Growing up Stephania Haralabidis didn't realize that one day she would be playing for Team USA. The reason why is because Haralabidis is from Greece and played for the Greek National Team before coming to the United States where she wound up trying out and switching to the U.S. National Team. After that transition, she's now working hard to make the USA Olympic roster for 2021 in Tokyo. 
 
Haralabidis' path toward becoming a potential Olympian began when she started swimming at the age of four. But she did not enjoy it, so her father—who played water polo—encouraged her to try the sport, and it proved a perfect match: "My sisters (Ioanna and Anastasia) and I jumped in the pool and started doing the eggbeater right away. I immediately started passing like a regular water polo player, and we just fell in love with it and stayed with the sport after that."
 
The Greek club system is quite different than in the United States clubs; in Greece the clubs are professional-based, and pro careers typically begin before the age of 15. Plus, there are no high school sports since academics are separate from athletics. In Haralabidis' case, her career began at the age of 12 for Triponas: "It was an incredible experience. In the beginning, I was with players my own age, maybe a couple years old older than me. But when I turned 15, I started playing with women's teams, and the players were stronger and had been playing for a really long time, so I got to learn a lot more from people who had already played for the National Team and had a lot more experience than me. Playing with a 32-year-old woman was very challenging, but it was pretty great getting that experience."
 
When she first started her career, Haralabidisdidn't even realize there was a National Team, but after she grew in her club career she was asked to join the Greek National Team at the age of 15. Naturally Haralabidis looked up to the older players, especially Kiki Lioski: "It was really funny because I would be in my own group with her during swim sets because we were the two fastest on the team, and I was looking up to her, and she's an incredible role model, and then she ended up being my coach when I was in Greece playing abroad."
 
Soon Haralabidis' career path shifted as she found herself coming to the United States to play: "My mom always had the idea and the dream that my sisters and I would have an American education. So, throughout our lives she wanted us to push ourselves with water polo and get a lot of training so we could be really at the sport. When she realized that we were good, we started trying to play for the National Team, and we met Gavin Arroyo, the coach from Long Beach State, and he said we needed to come to the states and that we would be incredible players." As a result, Stephania and her sister Ioanna came to America at the age of 17 for their final year of high school at Corona del Mar High School.
 
Haralabidis doesn't remember a whole lot about that year, but she does recall it being a different experience: "Unlike the Greek club system I was playing with people who were my own age or younger, and I remember thinking it was a lot easier being able to do school and play water polo. That system was a lot better because in Greece it's a lot harder to do sports and school. Also, we connected really well as a team and won CIF that year."
 
But winning the title wasn't the biggest highlight for her; that moment instead came in the semifinals against Foothill: "The Foothill fans came with these huge signs saying U.S. is better than Greece, leave this pool, you don't belong here—all that kind of stuff, and I thought it was really funny." The fans' plan backfired, though, as Haralabidis and her sister had their best games ever: "I left there thinking, 'Please come with signs next time! That was just perfect.' It's funny how people think those little things can get into your head, but it just gives you more purpose, and I was thinking, 'Thank you for pushing me.'"
 
At the same time she was playing in high school, Haralabidis also was looking at what college to attend, and she started off by looking at the top-four water polo schools: Stanford, USC, UCLA, and Cal. She first thought of Cal because in Greece it was considered as the best school academically—but in the end, she wound up choosing USC. "The moment I walked on USC's campus I was mesmerized. I thought it was beautiful, and I knew it was the school for me. Then the whole coaching staff was walking around with us explaining how things were and how there was a center just for athletes and 20-person small classrooms and not a hundred people in the big classrooms. My sister Ionna and I just fell in love with the school and what it represented." 
 
But Haralabidis' career at USC got off to a rocky start as she adjusted to yet another new environment, but eventually she settled. Her best moment came when USC won the 2016 NCAA Championship: "I hurt my back in the beginning of the year, and I was out of the water for four months. But I came back and pushed myself really hard that season. We were so close as a team. I have the best memories with these girls, and I had an incredible time; 2016 was an incredible year."
 
While playing for USC, Haralabidis decided to take a break from the Greek National Team, and then she began thinking about playing for Team USA. She consulted her coach about it, and he said she could go to their practice and try out—and she did. "It was an incredible opportunity, but at that time I was a freshman, and that whole year was a really hard time for me—so to be able to make a team like that—the best team in the world, in fact—I needed to be in a good mental state, and I was not. I wasn't able to give everything I could to be on that team." Following that first attempt Haralabidis held off trying out again until her senior year when she asked Coach Adam Krikorian if she could try out again, and he agreed: "For the first two years I kind of struggled because this is the best team in the world, and they had been playing with each other for 8 to 12 years, and they know each other very well. But I slowly got to a point where I was feeling more confident. I was feeling better and better."
 
Haralabidis' hard work in training paid off, and she got called up to her first Senior National Team events in 2018—including her first major event, the FINA World Cup. She was "shocked" by the call up: "I was over the moon happy and so excited. I did not expect to make it. I really didn't think I would get to a point where I could play with the team, and when I got called up, it gave me confidence. It was pretty amazing." Haralabidis wound up playing in three tournaments that year, including the World Cup, which made her nervous, but Haralabidis did well, scoring nine goals as Team USA won the competition defeating Russia 8-5. On how that tournament went and what she learned she says, "I kind of, for a second, forgot how to play a little bit because you're playing for the best team in the world. I learned that there's no need to be that nervous. To stress and think about, 'What if I make this mistake? Coach Krikorian won't take me again.' That's not the mentality you want as a player; you need to go in and give 100 percent."
 
As her Team USA career progressed, Haralabidis found herself facing off against the team she used to play for—Greece—when Team USA played them in a four-game exhibition series in the United States in 2019. On what it was like to play against her former country she says, "In the beginning, I was kind of sad because one of my best friends in the whole world is still on that team. She and I have been playing on the same club team since I was 12 years old. I know her so well, so it's kind of sad—but it also was kind of fun playing against them. I went in not knowing how they were going to react to me playing on another team, but after the first game they were very sweet. They were like, 'You know this is your team. We're not going to be mean. We're not going to act like we don't know you. You're still our friend.' So that was pretty cool."
 
Following college Haralabidis returned to Greece to compete professionally when not training with the USA National Team. She played for Vouliagmeni, and it was a different experience than when she competed in club ball when she was younger. "When I was 17, I had a different mentality. I felt like, 'Oh I'm the best,' and you're taught from a young age that you just go out there and do whatever you want, and you going to play great. I feel like when I went back and played at a later age, I understood the game of water polo a lot better. I had a lot more fun, and I enjoyed it a lot more. I felt more confident in my decisions I made in the water, and I felt more confident with my teammates, so that was the big difference."
 
Currently the women are back training for the Tokyo Olympics, but the process has taken on a different look due to COVID. "We are in physical contact every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday—and then Monday and Wednesday are our one-day practices.We get tested on Mondays, and then we have no contact, and then we get our test back by Monday night, and then we are able to do contact Tuesday and get retested on Wednesday with no contact, and then Friday is double practice and contact."
 
Haralabidis is always looking to improve her game and especially wants to work on defense: "As a lefty, you're always taught offense, offense, offense, offense, but Coach Adam's mentality is defense first. I agree at the end of the day that defense wins games, not offense, so I have improved a lot in my defense, but I still have a long way to go."
 
With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics being postponed until the summer of 2021, there's now a new focus on preparing for the Games. In regard to her expectations, Haralabidis says, "I feel like we're going to be training like we did last year and are going to go 100 percent and come out as winners again. We're putting a lot of effort and work into everything we do, so I'm pretty confident that we're going to be feeling like we did last year shape-wise because we were out of the water for so long."
 
Lastly Stephania has a message for those hoping to make the National Team someday: "Keep believing that you're going to make it. Keep pushing yourself. Put in 100 percent during every single practice, and don't believe that if you become really good that it's good enough. Because in water polo you're going to keep learning and learning. Dreams do come true; believe that, because you'll make it one day."