From Near Disaster To Olympic Hopeful With Jack Turner

Jack Turner is one of the 19 players attempting to make the 13-man roster for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Turner got his water polo career off to a late start as he didn't start playing the sport until his freshman year of high school in 2010. Turner was the first one in his family to play. Asked why he embarked on his water polo career, he says, "All of my friends swam a lot and started playing water polo, so I thought I'd give it a try and see what happens." 
Turner played at Bellarmine High School in San Jose, CA where he decided to try out for goalie because he thought it would give him the best opportunity to play. Recalling his time there he adds, "I loved it. I was pretty bad when I first started. I had to play on the freshman team my first year and JV my second. I made varsity junior year, and I never actually started until my junior year." On why he decided on goalie, he added, "I figured it was the only way I would make the team because I had never played before—and I was tall. They needed somebody to be goalie. I didn't really know how to eggbeater, but I knew I was long enough to get my hand on some shots." 

Turner had many great moments in high school as his team won the CIF-CCS Championship back to back during his junior and senior years.

While Turner played in high school, he also competed on the Bellarmine High School club team and then the Stanford club team. With Stanford he finished fourth at Junior Olympics in his final year of high school. 

At that time, Turner knew he wanted to keep playing in college, and he eventually was recruited by and chose University of California, San Diego. On why he chose UCSD, he says it "had a great engineering program, and I really wanted to major in engineering. So I thought it was a great crossover between competitive water polo and academics, and you can't really beat the weather in San Diego." 

Turner enjoyed a successful career at UC San Diego and recalls his top moment: "Making it to the NCAA semifinal in 2018. We ended up losing to Stanford, but that year was pretty great. We had a lot of competitive games against the top 4. It's definitely a season I will remember."

While competing in high school, Turner also enjoyed watching the National Team compete. He recalls, "I vividly remember being at JOs in 2012 and watching the London Olympics and watching Tony [Azevedo], [Ryan] Bailey, and that's when I was like, 'Wow, that's something I wish I could do someday." Turner also spoke on who he looked up to the most and what he learned from watching them: "I looked up to Genai Kerr and Brandon Brooks, and I learned resilience. All the other Team USA sports are pretty dominant, and in water polo it's a little more challenging because it's a smaller sport. But seeing those guys work for it and grind every day, just to go out there and compete, we wound up second in 2008 but fell off after that. So just the resilience and courage and respect that you have to bring to the men's team to compete on their level—and I wanted to be on that level ever since I saw them play, so I had to bring something like that to the table."

Turner did not participate in the Olympic Development Program, and his first National Team experience was being called up for the 2017 University Games. Unfortunately, Turner never got the opportunity to play in them because he suffered a serious car accident on the way home to Fremont from San Diego that almost derailed his water polo career. 
Recalling the accident, he says, "It was kind of late at night. Midnight maybe. I was half an hour from home, and I was driving from San Diego, and my front left tire blew out, and I lost control of my Tacoma, and it flipped, and I ended up breaking the C1 and C2 vertebrae in my neck." 

For the first 12 hours he was in the hospital, Turner didn't know what the future held because it was such a high fracture with a low survival rate—and there was a pretty good chance he would end up paralyzed. Turner adds, "It was kind of a scary experience, but after more imaging and testing, they concluded I wouldn't be paralyzed, and there would be no repercussions from the break. But I definitely had to reevaluate some of the choices that I had made." 

Turner took home some important lessons from the accident: "I learned that every day is a gift, and you gotta make the most of what you have because you never know what could happen; it's so unpredictable and sometimes it's even out of your control what could happen." 

His accident didn't deter him from getting back to water polo, as the first thing he wanted to do was get into the weight room, return to the pool, and play the game he loved. Turner adds, "I find some sort of comfort playing water polo, being in the pool, and having fun with my teammates. It was a I-can't-wait-to-get-back-in-shape-for-this situation." 
Turner ended up in a neck brace for three months and had to do another month of rehab before he could get back in the pool. This time period was hard for him as he was unable to lift weights or swim—and couldn't really do much of anything. He didn't miss any class, though, and returned to San Diego about a week after the accident. 
Turner called his coach after the accident to let him know what happened: "We had a good conversation, and he let me know the team was going to be there for me, and that I would always have a spot on the team, and that they couldn't wait to see me at practice. At that point it wasn't about when I could come back and play, it was making sure I got my mind and body right before trying to do anything too crazy."

Following his recovery process Turner was called up to the Senior National Team for the 2018 FINA World Cup, which was nearly a year after his accident. Looking back at that moment he says, "It was pretty crazy. The winter following the accident I had been asked to come back and train with Team USA, and we were doing common training with Croatia, and I remember just having the worst week and a half of training of my life. I was so down on myself, and I was like, 'That could be it for me. I don't know if I can come back from this.' And then I eventually started training over the summer and started progressing. When I got the call in 2018 it reinvigorated that confidence that I could do it—that regardless of the injury I could still compete to make a roster spot. So, it was definitely a very joyous moment just to realize your dream is still achievable." 

Turner made his debut against South Africa recording 8 saves in a 15-6 victory. Recalling his time in Berlin, he says, "I was super nervous. I remember not being able to eat that day because it was the first time I would be in a true tournament. The nerves definitely got to me in the first games, but that's part of it, and I live by the saying that if you're not nervous about whatever you're going to do, then you don't really care enough. So I embraced it, and it will always be one of those things that I look back on, like, 'Wow, I progressed a lot from that day, but I'm glad it happened.' I learned mostly that I need to get a lot better, but also it was an experience I could build on, just being in that atmosphere."

Recently Turner traveled with the Men's National Team to Europe for training trips that also included games against Greece, Hungary, Italy, and Australia. Looking back at that trip, he says, "Playing at that new pool [in Cuneo, Italy] for the Four Nations Tournament was really cool and great to see. Whenever you get a chance to play against Italy and Hungary—two of the best teams in the world—it is a great experience, and there's always something you can learn from those games. We've had incredible opportunities these last couple of months." Turner learned a lot from the games, adding that "We need to put in a lot of work together as a team once we're hitting full time training just to get our conditioning level to where it needs to be before Tokyo. Then we have to tactically figure out where people like passes and when people are going to anticipate the counterattack—just getting on the same page and building that chemistry. Most of these teams, when they aren't practicing with their clubs, are practicing with their national teams all year. We don't get that opportunity, so really focusing on that team camaraderie aspect of the game is going to be huge for us."

With only about five months to go until the Olympics, Team USA has started training and has a busy schedule ahead. On his expectations for the Olympics, Turner says, "First and foremost is making the Tokyo roster. Long term it's getting to know guys better—and making some of these travel rosters and trips coming up and making sure I'm improving every day, whether that's in the pool, in the weight room, or mentally. We're hoping to get on the podium. We're always aiming for Gold, but any finish on the podium would be huge for the sport in America and huge in terms of what we want to achieve as a team."

Lastly Jack offers advice for those looking to make the National Team someday: "Just give 100% effort because work ethic beats talent 99% of the time. I know every coach has told me they'd rather have a hard worker than a super-talented person who goofs off, so hard work will help you reach your dreams."