May Travels Four-Continent Path to Find a Home at Michigan
10/11/2019 11:33:00 AM | Water Polo, Features
By Max Brill
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- After living all over the world growing up, Abby May knew that she wanted to settle down at the University of Michigan for her four years of college.
May is now a freshman on the U-M water polo team in Ann Arbor, but her path to get here has taken her around the globe.
Moving was a familiar feeling for May, who lived in Australia, Hong Kong, England and four U.S. states (Minnesota, South Dakota, Rhode Island and Texas) before moving to California for high school. She says that because of her father's job, the family was always moving. She liked the travel but wanted to settle down for high school, so she moved in with her grandparents in California while her parents continued to move around.
"It was hard," May said. "I wanted to follow a dream, and my parents were always going to support that regardless. They moved every two years, though, and I didn't want to move my senior year of high school and ruin any chances of going to [college]. Moving takes a toll just because you get connected to people and in two years you know you're going to leave."
One of the reasons she ended up in California was to play water polo at a higher level. She learned to play water polo during her time in middle school in Australia, when a friend decided to bring her to a practice. This was after living in three other countries, including three states in the U.S., and playing a multitude of other sports. Water polo was last on the list of sports she grew up playing, but it's the one she has stuck with.
"I played everything growing up: field hockey, soccer, basketball, volleyball and swimming," May said. "Land didn't do me so well -- I had a surgery that has now put me in the water. I love the aggressive nature of the sport and how it merged my fondness of soccer and swimming."
Being part of a team has always been something that May has enjoyed and the main reason she wants to become a team doctor someday. She loves being around the team atmosphere in sports.
After learning to play water polo, May moved to Texas and ended up going to two summer camps her eighth-grade year. She went to one at UC Irvine and one at the University of Michigan.
The one at Michigan "was the game-changer," said May.
That was where she first met Michigan water polo coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi, who was in his first year in Ann Arbor. She ended up coming to several Michigan camps and wanted to someday go to school at U-M.
"I visited other schools, but secretly everyone knew since the beginning," May said. "I tried to keep it a secret, but it was never a secret. It was always here. Everyone says you get that feeling. I've had that feeling since eighth or ninth grade."
After moving to California, May became the El Toro High School Female Athlete of the Year and was her team's MVP as a senior. She was a three-time USA Water Polo Academic All-American as well and earned her spot at Michigan.
May is now in Ann Arbor, right where she wants to be, and for the long haul.
