December 2022

Bridget Layburn

We hear from Bridget Layburn who is a Senior Women Goal Keeper currently over in the USA playing for the University of Hawaii. We hear from Bridget about her time in Hawaii and what its like for her over there.

There are few easy elements of being a division one athlete, but I must admit, waking up in paradise everyday certainly cushions the blow. 

I remember when I was 12 years old, it was 2013 and I was at north harbour prizegiving. Giving a speech was Lynlee Smith, and I hung onto her every word as she described her time in America at Arizona State University. That was the day I went home and told my parents I had to go to America to play water polo. In all my years of dreaming and working towards this goal, I never would have believed you if you said I’d end up in Hawaii. 

I began here in January 2019. However, due to covid and a hip surgery, there have been some interruptions, making this my third year of four years studying and playing here. 

In the Fall semester (August to December) we’re not in season. We spend these months training relentlessly, conditioning, bonding, and learning each and every defensive and offensive play we may run in a game. Before we hit full time training, we have weekends off, meaning we’re at the beach as often as we can be. Admittedly I try to squeeze in 1 beach trip a week when we’re in full time and in season too. We start off practicing once a day, with additional weight lifting 3 days a week, and gradually build to training 20 hours/ 6 days a week, practically a part time job. Once we’re in season in Spring (January to May), we fly to the mainland about every 2 weeks. On the weeks we’re here on island, a team will fly out to us, rounding out to at least one game a weekend. 

Being in Hawaii is a truly different experience not only from being in New Zealand, but also from being in mainland US. We’re the only collegiate water polo team in the state, so every time we compete and travel, we’re representing all of Hawaii, which is such a special privilege. It feels like a professional environment, even though we’re still students and still working jobs on the side, there’s a culture and an expectation in this team that warrants it to be treated with the same respect and effort as a professional program. 

My team is very international, so I’m not sticking out like a sore thumb as a kiwi. We have 2 more kiwis on our team, an Australian, a Hungarian, 3 Canadians, a Brazilian, 2 Dutch, 2 Spanish, 1 French, and a handful of Californians. There’s never a dull moment with such a diverse group of girls, and us being so far from our homes has bonded us as a family for life. The university itself is home to people from all around the world so I’m always meeting new people from different backgrounds, it’s an amazing place to live. 

I would never go back and change my decision to come here, getting to play in Hawaii has been a life changing experience. For anyone looking to play overseas, I would definitely encourage it. This isn’t something you can decide to do once you’re in your 40s, this is your time to live this dream. It doesn’t matter which program you come to as long as you have belief in it and in yourself to better that program. 

Hope you’re doing well! 

Article added: Tuesday 22 November 2022