Gig Harbor grad Ponce earns All-American honors at George Washington

In the words of her sister, Alana Ponce’s most important quality is -- and has always been -- her heart.

“I think she has a specific and unique love for (water polo) that you don’t see in a lot of athletes,” said Julia Ponce, Alana’s sister and head coach of the boys water polo team at Gig Harbor High School. “She cares on a deeper level for water polo since it’s been a big part of her life. It’s gotten her through many hardships. I think her heart is just so big that she not only wants herself to be competitive and to be a great athlete, but she can only do that by building up the people around her.”

Despite a pandemic-shortened season last spring, the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches awarded George Washington Colonial Alana Ponce with All-America honors, making her the first All-American in program history. Ponce is a Gig Harbor High School grad.

The fact that Ponce’s season only lasted twelve games -- one that should have consisted twenty-three contests -- only made the recognition sweeter.

“We faced a lot of challenges this season as far as uncertainty and not knowing what was going to happen with (COVID-19),” Ponce said. “Every day, we’d come to practice and think ‘is this our last practice? Are we going to play this weekend?’ The fact that the [ACWPC] saw me in the twelve games that we played and they picked me for that award… it was honorable.”

One game stuck out in Alana’s mind, and on the stat sheet. It was a win against Salem University last February, one that featured four Ponce goals along with two assists in a 12-10 victory.

It was also the team’s best game of the season, Ponce said. The group had struggled with maintaining leads after jumping ahead early, resulting in frustration among the team.

In this case specifically, however, it was George Washington’s halftime meeting that rallied the team to victory.

“It was a hard game,” Ponce said. “Being on a team that was looked at as the underdogs… keeping my head up and staying strong through the losses just so the wins felt even more rewarding and even better… that’s really hard to do when people hold you to a certain standard, but are expecting you to fail. That pushed me harder.”

The rest of her team also encouraged Ponce’s success en route to her now-second All-American honor, after receiving the recognition as a freshman.

“Everybody on that team was super supportive, but I did have a few girls that would tell me to keep pushing and keep going for it,” Ponce said. “They were always behind me and always had my back and kept pushing me in the weight room and in the pool to keep playing at a higher level. You have to have your friends to keep your head up, especially in a time like this.”

What came as a blow for George Washington’s athletic program, however, was the August announcement that their women’s water polo program (among other sports, such men’s tennis and men’s rowing) will be shut down after the 2020-21 academic year, as the coronavirus pandemic and its ensuing shutdown damaged the team’s revenue and economic stability in order to continue competition.

Ponce does not plan to use her final year of athletic eligibility to play during George Washington’s final season next spring, and plans to pursue other water polo-related opportunities as they present themselves.

There are several options in the cards, and though Ponce says it’s hard to nail down any one decision due to the pandemic’s unpredictability, she would love to come home to Gig Harbor and coach at Gig Harbor alongside her sister, Julia.

“It’s always there,” Alana said in regard to her final year of collegiate eligibility. “I’m always thinking about it. [But] I’m always thinking about what I can do next with my water polo career.”

Julia seems to be more than on board with having her younger sister as an assistant.

“It would be amazing,” Julia said. “(I’ve been) looking forward to the moment that Alana was going to graduate from George Washington and move back home so that we could be a dynamic duo. I do have an awesome assistant coach right now, but if I was able to bring Alana onto our team, there is no question that I would love to have her.”

The boys water polo team at Gig Harbor made an appearance at the state tournament last spring before an exit in the opening round, and hope to return to the postseason to make a deeper run in 2021.

Julia says that Gig Harbor Athletic Director Bob Werner is working on a schedule for the team that complies with the WIAA’s reformatting of athletic programs this school year.

And if Werner can find a way to fit another coach into the team’s budget, the Ponce sisters might just be able to find themselves as a dynamic coaching duo in the South Sound Conference.

“I know that Alana would contribute immensely to our program,” Julia said.

This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 5:45 AM.