‘Rigby is where I started.’ Teenager to represent eastern Idaho in water polo national championships.

RIGBY — A local high school senior recently finished her third year playing water polo, and she’s having the kind of success that often takes years and years to achieve.

Macey Lamb, 17, started playing water polo at Rigby High School the first year the club was formed, which was during her sophomore year. She recalls her swim team coach, Ryan Hancock, explaining that in order to start the club, there needed to be enough people interested, so Lamb decided she’d give it a try.

“I knew how to swim, but then I was like water polo, that sounds interesting,” Lamb told EastIdahoNews.com. “I looked it up, and I was like, that looks fun. I didn’t know anything about it before.”

On the first day of practice, Hancock wanted to see how high the athletes could push themselves out of the water using their legs to determine who would play certain positions. Lamb pushed herself up the highest and held herself the longest which prompted Hancock to name her the goalie.

“The goalie, typically in water polo, is like the quarterback. They can see what’s going on when the team is on the other end of the pool, and she can yell out and help the offense,” Hancock explained. “When the team comes back on defense, she’s constantly yelling out where the kids need to be or where the ball is. She has taken that leadership role and ran with it. Everybody on the team looks up to her.”

Being an example to her teammates is something Lamb doesn’t take lightly, and that was once again made known during this past season when the club was forced to get creative with practices. Water polo is not sanctioned by the Idaho High School Activities Association, so Rigby plays against other club teams across the state. For the first two years, the club practiced at the Wes Deist Aquatic Center, but Hancock said it was closed for repairs this past season.

Instead, the club — consisting of seven boys and nine girls — practiced at several locations including Brigham Young University-Idaho, Green Canyon Hot Springs, Pirates and Mermaids Swim Academy and Lamb’s neighbor’s indoor pool.

“I definitely knew it’d be a challenge (with the aquatic center closed), but knowing me, I always find a way to get back in the water,” Lamb said.

Her determination not only helped the club get in practice time during an unusual season, but her consistent drive helped land her a spot to play in the national championships for the USA Water Polo Olympic Development Program in California in March. Lamb said she is the only athlete in eastern Idaho who will be going to the national championships.

“(Rigby) is where I started and got introduced (to water polo) and definitely started to look into all this stuff,” she mentioned. “I … fell in love with the sport, especially after our first tournament, after I started to figure out the game a little bit.”

Lamb said being able to develop and grow the water polo club at Rigby was important to her because she “didn’t want this team to die out.” Lamb is grateful for the opportunity she had to play for Rigby and is looking forward to applying what she learned there at nationals.

She also hopes other people will remember to apply the same message she’s leaned on the past three years, which is — don’t give up.

“That was the biggest thing for me,” Lamb said. “I know it can be frustrating when challenges come your way or you don’t believe in yourself, but you can make it far if you put in the work and effort.”