Maddy Steere: Ready for One Final Ride
12/9/2021 1:26:00 PM | Water Polo, Features
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- When sixth-year Maddy Steere originally stepped foot on campus at the University of Michigan in 2016, it was with the idea of graduating and potentially playing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for her home country of Australia. After three years with the Wolverines, everything was on track as the Melbourne native received an Olympic exemption and returned to her home country to try to make the Olympic team. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic.
"When I first left, I thought it was just going to be a year," explained Steere. "It didn't seem like as big of a decision as it ended up being in the end."
More than two years later, well after her original classmates graduated and began their professional lives post-collegiate water, Steere is back in Canham Natatorium for one last go around.
Steere left in the summer of 2019 with the goal of playing for the Aussie Stingers, the Australian national water polo team. The training was rigorous and stressful, and lasted months. As COVID-19 shut the world down, the choice was clear for Steere.
"When I found out that the Olympics was being postponed, it was an instant decision to stay (in Australia)," said Steere. "I never doubted the choice of staying home and continuing to see it through."
The problem was that the national team had to split in order to adhere to Australian health protocols. So Steere was left to train on her own without much else to do. She then decided to use her free time to pursue a master's degree in pharmaceutical medicine from the University of New South Wales.
"I asked if I could get my master's degree as a joke and originally started by just taking a few classes not attached to a degree," Steere explained. "Then the University (of New South Wales) decided to cut the program in 2023, which obviously wasn't enough time for me to go back to Michigan and finish my undergrad and then go back to Australia and finish that degree. So I reached out and said, 'Please, I've spent a lot of time on this course and I've done all of this work so far and I've got good grades, could I continue in a full-time capacity?' I guess that's the silver lining of COVID, because they were lenient with the weird circumstances and said, 'sure.'"
Steere ended up being one of the final cuts for the Australian national team and became one of the team's alternates. Spending two years pursuing the goal of making the national team and falling just short could send a lot of people into a rut, but Steere has taken it all in stride.
"I'm not sure how to really express what that two years was or how it changed me," she said. "It was so dramatic. Training for the Olympics is already hard and stressful and everything you can imagine, and then they tell you 'Kidding! We're going to do it for a whole extra year!' The hardest thing was always waiting to see if I was making the team. It was hard to reach small goals along the way because every time we were meant to get a cut it was postponed. It felt like we were in limbo for a long time. I wouldn't change anything, even though I didn't make the team."
After more than two years away, Steere returned to Ann Arbor, master's degree in tow, to a completely new team dynamic. But working back into the fold of the Michigan water polo team was easy because of the culture of the program.
"The team has been so welcoming," said Steere. "I was a little bit nervous about not knowing that many people and the team being a lot younger (than me) now. But everyone was overwhelmingly nice and inclusive and made sure that I felt comfortable. It takes time to make genuine connections, but that baseline was always there and that energy of being really friendly was always on the team. To be honest, I never doubted that. It's something our team culture has always had and is really good about."
Not only was Steere able to return and fit in with a new generation of Wolverine water polo quickly, but her new teammates valued her experience and leadership so much they made her one of three team captains. That posed a new set of challenges.
"That first week back was a lot," said Steere. "I had to make friends on the team all over again. Opening up my boxes, I'd left so much stuff here, it was like a time capsule. Clothes were out of style! It was really weird to adjust to coming back, but I never doubted that I was in the right place -- at all."
The important point to note is that captains were selected by her fellow student-athletes, not the coaches. That fact alone made a big impact on Steere.
"Coming back, I wasn't sure if I would get that respect from people or what the relationships would be like," said Steere. "For the team to vote on captains and it not just be a coach's decision -- it coming from the girls -- it means so much more to me. Knowing that they trust me and view me as someone they can use to communicate their ideas and that they trust me in that sense is really important. It means a lot to know that it is genuine and from them, not the coaches forcing a decision on them."
Though the captaincy is something that is an honor for Steere, it isn't something that has come without its own set of challenges.
"One of the most difficult things about coming back and being named a captain is almost not knowing the way things get done anymore because they have changed," said Steere. "I ask myself frequently, 'Do I know what I'm talking about?' or, 'Do I have to take a step back and let things happen because that's the way things are now?' I try to incorporate what we used to do and what I think was really important to keep from the earlier era of Michigan water polo."
The sixth-year has already etched her name into the Michigan water polo record books, sitting in the top 10 for career goals (ninth - 180) and assists (sixth - 125). Her focus is not on herself or personal accolades. However, with a greater perspective and appreciation for her opportunity in Ann Arbor, Steere aims to set the goals for Wolverines higher than ever.
"One thing we've been speaking about this year as a team is One Team: being united and doing it all together," said Steere. "Obviously, if you want to win a championship or go to the Olympics or whatever it is, its something you have to work towards and be a conscious effort every day. That's something that is really going to help our team because it is those days that you don't feel like putting in 100 percent, which is so natural, its easy for someone next to you to push you to be one percent better.
This season has the potential to be a special one for Michigan. Not only are the Wolverines the five-time defending Collegiate Water Polo Association champions, but with Steere's return -- along with fifth-year Maddie O'Reilly -- U-M has two CWPA Players of the Year on the roster. Not to mention that the NCAA Tournament will be held in Canham Natatorium in May.
"Knowing the NCAAs are going to be in Canham this year is another huge thing we want to be a part of," said Steere. "With the fifth-years (O'Reilly and former captain Sofie Pontré) and myself, our attitudes are to help push people and realize it's not just the last game that's important. It's not even the first game of the season. It's tomorrow's practice. We can set ourselves up for success from day one, but we've got to focus on being able to use every day to its maximum potential."
It has been a long and winding journey for Steere since setting foot on campus as a student in 2016. Returning in the fall of 2021 with an advanced degree and next-level water polo experience puts her in rare company, but the memories along the way make being a member of the Michigan water polo program special.
"If I could go back to my freshman year, I would tell myself to really enjoy the little moments," said Steere. "Stop trying to fast-forward to the weekend or break. Enjoy time with your housemates. Those weird little moments like impromptu snowball fights are the memories I think of the most. Take the time to be present and mindful in each moment."
And with one final ride, Steere aims to make memories both big and small this season in Ann Arbor.
