For Tovani, Being Part of Community is What It's All About
11/7/2019 2:36:00 PM | Water Polo, Features
Freshman water polo student-athlete Sophie Tovani is heavily involved in community service, and being a part of a community is what drew her to the University of Michigan.
Tovani's official visit to Ann Arbor happened to be the same weekend that Team 18 was celebrating its 2018 CWPA Championship with a ring ceremony on Oct. 13, 2018. The team came together to share stories and memories from a third straight title run and Tovani, although not a part of it at the time, definitely noticed the Michigan community.
"It was a big selling point because it gives you something to set an aspiration for," said Tovani. "Seeing the community with all the families coming back, all the alumni, just the tremendous support the program receives, you see it all live through the culture. That was something I wanted to be a part of."
She had always heard that there is a feeling someone gets when they know which school is right for them, but she did not think that she would get that feeling. After she flew back to California from Michigan, she got the feeling.
"I got off the plane and started crying at baggage claim and my mom said 'you want to go there don't you,' and that's when I knew," she said. "For me, the biggest thing was having coaches and a school who were invested in me and they showed me."
Tovani had invested herself in her community of Danville, California, with her volunteer work. So, Michigan willing to invest in her made it the perfect fit.
Being a volunteer in the community is something she loves to do in her free time. Through an organization called Pledge to Humanity, charitable work became a passion.
"I love volunteering," said Tovani. "I started by going to soup kitchens and doing Christmas boxes, and then more opportunities opened up through my church. If I didn't have a great day in academics or water polo, I had that. I feel like I always have a duty to give to other people."
She was involved with the Del Amigo All-Stars program that partnered with the Down Syndrome Connection to teach swim lessons for children with special needs. She was involved with the Comorades Club in high school, eating lunch with special needs children once a week and putting on dances for them. She spent a weekend in the Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco giving care packages and meals to those in need.
What led her into the world of volunteering? She says it is her mother, Stephanie.
"My mom is very selfless," she said. "My whole family is, but I've grown up watching my mom always put others before herself. I started to live that in my daily routine and wanted to incorporate it into something bigger. How can I give back for something bigger?"
Tovani (middle row, fourth from left)
Since coming to Michigan, Tovani is already making a difference. She has joined the student-athlete community that visits C.S. Mott Children's Hospital on a regular basis and has joined Athletes in Action. The group meets on a regular basis, and Tovani went with teammate Alex Brown to volunteer at a Fall Festival in Detroit to help run soccer games and carnival booths.
Her love for volunteering is also driving her career goals.
"My dream in life is to start a faith-based non-profit or be able to work in a children's orphanage in Africa one day," she said.
She is majoring in communications for now because she feels it is broad enough to allow her to go into a non-profit field.
As she continues to give her time to the community, she also is becoming engrained in the community that brought her to Michigan to begin with. She is making strides in the pool and scored the game-winning goal in the team's exhibition win over UCLA last Saturday (Nov. 2). It was the first time in program history, exhibition, regular season or postseason, that the Wolverines had defeated the Bruins.
It was a win that didn't count towards the team's record but brought the community closer together. All in a days work for Tovani.
