Bella Baia finds success on pool deck
Season-ending injuries can often toss student athletes’ lives into turmoil.
Overnight, their team roles can change drastically. In the same vein, abrupt setbacks can trigger a host of unexpected emotional responses, ranging from irritation and sadness to anger and even disengagement.
But for Transformative Coaching and Leadership (TCL) graduate Bella Baia, a damaged hip that required surgery during her senior season of water polo at UCLA might’ve actually brought her closer to the sport.
With a large chunk of her schedule suddenly freed up, the rehabbing Bruin attacker found herself back on the pool deck, trying her hand at coaching at nearby Harvard Westlake School.
Serving as a girls varsity assistant this past year, Baia helped the Wolverines to an impressive 5-0, first-place finish in the Mission League and an eventual playoff berth.
“For me, it’s more than just Xs and Os,” Baia explains. “We’re really trying to build a culture.”
The Orange County native, who played prep sports at Santa Margarita Catholic High School and later Mater Dei (Santa Ana), says that same culture-building has been inspired by both her experience as a student athlete at UCLA and her TCL studies.
“It can be hard at times to not be transactional,” adds Baia, who also serves as the head coach of LA Premier’s 14-under girls water polo team. “Especially when you’re coming from Division I water polo and a mindset where you’re there to win championships.”
Contrastingly, at the youth and high school levels, she’s seen real opportunities to instill values in athletes: “I can teach them lessons that they’re going to carry with them for the rest of their lives.
“These girls are becoming young women and I’ve become very conscious about what I say and the way I communicate to them.”
Having been one of the shortest players in all of Division I water polo, at 5-foot-2, Baia knows a thing or two about hurdles. A three-time Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches All-Academic honoree, she earned First Team All-CIF Southern Section honors in 2017 and 2018 in addition to All-County recognition and a Trinity League MVP nod her senior season.
She’s now bringing that passion back to the UCLA Athletic Department, beginning this year, in her new role within the Bruins’ Office of Academic Excellence as an Academic Mentor for first-year and transfer student athletes.
“The UCLA athlete (grind)… it’s labor intensive,” she recognizes. “My role is to help them organize their schedules and prioritize their work so they can be successful as students.”
In addition to her Master of Education, Baia received her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from UCLA, during which time she was named to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll every quarter. At UCLA, she was one of four recipients in the graduating class of 2022 to earn the university’s prestigious Wooden Academy Champions Program Award. This summer, her LA Premier Water Polo Club 14-under team placed first in the Gold Division at the Southern California Junior Olympics. Also a coach in USA Water Polo’s Olympic Development Program pipeline, she resides in Westwood.
Learn more about UCLA’s Transformative Coaching and Leadership Master of Education program.