UC Davis is known for its second-to-none college town feel. This environment is attractive to many, especially to those with family members already attending UC Davis. We see a number of these sibling dream-teams in our athletics department, with a pair currently on the women's water polo team.
Sophia Noble is a true sophomore goalie who has had some awe-inspiring games in her short time at UC Davis. With a jaw-dropping 17 saves in an upset over No. 7 Michigan, Noble now sits No. 2 all-time for her single-game performance. One of the secrets to her success? The Aggie's new assistant coach, who she also gets to call brother.
Daniel Noble has always been passionate about water polo. He played at Saddleback Junior College before his high school coach asked him if he wanted to help coach the Triton Water Polo Club in San Clemente, Calif.
"It was a great opportunity for me to develop my coaching skills. That first job helped me realize how much I loved coaching and that I wanted to make a career out of it," said Daniel.
However, Daniel has helped coach Sophia for years, well before they both arrived in Davis.
"He has always given me pointers and stuff. He used to come with me to my private goalie training, get in the water and give me tips and tricks when we were going through the drills," said Sophia.
Daniel used these training sessions as opportunities to learn as well.
"At first, I just started to hang out. Then the goalie coach asked me if I wanted to get in and help out, so I would get to help Sophia and the other goalies there as well, that's kind of how [coaching Sophia] started," said Daniel.
So far, Daniel's favorite part of coaching Sophia is watching her grow as a player and as a person.
"It's kind of interesting to see; I am not always directly involved," said Daniel. "I kind of try to stay in the background and get to see her grow as an athlete. It has not been that long of a ride; I started watching her more closely her junior year of high school. Then there was this year, which was short, but it was fun to see all of her hard work come together. She's still improving, which is exciting for the future."
For Sophia, she loves being coached by her brother.
"Just the fact that, since we are close, he calls me out whenever I am not doing something correctly. I feel like he can read me very well, he is much more direct with me than any other coach I have had, and I love that," added Sophia. "He can snap me out of stuff; I feel like most other coaches sometimes have to tiptoe around things because they aren't as close with their players, but Daniel is very straightforward with me. He knows the game well, he has always had great advice for me and whatever situation I am in."
"We play off the sibling thing well; we just know each other," said Daniel. "I know when she is down in the goal, and no one else does just because I can read her body language from me knowing her for our entire lives."
As for the most challenging part of being coached by Daniel, Sophia never felt like there were ever any difficulties in adjusting to their now formal coach-player relationship.
"The only thing is knowing that he is my brother. I would like to get even more advice from him, but I have to recognize that he has to balance and coach everyone else on the team as well, meaning he can't prioritize me in that way. So that was kind of a different adjustment from how he coached me in high school," said Sophia.
"Yeah, it is kind of the same for me, knowing that I cannot just stand there and only focus on Sophia," added Daniel. "You have a whole team you need to coach; it is all about balance and balancing the relationship we have with her as my athlete and sibling."
"This last year was super easy; she does a great job of taking criticism. I am pretty blunt about it, especially with her because I know she can take it. So keeping it professional in the pool was very easy to do," said Daniel.
Sophia was in agreement, whether it was on the pool deck or at travel tournaments.
"I would say the same thing; on the pool deck, it was easy. At tournaments, it was easy; I'd say the only thing is coming home and watching the film in the living room, and Daniel would be talking to me as my coach, and my dad would chime in, that's when I would call it," Sophia added with a laugh.
Daniel and Sophia feel that their bond strengthens the team and makes the familial bond that much stronger.
"Davis has created a great environment for a family feel," said Sophia. "It is a very unique college town, so you can see why it draws families together. Having an actual family member on the team just further strengthens the relationships throughout the team."
"I agree with that completely. When you have a team, you want that team almost to be a second family. So having family members on a team makes that second family even closer. I think part of the reason you see a lot of family members following siblings, or parents, to Davis is that it gives younger siblings a chance to see how cool Davis is when they come to check out what their family member has going on in Davis," added Daniel.
"Yeah, one of the reasons why I strongly considered UC Davis was because Daniel was already coaching there with the club team, and he was telling me about how amazing it was. Before, I didn't know much about it, but hearing from Daniel first-hand really opened my eyes to how great Davis is," concluded Sophia.
"She followed me to Davis, but I followed her onto the [NCAA] team," replied Daniel.
As for what the future of the program holds, both are optimistic about the continued growth of the team.
Daniel feels that "we both have similar drives; we both want to be at the top at whatever we do. I feel this mentality is important to share with the team, and it trickles down from the top. As a coach, I am pushing the players to be the best. I want the drive to be excellent and the mentality of doing whatever it takes to get there for every athlete on the team."
"Yeah, I agree," said Sophia. "We all have the same goal — coaches and players. We want to be the best and are willing to do whatever it takes to get there. I am excited to see what we can do with a full season next year."
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