Team U.S.A.’s Maddie Musselman Shares Source Of Her Competitiveness
Jun 27, 2024, 10:28 AM
SALT LAKE CITY – Growing up near Newport Beach, California, women’s water polo star Maddie Musselman has wanted to be an Olympian since childhood. The two-time Olympic Gold medalist’s (2016, 2020) passion for the sport dates back to elementary school.
“Fun fact,” Musselman chuckled, “I actually wrote in my sixth grade yearbook, before I went off to middle school, that I wanted to be an Olympic water polo player.”
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🇺🇸 9 🇮🇹 3@maddiemusselman knocks down the penalty shot as her big night continues! pic.twitter.com/YOrPKqyaMv
— USA Water Polo (@USAWP) June 26, 2024
The second of three girls in her family, Musselman honed her competitive instincts while playing on a coed water polo team.
“I played with the boy’s 10U coed team; I was one of the only girls. I kind of just wanted to beat them up. That was really fun for me because I feel like that’s where my competitiveness really came out.”
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A four-time All-American at UCLA, Musselman graduated with a degree in Physiological Science as the Bruins all-time leading scorer with 251 goals. She was a 2017 First-Team All-American and earned Newcomer of the Year after scoring a UCLA freshman-record 69 goals.
Musselman was named MVP at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after scoring 18 goals. She earned Women’s Total Water Polo Player of the Year in 2021 and 2022.
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Brian Preece is a sports.ksl.com insider covering the Utah State Aggies, Locals in MLB, and Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees, Beehive baseball, and Aggie athletics coverage here.
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