By: Esha Bagora

Public Relations Manager

If junior Agata Fin could give her ninth-grade self one piece of advice, it would be “Nothing is going to be easy, but in the end, if you make it, it’ll definitely be worth it.” From making the Italian National Lacrosse Team to picking up fencing, Fin certainly perseveres in all of her endeavors. 

Beginning lacrosse in third grade after “being kicked out of gymnastics for not being able to cartwheel,” Fin’s skill and love for the sport grew, and she found herself on the Los Gatos High School Varsity Lacrosse team as a sophomore. Despite that accomplishment, Fin describes that season as a time in which she “felt really discouraged and unconfident in the way [she] was playing, and that really affected [her], on and off the field.” She elaborated, saying “I …gave up my hopes for my future in lacrosse. It made me completely limit my view and I thought I was a terrible player.” 

Nonetheless, Fin worked on growing and improving her lacrosse skills with her club team, NorCal, and by herself. “Returning to my club team, running by myself, hitting the ball against the wall, and starting fencing made me realize that I had invested so much time into lacrosse, and I still loved it. Giving up would be easy, but I just couldn’t do it.” To reinvigorate her passion for lacrosse, Fin said that “trying out for the Italian team was my first step to really get back into [lacrosse] again. I’m really happy to be able to make it, and I’m really grateful because this hopefully means the continuation of my lacrosse career.” She will get to spend the summer training for and playing in the European Lacrosse Championship with the U21 Italian Team, due to her Italian heritage. 

During her break from lacrosse, Fin picked up another sport: fencing. She started about three months ago: “I started off with the eight year olds, and now I’m playing against the fourteen year olds. But, it’s a lot of fun, and it’s actually really helped me in lacrosse with footwork. It’s improved the muscles in my legs oddly enough, and it’s made my sprinting a lot better.” 

Athletics aside, Fin maintains the level of discipline needed to compete in two sports, as well as succeed in academics. She mentioned, “I’d love to study neuroscience in college, hopefully at Johns Hopkins.” Fin’s interest in neuroscience started when she “ fainted one day and had to go to the emergency room. They checked me out and told me I was fine, but I had to see a pediatric neurologist. And then I had to stay up from 12pm to 7am, and I was hooked up to a ton of wires and machines for them to be able to scan my brain. The lady told me I was neurologically perfect, and that was a really nice comment, which made me think that this was a really interesting career.” 

Fin loves to throw herself wholeheartedly into her activities and passions. She attributes this drive to her ability to “[seize] every opportunity given. Everything gives me the opportunity to grow as an individual or teammate. Every moment is exactly what you make of it, so it’s worth putting in your best effort and leaving it all out on the field.”