The Lancer Way: Morgan Baker
9/23/2020
The Lancer Way is a platform provided by California Baptist University's Athletic Department that allows student-athletes to share their stories. All of the words are their own.
Written By: Morgan Baker, Women's Water Polo, Sr., Bellevue, Wash.
“A man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it.” - Woodrow Wilson.
My relationship with water is the perfect representation of swimming upstream. There has been pushback, the need to stay above water and the hope of survival.
As a young girl born and raised in Bellevue, Wash., water polo was not very popular. From a young age, I started to play a variety of sports. I was what you called a multi-sport athlete since the age of five until the age of 14.
Yet the summer before my freshman year of high school, I tore my ACL in a basketball game. It was the first time in nine years that I was inactive, immobile and not in a season of competitive play. Frustration and genuine fear began to fill my body and I began to count the days until I could return back to the court.
After a year of physical therapy, I returned to play my sophomore year. Every time I stepped on the court I was uneasy, hesitant and the love for the game of basketball soon became distant.
One spring afternoon, a man by the name of Evan Kasaguma, sat in my living room in hopes of convincing me to play an odd sport called water polo. He was an elite swimmer and played four years of Ivy League polo for Harvard University.
Evan was a respected man and was one of the best high school coaches, who developed players to attend and play at Stanford, the Naval Academy, Pepperdine and other top-tier polo programs through his coaching at the local high school and club team “Rain City.”
This man single handedly paved my way through Olympic Development Program training camps, Junior Olympics and began to advocate for me to countless college coaches.
And it's official. Senior captain Morgan Baker has signed to play polo with CalBaptist. Congrats @mabakes22 and @LancersWWP!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/valZ8lNefB
— Bellevue Water Polo (@BHSWaterPolo) November 11, 2016
Once I toured CBU and committed I was overjoyed. Unfortunately, my time at CBU has been a constant grueling swim upstream.
For instance, I am an out-of-state player who has entered into So Cal water polo culture where others have played the majority of their lives. I feel like I have had to prove myself as an out-of-state athlete and fairly new to the sport.
Secondly, I am the first black woman in the history of CBU to play women’s water polo and one of a few in the Golden Coast Conference.
For me, water polo at CBU is more than a game. It is a call to obedience, a time of surrender and an intentional act of worship and thankfulness.
I used to want to be the best water polo player, with all of the impressive stats and accolades. I soon realized that I wanted to play for one divine creator, Jesus Christ. I am here for the sole purpose to create history and pave a way for young, black girls who wish to seek a college water polo career here at CBU, as well as bring glorification to the Lord.
Morgan Baker scores on the breakaway to give CBU an 11-2 lead with less than three minutes left with Toronto.#LanceUp pic.twitter.com/w68eqQuyWe
— CBU Women's Water Polo (@LancersWWP) February 16, 2019
There were many seasons where I felt defeated and lost but the Lord’s faithfulness has remained. Nehemiah 8:10 states "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
As I head into my senior season of play, I remind myself the Lord has battled each storm of adversity, the lack of diversity and representation and fear. I still stand and I am beyond grateful to be a Lancer.
