Ever since she watched her first Olympics,
Amanda Longan has aspired to be an Olympian. Now as one of the 17 players on the Women's National Team training to make the Tokyo Games next year, she's inching ever closer to achieving that goal.
Longan—who's from Moorpark, CA—began her career unlike most top water polo athletes. She got her start in the sport a bit late, beginning the summer before her freshman year of high school. Growing up she didn't do swimming or anything water related as she recounts, "I took middle school PE very seriously, and that's pretty much it. I played all the time with my sisters and my dad, so we were super athletic, and we played all sorts of games outside."
She would wind up trying water polo because a family friend started playing it. "The daughter who's just a smidge younger than me couldn't play land sports anymore because she had surgeries on her ankles, and so she was going to try out water polo, and there was a program in my town that she was going to try, so she and her family encouraged me to go with her—plus, my mom made me go." It was tough for Longan at first. She didn't like swimming up and down the pool, but she did pick up the eggbeater quickly despite having no previous swimming experience.
In addition to water polo she played basketball and tennis prior to high school and had to make a decision about which sport she would focus on in school since the seasons overlapped. On that decision Longan recounts, "Water polo was a better fit at the time, which was really weird because I had more of a background in tennis since my sister played, and I was at tennis courts with her all the time. I narrowed it down to water polo, as I just felt more passionate about it than the other sports."
First though, Longan began her career playing for MAC Water Polo—the Moorpark High School club team—because she figured she'd be going there in the fall. Recalling her first experience in goal she says, "I was really nervous playing my very first game, and I happened to be in goal for my first game. My coach threw me in the cage the very first day, and I don't know—something just clicked right away, and I was feeling myself all of a sudden because maybe they threw some things at me to get me used to it. Or I just did well for some reason, and it made me feel good. It just felt more natural jumping up and down in the cage than swimming back and forth."
Following her time with MAC she wound up attending Oaks Christian High School instead of Moorpark where her coach encouraged her to join Santa Barbara 805. As a result Longan wound up having to drive from Moorpark south to Thousand Oaks before having to drive all the way up to Santa Barbara for club practice—but she says it was all worth it: "I was super nervous, but after a little while I warmed up to the girls and kind of found my way and enjoyed playing with them. Cathy Neushul was always super supportive of me from the get-go; same with Peter Neushul and Connor Levoff. They really made me feel like a part of it all down there even though I came from farther away. I didn't live near any of them, so I really enjoyed them. They were awesome."
At Oaks Christian, Longan played varsity all four years. "I loved my team in high school. We were all basically new to water polo. We were division six my first three years we were there. We were in a lower division, and none of the girls I played with had club experience—and coming in as a freshman I didn't have much, either." While playing in high school Longan also practiced with the boys and got her sister to join the team. In her junior year her team won its first-ever title, which would be her favorite high school moment: "To win the league title we had to beat Malibu twice. The whole school came out for the games. The sports teams that had practices after school as well as students packed the stands, and that was the most surreal experience ever. We ended up winning the first game 5 to 4, so we went to Malibu to play the next day, and we ended up winning 5 to 4 again, and I had 31 saves."
Longan's high school coach encouraged her to join ODP, which led to her first national team experience. She would make both the Cadet and Youth teams her sophomore and junior years and would be selected for one travel trip. On what she enjoyed about the ODP program, Longan adds, "I got to meet a lot of people from a lot of club teams as well as coaches from a lot of different places. That to me was a really huge asset, especially since I was thinking of college at the time, and college coaches watched games and training sessions, and that was great and helpful and gave me a lot of exposure."
From the moment Longan started playing water polo in high school she knew she wanted to keep playing in college. One moment in particular stands out to her: "When I started high school at Oaks, I also was growing in my faith and playing water polo. I definitely believe there was a correlation there. I was playing a club game at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, and there was a moment when I was in the cage and was just so happy, and I looked at all the parents having a good time in the stands. Then there was this moment where the sun bounced off the water and into my eyes and something hooked me, and I was set. It was like my heart was stolen by the game, and that's when I knew this is what I wanted to do as long as I could."
Longan would wind up playing at USC as she reflects, "There was just something about USC; not the campus, not the name, but about the water polo program—specifically Jovan Vavic and the coaching staff, Marko Pintaric and Casey Moon—that just blew my mind. It wasn't like anything I'd heard from other coaches before, and the way they ran their practices and the way they ran things over there and how intense the girls were about training and how passionate Jovan was when he was talking to me about water polo all sealed the deal." Longan enjoyed great success at USC, including two NCAA Championships and the 2018 Cutino Award for best female collegiate water polo athlete. But even though those moments were great, they weren't her top ones: "As a freshman we won a game at Stanford's home pool 8 to3, and I recorded 17 saves, and there was just something about that game that as a freshman going into it I was obviously super nervous, but I was so heated up and thought, 'We got this.' That was my best performance as a freshman at Stanford, which was our top rival, and it's still big in my mind because if I was able to do that as a freshman, I would hope that it would show other kids that it really doesn't matter what age you are. When you're feeling it, you're feeling it."
Following the 2016 Rio Olympics, Longan received her first call up to the Senior National Team even though she was only a college sophomore. Longan couldn't believe it: "Coach Adam sent out an email inviting all the new players to the team, as well as the returners, and I was just in shock. I wasn't necessarily expecting it. My jaw dropped, and I was super excited, and then I was super nervous thinking, 'I'm about to play water polo with
Rachel Fattal,
Maggie Steffens,
Ashleigh Johnson,' and I lost it for a second." Following successful training sessions Longan was called up to her first major event: the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. She would make her debut in a 18-3 victory over New Zealand and also appeared in games against South Africa and for a second time against New Zealand. On how her first game went she says: "I was super nervous because obviously at that time it was a new team, and for Coach Krikorian to trust me enough to throw me in there during the World Championships was huge.That was my first opportunity.I didn't want to blow it or do poorly because there's a bunch of people counting on you. When you're on the national team, the whole country—whether you know it or not, or whether they follow water polo or not—is kind of expecting even higher standards from you, so I wanted to let my teammates know that they could trust me from the get-go." Even though Longan would not make any more appearances in the tournament, she learned a lot from her experience and was excited to be a part of the team as it went on to win the 2017 FINA World Championship with a 13-6 victory over Spain.
To kick off 2020 Longan traveled with the rest of Team USA to the Netherlands for training and one game. Even though she didn't play in the game, Longan learned a lot: "I was grateful to have made that trip because I didn't make the Australia one prior to that, so I was happy to get back on a travel roster. I felt better in my performances against the Netherlands, and I got a lot of practice with them, and they're one of the top teams—and they play a similar style to ours."
Currently Longan is training with the Women's National Team which recently resumed activity following a long break due to COVID-19. Longan is working hard and constantly trying to raise her game, as she adds, "I want to improve in every single area, but my main focus right now is trying to feel lighter in the water and gain more flexibility. I'm trying to do all these hip stretches and branch out in that way outside the water. Also explosiveness is my pride and joy as well as working on lob jumping."
Knowing the Olympics are delayed until 2021, Longan has changed her expectations as she says, "I expect we will grow a lot closer as a team with another year together, which is really good. Obviously it was a bummer to have it pushed back when we were so close, but I personally have another whole year to get faster and fight for more playing time, which is a great opportunity, and I think as a team the more time you spend together training, the better you click together."
Lastly Amanda offers advice to those hoping someday to make the National Team: "I think putting in extra work after or before practice goes a long way. It's not unnoticed in your teammates' and coaches' eyes.The fact that you're putting in the extra effort—that's extra time you're taking to improve, and maybe your biggest competitor isn't. Plus, it's a chance for extra growth to become much better much sooner, and that's huge and super important.
