From California to Zimbabwe: Global coaching, local impact with Sarah Lizotte

By ucsdtritons.com

In the aftermath of the pandemic, the water polo community in Zimbabwe was left deflated. In an effort to revitalize the sport among the youth demographic, the Smith Water Polo Camp reached out to a network of international water polo players and coaches to assist in their mission of rebuilding.

Located in Zimbabwe’s capital city of Harare, the camp selected 12 professional coaches and athletes from around the world to host a weeklong training camp for 300+ kids. Among those 12 professionals was Triton All-American and current assistant coach Sarah Lizotte.

Lizotte remains UC San Diego’s all-time leader in goals and assists from her time as a scholar-athlete between 2011 and 2014. She returned to the La Jolla campus in 2024 to serve as an assistant coach following a year as an assistant at UCLA and eight seasons playing professionally with Club Esportiu Mediterrani, based in Barcelona, Spain.

Lizotte had coached with this camp once before in 2022, while still playing in Barcelona. When considering the task of reigniting the passion for the sport, you would be hard-pressed to find a more suitable candidate than Lizotte.

Brad Kreutzkamp, head coach for the UC San Diego women’s water polo program since 2010, easily recognizes her as the best player that the program has ever had, describing her spirit as “a coach’s dream.” “Her determination and passion are things that can’t be taught, It’s just in her DNA.”

“I really love teaching athletes things that have never been explained to them before,” said Lizotte.

The journey began with a team building excursion for the coaches – a trip to Victoria Falls, located on the Zambezi River. The area is rural and raw, the roaring of wild lions could be heard at night from the group’s lodging. For five days the staff was introduced to the culture and got the chance to explore the natural wonders of the location.

After those five days, the work began back in Harare.

During camp, Lizotte was coaching from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The days were usually broken up into four sessions for the different age groups. One of the unique opportunities of this experience for Lizotte was getting to observe the similarities between the Zimbabwean children compared to her other coaching experiences.

“People are people, humans are humans, regardless of where they come from,” said Lizotte. “Our natural instincts in sport are not all that different across an international and global level. The love and the passion we have for our sport is a global thing.”

The benefits derived from the camp were of mutual exchange. As much as the students gained from Lizotte’s coaching, she gained from watching them grow. She finds joy in coaching every skill level, but there is something extra special for her in introducing the sport to the younger players.

“I really love teaching athletes things that have never been explained to them before,” said Lizotte. “Everything is new, everything is exciting. They throw the ball and make a good pass and it’s like they just won a million dollars. You see it in their eyes. Those moments are what’s truly special.”

The weeklong training culminated in a tournament to finish off the camp. The chaos and volume of the week began to take it’s toll and by the seventh day of camp Lizotte had lost her voice. As draining as those long, action-packed days spent under the summer sun were, seeing her young athletes’ faces was enough fuel to finish strong for the tournament.

“The energy I try to transmit to them, they give it to me too. It’s reciprocal.”

She humbly brags that her youngest team – The Splashies – were very good, very cute, and ended up bringing home the win. One boy in particular was so overcome by their victory that he came out of the pool with tears in his eyes. Lizotte beams at the memory and recalls how heartening the moment was knowing how much life this young athlete has left in the sport.

“It’s special to see their excitement and how precious scoring a goal, giving a good pass is to them. And that’s true love and passion, right? Like that’s true excitement.”

For Lizotte, water polo has been both an anchor and a launching pad. A steady constant in her life, grounding her with discipline, while serving as the catalyst for epic opportunities around the world. The value of these unique opportunities could not be realized without the willingness to step into the unknown.

Lizotte went into this experience with no expectations and was rewarded with an incredibly rich adventure and unforgettable bonds with the athletes, their families, her fellow staff members, and Zimbabwe.