PROFILES: Be Scared. Stachowski Squared

  JONATHAN YOUNG/Daily Bruin Water polo sisters
Amber (left) and Ashley
Stachowski goof off in the pool after practice.

By Susana Zialcita
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]

While most athletes are working to make a name for themselves,
Ashley and Amber Stachowski are busy sharing one.

Ashley, a junior, and Amber, a freshman, are two dominant
players at UCLA on the nation’s best women’s water polo
team.

It’s no surprise that occasionally the sisters lose a
little of their individual identities, and instead, gain the mutual
title of “the Stachowski sisters.”

“For a lot of people on the outside, when they refer to
one of them they are referring to both of them,” head coach
Adam Krikorian said. “Their styles are so similar and they
are both so talented.”

The laid-back pair isn’t really bothered by their joint
identity.

“It’s not a big problem,” Ashley said,
“Most people don’t mean to mix us up.”

“Once they know us,” Amber added, “they see
that we’re two totally different people.”

The sisters started playing the sport together, even before
water polo was considered a sport for women. They competed on their
father’s swim team together, and when he started a
boy’s team, the sisters were in a way encouraged to learn the
sport.

“Our dad basically pushed us in the pool,” Ashley
said. “It didn’t really matter that they were boys, we
didn’t really know that there was much of a difference, and
we didn’t know that much about the game. We’d just get
in and pretend to guard them.”

In high school, Ashley played on the men’s team her first
two years.

Amber joined Ashley for the school’s inaugural
women’s team. But the two didn’t exactly have a
friendly relationship during Ashley’s final two years of prep
water polo.

“She used to get so mad at me,” Amber said. “I
was like the little sister that tagged along.”

Time spent together on Junior National teams greatly improved
the sisters’ relationship. They often went through the
awkward “newcomer” period together, and were paired as
roommates when the team traveled. Now the two are able to play and
contribute to the Bruins without friction.

“As a coach you are a little nervous about having siblings
on the team,” Krikorian said. “You worry about the
sisters feeling like one is stepping over the other’s
boundaries.

“The absence of this tension is a lot to Ashley’s
credit. She’s accepted the fact that Amber came to play at a
great university and for a great team, and she came to play with
her sister.”

Their teammates recognize that the sisters contribute much to
the team as individuals and as a pair.

“Together, they have a synergy that none of us can ever
have and that’s special when it’s between two of the
best players in college,” junior Thalia Munroe said.
“They push each other in the pool, and when they see each
other down, they help each other out in a way we
can’t.”

Krikorian is excited about the way the sisters complement each
other in the pool. Ashley is an offensive leader on the team and
Amber excels defensively, so during practices, the two often match
up against each other.

“Amber has proven to be possibly the best two-meter
defender in the country and maybe even in the world,”
Krikorian said. “And Ashley is the best passer that I have
ever had on any team out of the center. She really brings the team
together.”

The sisters will play together for two more years at UCLA, but
when Ashley graduates, the Stachowski dynasty may yet continue: the
sisters have a younger sibling named Aimee, 17, who is also a
national caliber athlete.

“If Aimee came here, it would be the same as high
school,” Amber said. “I started as the younger sister,
and when Ashley left, I was the older sister.”

The question remains as to what Amber will take from being the
younger sister. After two years of Ashley’s banter ““
“Hey freshman, go do this,” and “Hey little
sister, go do that” ““ would she be more sympathetic to
Aimee’s freshman status? Or would Amber take advantage of and
enjoy the role reversal?

“I think I would be that way to Aimee too,” Amber
said.