Bucknell University Athletics
A Family Affair with Bucknell Water Polo
3/4/2013 7:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
March 4, 2013
By Becky Hart, Bucknell Athletic Communications
Instead of rosters, water polo should use family trees. In the close-knit and relatively small world of water polo, it's not a big surprise that trips to the pool would be a family affair. It is slightly more unusual, however, that many of those families would converge in small-town central Pennsylvania. That happens to be the case for the Bison where three current members of the women's squad, with roots from across the country, have branched out to Bucknell following in the steps of older brothers.
One look at the Bison's women's water polo roster reveals some familiar names. Sophomore Taylor Barnett followed her brother Nick '11 from Houston and had the opportunity to overlap at Bucknell in 2011 when Nick helped the Bison to a national ranking as high as No. 15 as a senior. Freshman Emily Nowlin is also donning the Orange & Blue at the same time as her older brother Alex, a junior attacker with the Bucknell men. And fellow rookie Hannah Sunday became the second in her family to compete at Kinney Natatorium, following her brother Josh '08. For each of the trio of women, it's that family connection that helped bring them to, and keep them happy, at Bucknell and in the pool.
The Barnett Family Legacy
"I was down to a couple schools and being able to see my brother play his senior year was extremely important to me. I was able to see my sister play all four years of college, so it was very important to see my brother play. I knew if I went anywhere else, I wouldn't have been able to do that."
For Taylor Barnett, being close to brother Nick was a major driving force behind her decision to enroll at Bucknell. The two grew up with older sister Kristen competing from the start in the pool and, like teammates Nowlin and Sunday, Taylor came to the sport through swimming and watching her older siblings take to water polo.
"When my sister went into high school, we went to a couple of her water polo games," says Taylor, whose sister was the 2007 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year and played alongside Sunday's sister, Rachel, at Marist. "Immediately when I saw it, I was like, `Wow! This is awesome.' So I started playing when I was in fifth grade."
Credit Nick and then-Bucknell head coach John Abdou with a persuasive strategy seven years later when Taylor was shopping for a college to play with.
"With my brother being at Bucknell for three years and me loving campus ..." Taylor trails off as if those were obvious enough reasons to become a Bison. "I was very influenced to come here by the coach as well. I just kind of knew this would be the right fit for me. The coach, before he left, was even saying, `Even if something happens and I leave or some of the girls on the team leave, I know this school would be perfect for you.' It was a good selling point."
While having a little sister crash in on his college experience might be a disappointment to some, having Taylor join him in Lewisburg didn't seem to bother Nick. At least that's the story according to Taylor, who said he was "super excited. It also really helped that I went grocery shopping for him."
Even if Nick had been hesitant to have his younger sister become a fellow Bucknell student-athlete, the family support that Nick and Taylor provided each other right off the bat proved to be more valuable than any of them expected. With Nick in preseason training, their father John was moving Taylor on to campus when he suffered a massive heart attack. The experience made an already closer family even tighter.
"My dad is perfectly fine now, but it was a very serious situation," recalls Taylor. "Especially for my brother and me, it really helped our relationship because it was basically the two us making medical decisions for my dad for an entire day while my mom was on the plane."
Taylor's choice to attend Bucknell has worked out well in more ways than one. She has already collected a handful of accolades after just one season. The utility player was named Second Team CWPA All-Southern Division and became the second Bison to claim CWPA Southern Division Rookie of the Year honors last spring. She also ended her freshman campaign ranked fifth at Bucknell in single-season goals with 67 and with a piece of the single-game record after tallying seven of those goals in one meeting with George Washington.
While sharing her rookie season with Nick last year did offer a certain level of comfort, Taylor also senses a different level of pressure following in the footsteps of her successful older siblings.
"There's a lot of expectation because I see what they've done in their careers and I'm just like, `Wow. I need to either top that or be just as good.' I want to make sure our family legacy doesn't necessarily die with me."
The Nowlin Family Obsession
"Our parents started to get into water polo and now it's gotten to be so big that at family dinners, all we talk about is water polo. My dad is obsessed with it. My mom and dad didn't play, but they love the game. They love everything about it. It just kind of turned into a really big family thing because we all have it in common now."
Like those of her teammates Barnett and Sunday, Emily Nowlin's parents were not water polo players and weren't introduced to the sport until their children first put on the suit and cap. And like many in water polo, the Nowlins began their career as swimmers. A move to Southern California proved to be the spark that put the family down its current path.
That path brought Alex to Bucknell first where he registered 79 goals and 117 assists in his first three seasons with the Bison.
While Emily's decision to take up water polo was a result of watching Alex play, making Bucknell her college choice was more her own.
"Alex obviously wanted me to come here, but he really wasn't a part of my decision to come here," says Emily, who began her Bucknell career playing at the Bison Invitational earlier this month. "It was that everything just kind of fit. I felt like Bucknell was a good fit for me and it was a good fit for him, too. It's nice having him here, but the decision to come here wasn't based on the fact that he was here."
Although the family connection wasn't the primary reason for enrolling at Bucknell, it has proved to be beneficial for Emily, even with Alex studying abroad this semester.
"It's a lot easier having Alex here. It's really nice to have him," says Emily. "Last semester, I would never just run into him, but we would go out to dinner sometimes. It was a nice thing to have, especially when you're a freshman and you don't really know anyone."
Knowing the ways of the water polo community, not knowing anyone shouldn't be a problem for long, especially when the Bison start hitting the road.
"I'm excited to travel," says Emily, looking forward to what the season has to offer. "All of the places will be cool, I think. Just going different places with the team and being on the bus with everyone, bonding, will be nice."
Sundays at Bucknell
"My brothers and sisters (were my biggest influences). I don't think I could pick one specifically. They definitely encouraged me to be better. They were all very good. I wanted to be just as good as they were. It definitely pushed me to work harder."
The youngest of four siblings, Hannah Sunday may be the only one of the women's trio not to attend Bucknell simultaneously with her brother, but that doesn't mean the other Sunday children didn't have an influence on how she ended up in Lewisburg. Not surprisingly, swimming gave way to competitive water polo.
"We were all at the games anyway, so we figured we might as well play."
That fortuitous chain of events earned spots in the college ranks for Josh, Rachel and now Hannah. On the way to Bucknell, Hannah became a three-time all-state selection at Cumberland Valley High School in Carlisle, Pa. Despite Josh being an alum and her coming from within Pennsylvania, Hannah almost didn't make it to Lewisburg.
"I actually didn't look here at first," Hannah admits. "I always loved it here when I came to water polo camp in the summer, but I was always like, `It's so familiar. I'm not going to look there.' I realized that every school I went to, I was just comparing it to Bucknell. I realized this is where I wanted to go."
While Bucknell might not have originally been the plan for Hannah, it has turned out to be a great decision for the freshman center.
"I love it," Hannah beams. "It's definitely challenging in the classroom, but it's definitely good."
Hannah and the rest of the Bison had to wait a bit longer than anticipated to get their first challenge in the pool after the Brown Invitational was snowed out. Even that change in plans worked in their favor, however.
"We ended up scrimmaging for two practices and worked on some things we had been working on all week, so I think it ended up being beneficial," Hannah says of the delayed start of the team's competitive schedule. "It would have been great to play the games, but I think it definitely helped to have some extra practice time."
As for what she is looking forward to the most for her first season in the Orange & Blue, Hannah keeps it simple.
"Playing with a new group of girls, playing with a new team and getting to know everyone."
In other words, getting to know her new family.
Note: This story appeared in a recent edition of the Bucknell Basketball Gameday Program.
