#12 - Lea Yanitsas

Lea Yanitsas readily admits she wasn't always a water athlete, starting in netball, touch football and running. It wasn't until Yanitsas started at Mackellar Girls High School, on the Northern Beaches, where she met Debbie Watson that she made the decision to trade her runners for swimmers. Watson, Sydney 2000 Olympic champion and then PE teacher at the school, inspired Yanitsas to take up water polo. Not the strongest swimmer, Yanitsas ended up in the goals and she has cemented her place in the 'cage' since, guarding the net for the Stingers for almost a decade. At a club level, Yanitsas started playing for UNSW in the Australian Water Polo League as a teenager. Yanitsas returned to co-captain the team for the last two seasons, in both their history making title win and bronze medal in the following year. Yanitsas cherishes the many friendships she has made through water polo and considers these relationships to be some of the most powerful in her life. A beach lover, who finds peace in the salt water and sun, Yanitsas is renowned for her ability to bounce back. After finding herself out for the 2014 international season, requiring two finger operations and numerous hours of hip rehabilitation, she is keen on bouncing back once again, aiming high for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Yanitsas and her husband, Andrew, welcomed their son, Constantine, to the world at the end of October 2018. None of her goals would be possible without the constant support and encouragement from her husband and family. She says it really is going to take a 'village' to push for her dreams. "Many of life's failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up" - Thomas Edison