A New Season Is Underway!

Welcome to the beginning of our journey! We are happy to have you with us!

Welcome Lady Reds fans!

My name is Elyssa Hawkins, and I'm a senior on the women's water polo team from Houston, Texas, studying in Media Relations, specializing in sports. This will be my last year suiting up for Carthage and a new tradition I want to start is as a senior, writing a blog to provide updates about how our season is progressing including the ins and outs of what makes Lady Reds water polo such a standout program! I'm beyond excited to share with friends, family, and fans the exciting adventure that is in store for the Lady Reds this season.

Although, we began our season with Fall Ball in October (more on that in a moment), #Q41 begins now! We're absolutely excited to get things started here on the lake front!

“Although we began our season with Fall Ball in October, #Q41 begins now!”

We will be getting started just shortly with our first official practice on Monday. After spending time together in the fall, we're excited about the opportunities to grow together as a team. We're smaller in numbers this season, however we do not have a shortage of talent in the least. We bring in three freshmen as our class of 2021 all of whom have had amazing high school careers and are ready to make a statement in their collegiate debut. After a fall training which included games against the University of Toronto and Lindenwood University, we know we have a great team dynamic.

In the meantime we're enjoying our J-Term which at Carthage means you take one course for three hours five days a week. Although it may sound boring, there are a number of classes that aren't offered during the semester that are exciting, and can help fulfill graduation requirements. There are also short term study abroad trips students can do too! In fact, two of our seniors Morgan Levy and Allie Boothe, along with sophomore Emma Jeronimus are in Nicaragua studying Biology and Geography for their J-Term!

I am on campus taking a Carthage Symposium course, which is a cool way of saying two professors from two different departments teach a course that focuses on a singular topic. My class, Contemporary Issues in China and Japan through American Media, focuses on (as you might expect) current hot button issues in China and Japan and how they are perceived by Western Media.

We take academics at Carthage very seriously, and we have quite a few Dean's List recipients coming into the new season. We also have a diverse number of athletes on our team who want to study in different majors such as Occupational Therapy, Education, Neuroscience, and Marketing, among others! We hope we can return to the Top 10 for Academic All-America this season too!

In two weeks, our team will open the season with a weekend in California competing against California State University - Northridge, California Lutheran University, and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges. We're hoping to make a statement as we compete against talent in Division I and Division III water polo.

Our trip out to CA is only the beginning of what could be the greatest season for Lady Reds water polo! I hope to continue to share all things Team 18! Go Lady Reds! #Q41

Elyssa #4