Capital Wave teens break onto senior women’s national team, set for U18 worlds

By Anfal Hanif

They both arrived in water polo without expecting the sport to take them this far. Yasmine Sówka nearly quit after her first practice. Lujayn Abdelfattah had spent a decade swimming in Egypt, and only discovered water polo after watching her younger brother play.

Now, the Capital Wave teammates are preparing to represent Team Canada together at the World Aquatics Women’s U18 Water Polo Championships in Spain from Aug. 16–23. Their paths to the international stage were different, but the foundation has remained the same: finding a team, coaches and community that helped them keep going when the next step was far from guaranteed.

For Sówka, her water polo journey began during the COVID-19 pandemic. A swimmer at the time, she was looking for another way to stay active after her swimming opportunities were disrupted. Her father, who had played water polo in university, suggested she try the sport. Her first impression was not exactly positive.

“I tried it at first and I really hated it,” Sówka recalls. “It was a lot. It could be pretty overwhelming at first.”

That changed as she became more comfortable with water polo and the people around her.

“I don’t think I’d be able to play a sport that wasn’t a team sport,” Sówka reflects. “I love my teammates and they make every practice more enjoyable.”

The sport also introduced her to a community that extended beyond Capital Wave.

“It’s a very niche sport, so you get to know people across the country and around the world,” she notes. “It’s an underrated sport, but it’s one of the toughest sports in the world.”

Sówka’s progression was rapid. She went from being the second-backup goalkeeper at Capital Wave to the provincial team, then the U17 and U18 national teams as well as Canada’s senior national team environment.

“I really went from nobody to one of the best in the country over the last few years,” marvels the John McCrae Secondary School student who will soon enter Grade 12.

Abdelfattah’s introduction to water polo came after years of swimming. She swam for about 10 years in Egypt before moving to Canada and continuing the sport. Watching her younger brother play water polo, however, made her curious about an activity where she could be part of something larger than an individual race.

“It’s such a great team sport. You’re talking with people and you’re not just swimming wall to wall,” explains Abdelfattah, who first tried water polo in November 2021. “After my first practice, I was like, ‘I’m quitting swimming. I’m not doing this anymore.’

“I felt like I was meant to play water polo.”

Representing Canada certainly wasn’t on her radar at that time.

“When I started, I never thought I would really get to the level I’m at today,” she says. “I’m honestly super grateful for it.”

A place on Team Canada remained a long way away when Abdelfattah wasn’t chosen for Ontario’s U15 team in 2023, however. It was a significant disappointment, but her response was to contact the coach who selected the roster to ask what she needed to improve.

“I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to take these things into next season,’” signals Abdelfattah, who remembered that moment the next year when she was amazed to earn a place on Team Canada for the 2024 World Aquatics Women’s U16 Water Polo Championships.

“I can either let this completely demotivate me or I can let it be my motivator,” adds Abdelfattah, who placed 11th with Canada at that event in Turkey.

For Sówka, many of her biggest challenges have been internal.

“I think mentality has been pretty hard for me and confidence has been a big issue,” she indicates. “I’m very, very self-critical.”

As a goalkeeper, Sówka is the final line of defence, which makes confidence and the ability to move past mistakes particularly important. Those characteristics were given a big test when she and Abdelfattah were called into training camp with the rebuilding senior women’s team program earlier this year.

“It was definitely a big change from age group stuff,” Sówka highlights. “There’s no one beside you or behind you telling you to keep fighting. You have to work for yourself.”

The camp in Greece included game-focused sessions and scrimmages against senior teams from Greece and Turkey, along with dryland and video sessions. Sówka says the experience showed her that she could continue pushing even when physically and mentally exhausted.

She also got the chance to learn from experienced athletes such as fellow Capital Wave product Jessica Gaudreault, who recently retired after a 13-year career with the Canadian women’s team.

Read More: Canadian women’s water polo goalkeeper Jessica Gaudreault retires, joins Ottawa Police Service

“She’s so focused,” Sówka says of the Paris 2024 Olympian. “She knows what she needs to work on, she knows what she wants, and she knows what she expects.”

Abdelfattah was among four 16-year-olds selected to compete with Canada’s senior women’s team at the 2026 Women’s Water Polo World Cup Division II competition, where Canada earned a bronze medal. She found the experience intimidating at first.

“It was really nerve-wracking walking onto that pool deck because you’re always scared to make a mistake,” details Abdelfattah, who received help from veteran athletes to quickly change that feeling.

“They were always so supportive and helped you fix your mistake,” she adds. “If I become that kind of athlete in the future, I want to always be there for the younger generation.”

Abdelfattah has already taken on a bit of that role with Sówka, who is one age group younger. Both players started playing with Capital Wave in 2021, with different teams at first, before joining forces in 2023. Years of practices, tournaments and travel have turned the teammates into close friends.

“She’s like my little sister,” Abdelfattah smiles. “She’s my travel buddy.”

The pair have been on numerous water polo trips together, including for the 2025 U17 Pan American Water Polo Championships, where they helped Canada win a silver medal in Colombia.

“Nothing made it more meaningful than knowing that you’re with somebody who always has your back,” Sówka says.

Their relationship is not built solely on encouragement. They challenge each other too.

“We never sugarcoat one another,” outlines Abdelfattah, who will join Poughkeepsie, New York’s Marist University this fall to play NCAA water polo. “If one of us is slacking off or goofing off, we always call each other out.”

That honesty has helped both players grow while reinforcing the team-first culture they hope to carry onto the international stage.

“If we lose, we all lose. If we win, we all win,” underlines Abdelfattah, a utility player. “It’s never ‘I did this.’ It’s always ‘we.’”

That idea of “we” has been present throughout both athletes’ journeys. It is what kept Sówka in the sport after she wanted to quit and it is what Abdelfattah embraced after years of swimming on her own.

The Capital Wave players hope to keep their connection strong as they eye future professional opportunities overseas, helping Canada return to a place among the world’s best water polo nations, and one day competing at the Olympics. And it’s a mentality they want to bring to the U18 worlds.

“I really want us to work and fight for each other,” says Sówka, whose team will face Germany and Malta in the preliminary round. “Once you’re in the water, you’ll do anything for your teammates.”

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