Amanda Chambers didn’t know exactly where her water polo journey would take her when she arrived at San Diego State in 2021. But now, four seasons, three Golden Coast Conference All-Academic Team awards, and countless early morning practices later, she leaves the Aztecs with more than just stats and accolades—she leaves with resilience, growth, and a legacy of leadership.
“I think what I’m most proud of is sticking with it when it got really difficult,” Chambers said. “I know coming from a player who didn’t get a lot of minutes their freshman or really sophomore year, having the ability to find enjoyment in different parts of being a part of a team and being in a collegiate environment, and using that to better myself as an athlete going into my upperclassmen years.”
That persistence paid off. Chambers appeared in 55 games during her junior and senior seasons, recording career highs in goals, assists, and steals. She finished her career totaling 42 goals, 12 being in 2025, 33 assists, and 75 points in her 98 games played.
The transition to SDSU from her home country of Canada wasn’t entirely foreign. She had already trained in San Diego and played in California tournaments before college.
“Luckily for me, I’d been to California quite a few times, just as close by, and I’ve done some training in San Diego,” she said. “So I know for me, I didn’t have that culture shock that I know a lot of international athletes get.”
Still, adapting to a new level of play came with its own challenges.
“It’s a lot more aggressive in Canada. For me, it was learning the reffing, being a lot softer, and having to let go of a lot of those aggressive tendencies so that I’d stop getting so many kick-outs.”
Off the pool deck, Chambers found her rhythm on campus in quiet corners of the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union.
“My favorite spot to study was always the second or third floor student union. I’ve spent a lot of time here over my last four years,” she said.
Her favorite off-campus escape? The Pacific Beach boardwalk and Torrey Pines trails, where she and teammate Rose Kanemy spent countless afternoons walking and exploring.
One thing she missed from home?
“I’m from Vancouver Island, and it’s not a city, and I miss the lack of traffic and the two-lane highways. One thing I will miss about San Diego, however, is how many new things there are to do, places to eat at.”
As a psychology major, Chambers found herself constantly connecting the dots between her academic and athletic lives.
“With my major, I have flip-flopped a lot with what I want to do with it. I wanted to go and do my master’s in Ph.D in clinical psychology for a long time, and I was originally going to apply that to sports psychology, and then I recently decided that I want to be in more of an applied environment, so I’ve decided to go back and get my teaching degree so I can be a school psychologist.”
Her time as a student-athlete shaped that decision.
“I think that playing sports here has really helped with that, because I’ve decided that, along with being a counselor, I want to teach physical education as well.”
The academic recognition she’s received over her career isn’t lost on her.
“I didn’t know about the all-academic awards until I think last year, that was awesome. I got to see three years of them. They are important to me. My academics have always been really important. It’s nice to have that acknowledgement.”
Balancing athletics and academics wasn’t easy, but it helped her develop structure.
“I take my school really seriously. And I think having athletics has actually helped me balance it, because the more I have to do I find, the easier I find organizing everything.”
“Our practices are always in the beginning of the day, so I think it’s created a good habit of my day starting as soon as I wake up. So I think it’s made me less lazy.”
Looking ahead, Chambers is excited for what’s next—and to discover who she is beyond water polo.
“I am excited to figure out who I am without water polo,” she said. I think it’ll be really interesting to focus on building a career instead of just building my athletic capacity.”
She doesn’t rule out returning to the sport someday: “We have a little league on Vancouver Island. It’s not much. So I could see myself eventually, maybe playing for a Master’s team in Canada, but if so, that would be in a while.”
Chambers also takes pride in the cultural growth of the SDSU program.
“I would say since I first got here, the culture is a lot more optimistic,” she said. “Especially with a very sudden change in like coaching staff… every single year, I’ve seen people buy into the culture more and work harder as a collective.”
She credits head coach Dana Ochsner for guiding that evolution: “Dana has done a great job building that culture, and I’ve felt supported by her.”
When asked to pinpoint a turning point in her career, Chambers didn’t hesitate.
“My junior year, I really felt the shift then, where I felt like a more pivotal member of the team, and I started trusting myself more… that was around February of junior year, when we went to New York.”
Finishing her collegiate career alongside fellow senior and roommate Rose Kanemy has made the experience all the more meaningful.
“We’ve been talking a lot about it. We’re roommates. We’re very close… It’s been really special for us to form that relationship.”
Their bond extends beyond the pool.
“We get breakfast a lot together, we go on walks, we kind of spend all our time together. So that’s going to be a big transition for us going back to not having conjoined lives.”
Chambers hopes she and her class leave behind more than numbers.
“One of the things that we’re really hoping that both of us, specifically, but also our class and seniors, are remembered for is the community and culture that we have tried to develop on the team.”
That culture shift, she said, was intentional.
“When we came in, there was still a lot of separation between each class. It was the freshmen who had to do all the dirty work and stuff like that. And after our freshman year, we decided that that’s not how we could get teams to function.”
“Now this year, I mean, I don’t think that you could look at our team and tell us for the under and upper classmen for that class, and that’s something that we’re really proud of.”
Amanda Chambers arrived in San Diego as a quiet, gritty attacker from Vancouver Island. She leaves it a leader, a mentor, and an advocate for balance, ready to shape young minds and perhaps, one day, return to the pool. But this time, by her own design.
