Athlete Spotlight: Jasmine Atkins

Jasmine is a grade 10 student at Westgate. On top of her club commitments, she also trains with Team Manitoba and attended the 15U Canadian Championships in June 2026, and then had a very busy summer: competing at the Junior Olympics and then training in Europe with Water Polo West. She is also a water polo referee.

When and how did you get into water polo?

When I was about 9, I did a Vortex summer camp with my friend. I came out of the pool and said it was so hard, but I felt really good and relaxed and it calmed me down a lot.

What is the best advice in water polo you have ever received?

 "So what, now what." It means if you make a mistake, go onto the next play and keep going.

What water polo skill was the hardest to learn? 

To have more awareness in the pool, and not just focus on one part, but be constantly looking around, keeping my head on a swivel.  

If you could choose one superpower, what would it be? 

To be able to read minds.

What do you want to be when you grow up? 

I want to own a business.

What other sports or hobbies do you enjoy? 

Cooking and writing.

What advice would you give to new athletes?

Always play up with people who are older than you.  If you play at your level, you can be good, but won’t get better and learn from older players who will be tougher and know more. It takes discipline to not give up but it’s really important not to.

What advice would you give to new referees? 

Be confident in your calls.

Tell us about your experience this summer?

This summer I had an opportunity to play with the 18U Team Ohio Moose at the Junior Olympics. The tournament experience was amazing. I loved my teammates, and we had the opportunity to go early to scrimmage all over California with local teams. Playing 18U made me a better player. I loved being in California by the ocean, and the Junior Olympics was a different level of water polo.  

I also went to Europe for a 14 day training camp with Water Polo West. This camp took a lot of discipline with the two times a day training sessions. It was hard to be away from home for so long, and not a lot of people spoke English. It was hard, but worth it. If you want to make it in the sport, you need to play outside of Winnipeg, and play in the States and Europe.