ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Coming into her freshman year with the University of Michigan water polo team, Maddie O’Reilly was set on using the summer to close the gap from where she was to where she needed to be in order to compete with one of the top water polo programs in the country.
“I knew I was a step behind after watching the team play last year,” said O’Reilly. “I could make it up this fall and it would be hard or I could make steps forward this summer.”
Conversations between Maddie, her parents and head coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi ultimately led to Maddie and her mother, Christy, packing up and temporarily moving from their home in Villanova, Pennsylvania, across the country to Northern California so she could join the 680 Water Polo club for the summer.
“Full commitment; that is what she showed by moving to the Bay Area,” said Leonardi. “I think it was fantastic. She knew the gap that existed in her game and she had very supportive parents who wanted their kid to be successful.”
Maddie saw it as an opportunity to push herself on a team with several individuals headed to Division I water polo programs. Christy also saw it as an opportunity for her to improve, but also thought it would be great to spend the time with her before she left home for college.
“It was challenging to leave her siblings and dad, but it gave her a great opportunity to focus on her passions,” said Christy. “We wanted to do everything to put her in a position to succeed.”
That is something Christy and her husband, Matt, had always tried to do with their four children. They were used to sending Maddie to other parts of the country to improve her game. Maddie, the second youngest, drove over an hour to play with a water polo club in Princeton, New Jersey, and spent a summer living in Greenwich, Connecticut, to compete with the Northeast zone Olympic Development Program.
In the summer of 2017, Maddie found herself in a new role. A player who scored 509 career goals at the Episcopal Academy was now coming off the bench.
“It was a big change going from being the big fish in a small pond to being any old fish in a large pond,” said Christy. “It taught her humility. She would have to fight for her time and prove herself, which was a great introduction to going to a program like Michigan.”
A strong awareness of her own strengths and weaknesses led Maddie to make the move in the first place. That self-recognition went a long way in her focusing on the areas of her game that she wanted to improve on.
“I had speed but I didn’t use it to my full advantage,” said Maddie. “This summer, we were a fast team and I learned how to use my swimming to my advantage and cut players off to get in a better position.”
One of her teammates with 680 Water Polo was Maddy Johnston, who she had known from training camps with the USA Water Polo Youth National Team. Johnston was joining her as a freshman at Michigan. She helped Maddie fit in with the club and appreciated her drive.
“Her internal motivation to get better and aspirations to challenge herself surpasses a lot of people I know,” said Johnston. “Every single thing she comes across is an obstacle and a challenge she wants to overcome. It shows her character and how she wants to strive to get better.”
The improvements Maddie made over the summer have showed up in practice according to Leonardi, saying, “Her body position, confidence in the water and explosiveness has improved. She has learned how to use work ethic to elevate her game.”
That work ethic and drive came from examples within her household. Her father, Matt, played basketball in college at William & Mary and, while living in Pennsylvania, the O’Reilly family took in one of the Villanova men’s basketball players, JayVaughn Pinkston, for a year.
[ ESPN Feature on Pinkston and O’Reilly family ]
The O’Reilly family moved to Villanova from Bermuda when Maddie was four years old and lived in the same neighborhood as Villanova basketball head coach Jay Wright. The two families became friends and when Pinkston needed a place to live, the O’Reilly family provided a home and structure for the aspiring professional basketball player. In turn, Maddie got to see firsthand the challenges of being a student-athlete.
“I learned you have to keep yourself motivated,” said Maddie. “You are going to be tired, but you have to keep pushing through those bad days. I knew that if I have the drive, I can be successful.”
With the drive and internal motivation she learned from her father and Pinkston, Maddie helped lead 680 Water Polo to gold medals at the U.S. Club Championships and the Junior Olympics. She was able to improve her game, her mom was able to spend a few months with her before college and she was able to bond with a future teammate. However, she will tell you that she is not where she needs to be quite yet.
“I closed the gap but there is still a gap in how I see things,” Maddie said. “I think I am close-minded. I am really trying to work on predicting what someone will do and seeing things instead of putting my head down. I want to be the outside shooter people can trust at the end of the game.”
Release courtesy University of Michigan Athletics Communications
