BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Violette Perry ’25 (Papanui, New Zealand/St. Cuthbert’s College) of Yale University was recently featured in The New Zealand Herald for her time as a member of the Yale University men’s and women’s collegiate club water polo teams.
The story is available on The New Zealand Herald website by CLICKING HERE (subscription required).
A three-time Women’s North Atlantic Division All-Conference selection (First Team: 2024, 2025; Second Team: 2023), the 2024 and 2025 North Atlantic Division Most Valuable Player led Yale to back-to-back division crowns in 2024 and 2025 following a runner-up finish in 2023. At Nationals, she claimed All-Tournament Second Team honors to help Yale tie for 13th place in 2024 at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, prior to posting First Team laurels in 2025 for guiding her team to a Fourth Place mark at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
A two-time Women’s Collegiate Club All-America recipient with Second (2024) and First (2025) Team honors, her collegiate path followed a unique track.
Born and raised in Bangkok until the age of seven, she moved back to Christchurch in New Zealand following the area’s 2010 earthquakes. Perry moved to Auckland, New Zealand, boarding at St. Cuthbert’s College for her last two year of high school. At St. Cuthbert’s, she specialized in water polo, javelin, discus and shot put while also topping her class in chemistry.
A two-time New Zealand National Schools Champion in discus and the New Zealand National Schools Championship silver medalist in Javelin, she achieved a Top 20 Ranking in 2020 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World U18 Women’s Discus Throw. A two-time New Zealand National Club Championship medalist in discus, she also recorded a New Zealand National Club Championship bronze medal in javelin and placed third at the 2021 World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze Meet in the Open Women’s Discus Throw.
Awarded 2019 and 2020 Best All-Round Sportswoman at St. Cuthbert’s, she matched her track & field achievements in the water.
A three-time New Zealand National Schools Water Polo Championship medalist and a member of three New Zealand National Water Polo Championship teams (U21, U18 and U16 titles), Perry was part of the 2020 New Zealand Water Polo U18 FINA World Championship Team. A member of 2021 New Zealand Water Polo U20 FINA World Championship Squad, she became the youngest person named Most Valuable Player at the South Island Schools Water Polo Championships in the history of the event.
Recruited by a number of Ivy League institutions (Yale, Brown University, Harvard University, Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania), she elected to attend Yale and pursue a bachelors degree in Economics.
The first individual from her family in three generations to attend college, she made an immediate mark for the Yale track & field team in 2021-22.
During the indoor season, she placed fourth at the Yale Season Opener in the shot put. She threw a personal record of 13.19 meters to secure fifth place in the shot put at Yale’s Giegengack Invitational and placed 16th in the shot put at the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track and Field Championship.
In outdoor track, she placed third in the discus throw at the University of Connecticut’s Dog Fight meet with a mark of 44.68 meters. She posted a personal bests of 45.75 meters in the discus and 37.37 meters in the javelin throw to place second in both events at the Harvard-Yale meet, while also taking fourth place in the discus throw at Connecticut’s Northeast Challenge. The victor of the discus at Yale’s Mark Young Invitational, she placed second in the discus at Yale’s Springtime Invitational. She capped off her freshman year by throwing 44.95 meters in the discus to place sixth at Ivy League Outdoor Track and Field Championships and claimed the Outstanding Newcomer award at the Yale Track and Field Banquet for the 2022 season.
However, a shoulder injury concluded her intercollegiate track and field career as she shifted her focus exclusively to water polo for the remainder of her time in New Haven, Conn.
Following her sophomore year, she was recruited to join the men’s club team at Yale – becoming the first women’s athlete to join the squad. During her tenure with the men’s collegiate club team, she helped Yale claim Fourth (2023) and Fifth (2024) place in the New England Division.
Now back home in New Zealand, she is competing for the Sea Wolves in the national water polo league and is preparing to relocate to Sydney, Australia, to pursue a role in management consulting.
