The scoreboard doesn’t always define Aiyanna Mendoza’s water polo story anymore.

On the pool deck at San Diego State University, the fourth-year player patiently waits for the opportunity — her cap strapped tightly to her chin, shoulders squared and eyes gazing onto her teammates in the water, cheering on through the positive times or supporting them through the negative.

She anticipates rotations, studies the rhythms in a possession and closely analyzes different defenses. Simultaneously, the players above on the depth chart burn through the minutes within a game. When an opportunity for a substitution presents itself, she springs forth from the bench, ready to go. At times, the moment comes. Most of the time, it doesn’t, yet she still waits.

There was a time when opportunities were nonexistent.

At James Logan High School in the Bay Area, Mendoza was a three-year varsity starter, a 1st Team All-Area Selection and the type of player opposing teams would circle on the scouting report.

During her final season at West Valley College, she received Coast Conference Most Valuable Player honors for the 87 goals scored in 32 games played. She was the one who was relied on to finish. She was the catalyst. She was the “go-to.”

As a Division I player at SDSU, her role now is completely different.

“It was definitely tough,” Mendoza said. “I went from playing all four quarters to never hitting the water.”

In high school, Mendoza knew how to carry the load with the players and audience well-aware of the threat she was in the water. Lance Green, her varsity head coach at the time, saw Mendoza’s ceiling instantly when she joined the team as a sophomore, with Green coaching her on different “age-group” teams.

Green envisioned Mendoza’s potential because he knew he had a true athlete.

“I think her coming-out party was in our semifinal game against Amador Valley… I want to say Aiyanna had three or four [goals] that game,” Green said. “When her moment came, she was ready.”

The work didn’t stop there for Mendoza, as she continued refining her craft with opportunities Green provided throughout the offseason, such as forming a club team run through the city. Mendoza took what she could get and ran with it, slowly forming into a formidable force for the Colts.

Looking back on her rise, Mendoza acknowledged the race to be the league’s top player was close.

“It was definitely between me and another girl… I felt if people knew the scouting [report], especially in my league, they would definitely have my name up there,” Mendoza said.

After graduating, Mendoza took her talents south, playing at West Valley College. Transitions to the next level always involve hard adjustments, something Mendoza discovered early on.

“When I first went to West Valley, I was intimidated… even though it was junior college. It was a whole new world for me,” Mendoza said. “I felt after my first year, I had a really rough time to [where] I didn’t want to go back my second year.”

“I’m somebody, though, who doesn’t like giving up,” Mendoza said. “If I’m going to start something, I am going to see it through no matter what.”

This perspective from Mendoza proved fruitful, as she made a massive jump in her sophomore year, becoming a top player for the Vaqueros. She ranked top 10 in goals and assists, and led West Valley to consecutive Coast Conference and 3C2A NorCal Regional championships.

These accolades proved Mendoza belonged at the collegiate level. Junior college dominance to a Division I program, however, is another difficult transition she soon faced, as the door from the SDSU Women’s Water Polo program opened going into her junior year.

Mendoza knew going into her role would be different. However, she didn’t anticipate how much smaller her role would be, to the point where self-doubt again took over.

“It’s a lot of sitting… and supporting yourself,” said Mendoza. “I was trying to be more positive about it because at the end of the day, I was still trying to get out there even if that meant only playing 30 seconds.” 

This difficult transition can deeply fracture an athlete’s sense of worth and the internal narratives made within themselves. For Mendoza, it forced adaptation.

Her journey from a high school and junior college superstar to a role player at SDSU is an all-too-common phenomenon many college athletes face: realizing that pure talent doesn’t guarantee playing time. Transitioning from goal-scorer to avid supporter, Mendoza could no longer place her self-worth on play production. She now embodies a newer form of leadership in player preparation and is a constant cheerleader for her teammates.

As Mendoza is past the midway point of her senior season, she continues to find value in contributing to the team in subtle ways while still enjoying the game she loves.

“I knew that going back, it was going to be my last season. If I got some playing time, that would be a bonus,” Mendoza said. “But more importantly, I was there to help my teammates.”

The role she plays may be different from what she was used to; however, Mendoza understands its value. She often thinks back to a saying Green once told her years ago while she was playing for him during high school: “You could be the smallest bolt on the car, but could be the whole reason the car is held together.”

These days, Mendoza recognizes exactly what that means.