Women's History Month: Alys Moore

In her coaching career, Alys Moore has helped lead the UC Irvine women’s water polo team to back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023. In her own playing career, Alys won an Olympic gold medal, three World Championships, and was a four-time NCAA All-American. However, her value as an assistant coach isn’t just defined by her impressive accomplishments and extensive playing experience. Instead, it lies in her presence as a positive female role model who has formed a strong connection with the young athletes whose position she was once in herself.

Alys’ father played and coached water polo, so as soon as her and her two sisters were old enough, they were swimming and playing the sport themselves. She didn’t take an immediate liking to it, but as she grew up her love for the sport grew with her. 

“It was cold and I kept getting hit with the ball, it just wasn’t fun. But my dad kept encouraging us to keep trying and I ended up loving it,” Alys recalled. 

From a young age, Alys was surrounded by strong female role models of her own. Her coach, and her babysitter who played for UCLA, made Alys realize that she wanted to follow in their footsteps and play for the Bruins. However, it wasn’t until high school was when she joined the Olympic development program and the youth national team that she recognized her collegiate aspirations could become a reality. 

Just like any young athlete, Alys had dreamed of competing at the Olympic level, purely out of love for the sport. By the fall quarter of her sophomore year and into her junior year at UCLA, she began to get invited to senior national team training camps, which would eventually lead to her Olympic dreams coming true. 

“That’s when the dream really set in, I was like ‘okay I’m going to commit to this and give it my best shot’,” Alys remembers. 

Alys was invited to her first national team training camps in 2013. The national team trains on a four-year cycle, which is referred to as a quad. Each summer of the quad consists of a big tournament, rotating between the World Championships and the World Cup, with the Olympics taking place in the final summer of the cycle. Alys worked to keep being invited back to the training team in hopes of eventually being named to the Olympic roster. The team is solidified just a month or two before the Games, leaving many athletes wondering if all their hard work has paid off. 

“You’re essentially training for four years for something that you may or may not qualify for, before the whole cycle restarts,” Alys said. 

Alys took the entire 2015-16 year off, which was supposed to be her senior year in college, to train with the national team in hopes of competing in the Games that summer. Unfortunately, after completing her first quad, Alys was the last athlete cut and she did not make the 2016 Olympic roster. 

“I had to make that decision based on my dreams and my goals, knowing that there is a possibility that I wasn’t going to make it, which is what ended up happening,” Alys remembers. 

From there, she returned to her collegiate career to play her senior season, and went on to play for a club team in Spain the following year. Being able to experience a different culture, language, and playing style was a once in a lifetime opportunity that she encourages every collegiate athlete to try. 

“They play the same game but it’s a very different style of water polo and I feel like it rounded out my game really well. I tried to soak up every minute of the experience,” Alys said. 

With the next quad cycle approaching, Alys then had to decide if she wanted to try for the Olympics again. Torn between her desire to settle down and start a family and her restless drive for redemption, it took Alys a long time to reach a verdict. 

“I kept feeling that drive to go back alongside the fear of, what if it happens again? What if I train another four years and I don’t make the team? It came down to a leap of faith and the fact that the dream was still alive,” Alys remembers. 

After a lot of thought, Alys took the risk and rejoined the national team. Bouncing back from such a defeat wasn’t easy for her, but Alys had grown immensely both as an athlete and as a person.

“At that point I thought, ‘what’s the worst that’s going to happen?’ I’ve already lived through the worst thing and I came back from it,” Alys said. 

Due to the 2020 Games being postponed because of Covid, Alys ended up training for five years before she would have the chance to solidify her spot on the roster. The news of the postponement was heartbreaking to Alys and every other athlete that had dreamed of competing. The anxiety of wondering what was going to happen and the fear of a cancellation was devastating. 

“What are you supposed to do? You just keep training and you keep pushing forward,” Alys said. 

Alys and the team did just that, training an extra year in preparation for the 2021 Tokyo Games. After making the roster, she would experience her first and only Olympics, which was very different from previous Games.

“There were no fans there, the Olympic Village was pretty closed, we got tested everyday, we had to wear masks, and we weren’t allowed out and about,” Alys recalled. 

With this being her first Olympics, the abnormalities didn’t feel that weird to her, as she had no other Olympic experience to compare it to. It was very hard for her to not have her family there supporting her, but Alys blocked everything else out and focused on playing water polo. However, going from not making the roster in 2016 to starting in every game was tough for her. She was mentally and physically drained for the whole two weeks, barely sleeping or eating because she felt so consumed by nerves. Despite this, the constant reminder that she was part of a team was extremely comforting to her. 

“I can make a mistake because my teammates have my back. They can make mistakes and I’ve got their back. You just have to remember it all comes back to your team,” Alys said. 

Alys and her teammates had the weight of defending back-to-back gold medals for the U.S on their shoulders. They went through intensive mental training and sports psychology to help them overcome the immense pressure that was placed upon them. 

“We were trained to rely on each other and focus on being in the present moment in every game, and to let the feelings and emotions come, but to not let them dictate our actions,” Alys said. 

When Alys and her teammates secured the gold medal with a 14-5 victory over Spain, it was not only a celebratory moment for them, but also a huge sigh of relief. Alys had been on the team for eight years, and finally achieving her goal was an ecstatic feeling. 

During the time she was training for the Olympics, Alys also began coaching as a volunteer at UC Irvine for the 2018-19 season. She decided that she wanted to stay close to her family, so she approached Dan Klatt, the director and head coach of UCI women’s water polo, about a position on his staff. Klatt was the assistant coach on the national team that Alys played for, so he knew how valuable she would be for the program.         

“I was able to get in the pool everyday with the girls and I could lift with my national team trainer nearby. Coaching at UCI gave me a lot of resources to be able to play, swim, and stay in shape so that I was able to return to the national team,” Alys said. 

After winning her gold medal in 2021, Alys returned to UC Irvine as a full-time assistant coach and helped lead the program to back-to-back Big West Championships in 2022 and 2023. Alys makes a huge impact as the only female coach for the team.    

“I feel a special bond with these collegiate athletes because I’ve lived in their shoes. I can relate to these girls and what they’re going through. I want to teach them how to manage their time, be a good student, focus on water polo, and how to create a team culture centered around accountability, trust, and respect,” Alys said. 

Having a coach with such an impressive background has been extremely valuable to the team and the program. 

“While every team is different, there’s a formula to success for every single team I’ve ever been on, and it’s helpful to have that background when coaching the girls to overcome challenges. There’s different ways to relate to each girl and the goal is to just help them in their collegiate water polo journey,” Alys said. 

Alys played a big role in mentoring Tara Prentice, the first UCI women’s water polo player to become an Olympian. Aside from coaching her at UCI, Alys also played with her for a year at UCLA. While Tara had the work ethic and drive all on her own, Alys helped prepare her for the intense mental side by sharing her own experience at the Games. 

“We never questioned how much Tara loved UCI and how much she wanted us to win, and I think that it’s really cool for her to trailblaze that path for other athletes here,” Alys said. 

What stands out to Alys the most about water polo at UC Irvine is the culture the coaching staff has cultivated. They encourage a healthy relationship between water polo and personal life for their athletes. 

“We encourage the athletes to prioritize water polo, but also other things that they are passionate about. You have school and water polo, but what are your interests outside of the pool? Make time for those things and have an outlet from the sport, but it’s also okay to fully invest in water polo as well. You can give 100% of yourself to something and if you fail that’s fine, but don’t hold back for the fear of failure, that’s really the culture that we’re trying to instill,” Alys said. 

Alys has become a positive female role model for the UCI women’s water polo team, and her presence has helped to facilitate great success for the program.