Calgarian a veteran voice after re-committing to her spot with national squad
Rae Lekness let dreams of becoming an Olympian wash over her as a “water baby.”
Then the Calgarian allowed them to wash away in her 20s.
At 30, however, she’s back at it, on that the Olympic wave — again — into Paris, where she’s set to lead Canada in a push for the podium in water polo.
“I have no idea … delusion, maybe?” said Lekness, when asked what prompted her to turn back toward her dreams at a relatively older age for Olympic athletes. “That’s what I was calling it for a long time.
“I think there was there was a part of me that was very much always a little bit jealous or always a little bit like, ‘I kind of wish I was there in Tokyo. I kind of wish I was still there,’” continued Lekness. “But I had other things to focus on. I had school, I had work, I had a life.
“So it was easy to kind of be, ‘OK, it’s fun.’ And then, you know, you get a phone call that’s, ‘Hey, are you interested in making a childhood dream come true, maybe?’ And I was, ‘Oh, yeah, turns out I am.’”
Truth is she got a couple of calls, both inviting her to rejoin Canada’s senior women’s squad over the span of a few months.
Lekness didn’t bite on the first one, however, shaking it off due to more of those other things in her life — including being a coach with the Calgary Renegades water polo club, playing in the nation’s senior league and tending to her career as a chiropractor.
But then, the dream kicked in again for the veteran centre a few years ago.
“The coaching staff at the time — and now — are two people that I have known for a very long time and trust a lot,” said Lekness, of Canada’s head coach David Paradelo — her first junior team coach back in 2010 — and assistant Cora Campbell — a two-time Olympic player herself who has spent a lot of time coaching in Calgary over the years.
“I got into a conversation with each of them and was like, ‘OK, there’s something left to be done here,’” continued Lekness. “I think the previous part of my career was a little bit unfulfilling. It kind of didn’t go down the way that I wished it had.
“So it was, ‘OK, there’s maybe some unfinished business. There’s maybe still a little bit of passion and a little bit of that spark.’”
The same one that got her into water polo in 2004, at the age of 10.
“I was just like a water baby with a lot of energy,” Lekness said. “My parents put me in soccer and dance and karate and a million different sports, and then I tried synchronized swimming for a season. I really enjoyed being in the water but was not great at paying attention to learning the routines.
“We had a couple of family friends that played water polo, and they were like, ‘Well, maybe you should try water polo. You’re tall. You like the water. Maybe you should give that a shot.’ And then I started that when I was like eight or nine. And I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is for me. This is splashing around with my friends, throwing a ball … pretty easy and pretty fun.”
Growing to become centre forward, she honed her craft with the Renegades and ultimately attended San Jose State University on a water polo scholarship.
Lekness won a silver medal with Canada at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games and represented the nation at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships. In 2013, she took part in the FINA World Women’s Junior Water Polo Championships and the World University Games.
At the national level, she has won multiple Canadian championships.
“Water polo is not something that you really can get away from,” admitted Lekness. “It’s like a little part of my makeup now. So it was, ‘Alright, let’s go. Let’s do Paris.”
Canada does Paris in water polo, with Group A preliminary play beginning Monday against a “very strong” foe in Hungary (12:05 p.m. MT) and continuing Wednesday against China (7:35 a.m. MT), Friday versus Australia (6 a.m. MT) and Sunday, Aug. 4, versus Netherlands (10:30 a.m. MT).
Kindred Paul, a centre defender from Spruce Grove, Alta., is the other Albertan on the 13-woman squad.
“We’re a relatively old team,” Lekness said. “I say that with nothing but love in my heart. Yeah … it’s a lot of kids born in the 90s. We’ve got a few young players but definitely a big spread. I think we have a 12-year spread on our team from the oldest to the youngest, so it’s definitely a lot of personalities, which is cool.
“I think our expectations are high,” continued Lekness. “We have the belief that on any given day, we can beat any of these teams. We all kind of intrinsically know that. It’s just going into every game and having the confidence to really do that is something that has gotten immensely better over the last little bit. So I think we’re in a really good position going into the Games. Everyone’s kind of starting to peak and gel really well.”
Lekness herself is a big part of that, as a veteran voice in the water and playing the position that means taking plenty of punishment while trying to kick-start the offence from in tight on the enemy net.
“So as centre, I’m the person that’s in the middle getting beaten up and then — hopefully — getting the ball passed to me every once in a while,” Lekness said. “I’m an old gal now, too, so I’m a little slower and get a little bit more tired easily. So I don’t play as many minutes now.
“But I’m a very good cheerleader. I like to keep the bench hyped as much as I can — I think that’s part of my duty. And then it’s about going in and just having as much energy as possible for the short time I’m playing.
“It’s a little bit of brain and a little bit of brawn,” added Lekness. “Honestly, it really just comes down to like self preservation at some point. You just try to keep your head above water.”
And soak in the Olympic experience … finally.