When most people think of female friendships, the first images that come to mind consist of pillow fights, gossip, cell phone conversations, and multiple viewings of Mean Girls. For seniors Sofia Becker and Brianne Benness, being friends revolves around a more unusual activity: water polo. Benness and Becker, who are roommates, are the senior stars of Grinnell's club team.
When considering their history, it is easy to realize how these two make such an effective pair. They were both serious figure skaters for several years as children. Then, sometime in the middle of high school, both girls, (who were more than a thousand miles apart), took up the swimming. When they came to college, their love for the pool evolved into water polo.
"It was a strange transition," recalls Benness, "going from figure skating to water polo." This is because water polo, according to the women of the Black Sheep Women's Water Polo Team, happens to be a particularly violent endeavor.
Take for instance one memorable experience the two friends shared: Becker, who has been through one concussion, was in a particularly competitive mood during a mundane section of practice. Benness describes the incident: "Sofia gave me a fat lip during warm up. She was shooting at the net ... trying a really hard shot where you aim for the net, and she hit me in the lip!" Luckily, the incident did not stifle Sofia and Brianne's friendship, though it offered Brianne a dose of injury herself.
By the time they were upperclassmen, the contrast between their figure skating years and water polo couldn't have been more drastic. Benness recounted a strategic move that Becker had developed throughout the years; Benness says that Becker makes noises that resemble a sheep to intimidate the goalie.
Apparently, this tactic has been reserved for practice, as both girls have their doubts about how effective it would be during regulation. "She does it when we play 5-Alive [a game where players take shots at the goal, and whoever misses has to be the goalie]," said Benness. "And Sofia makes sheep noises. Baaing. She Baas. They aren't normal sheep noises. They are a psychotic, drugged-out sheep!"
It seems like such strategies have paid off. Becker and Benness, since the time they were freshman, have turned a lackluster program into a quality team that routinely wins. "We were really bad our first year," recalls Becker.
Since water polo is a club sport, the two girls have enjoyed a lack of authority, which not only has enabled them to play under less pressure, but has let them partake in team activities that don't quite involve water polo. For instance, the team will soon be going to Skate Castle in Newton, where they are excited about an unusual opportunity to roller skate. The women's insistence on making time for different, completely random hobbies has also been a perpetual aspect of their close friendship.
In addition to regularly romping their opponents in matches and skating, Becker and Benness have an extensive and demanding schedule outside of the pool. Benness is a double major, who has served on student staff, and Becker is a member of the Psychology department's SEPC. Both girls are stellar students, another attribute that has paid off; Benness will be attending graduate school for architecture at the University of Michigan next fall, while Becker will begin her program in urban planning at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
And, of course, they still make time for made for TV movies and other esotericisms. "We like watching movies on Lifetime [a TV channel], called "Lifetime Original Movies." They emphasized that these were made-for-television films, which have never even been close to appearing on the silver screen. Despite their proclivity for Lifetime and it's made for TV delights, the women maintain that they have one favorite that tops them all, described as their "all-time favorite classic": Mean Girls.
