

“This is a really unique group of people with a lot of different personalities,” said Brown. “Moving away from home was a huge part of my decision. I knew that I needed something new and to go outside my comfort zone. When you are at Michigan there is someone better than you both to the left and right of you in water polo, school, everything. Having the opportunity to grow in all aspects was really a driving factor in my decision.”

Brown is settling in to her college experience. Psychology 111 has proved to her that psychology is a likely major, and she joined Athletes in Action, which has helped her meet several other student-athletes outside of her team with similar interests. Maybe she will even find some time for some recreation basketball games in her down time.