Johnson Puts Law, Life on Hold for Olympics

Courtney Young Johnson never seems to be on easy street.

Whether it’s her pursuit of a law degree, her goal of becoming an FBI special agent or her role on the U.S. water polo team, Johnson always seems to have obstacles to conquer.

To train with the team in Southern California, Johnson has lived since January in Irvine, while her husband, Darren, works in Silicon Valley. They won’t share a home again until October.

“You do it because it’s a lifelong dream,” said Johnson, 26. “I’ve always wanted to be an Olympic athlete, like the little boys watching basketball on TV want to play in (the) NBA.”

That’s not all she wants.

Johnson, on leave from law school at Santa Clara University, will return in the spring and graduate in May. After the Olympics, she plans to apply to the FBI training academy.

“My plan is to go into the FBI. Law school is a good way to get there,” she said. “A lot of problems with the legal system start at the law enforcement level. I want to see if I can help.”

Johnson followed a difficult route to the Sydney Olympics and so did her team. After failing to secure a bid, the United States had to win a qualifying tournament in Sicily.

“We took the tougher road,” Johnson said. “We didn’t qualify last year, so we had to qualify in an open tournament in Palermo in April. It made us a tougher team in the long run.”

This will be the first time women’s water polo is a medal sport at the Olympics. The Americans are rolling after winning a tournament this month, beating a field of five other Sydney-bound teams.

Johnson is a driver, the equivalent in water polo of a point guard in basketball. Even in the pool, U.S. coach Guy Baker said Johnson faces challenges.

“Courtney gets all the hard matchups,” Baker said. “She’s always going to match up against the other team’s top player because she’s one of our best defenders.”

A standout swimmer while growing up in Salt Lake City, Johnson started playing water polo in high school as a way to stay in shape during the off-season.

That led to the water polo team at California, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in comparative politics. She enrolled in law school at Duquesne while her husband pursued an MBA at Carnegie Mellon.

Even then, Johnson was flying to Los Angeles once a month to train with the U.S. team. After Darren graduated and landed a Bay Area job, she transferred to Santa Clara.

Last summer, during another team stint in Southern California, Johnson trained in the morning, worked three hours at the Orange County public defender’s office and was back in the pool in the afternoon.

Each night, she worked on a research paper before going to bed.

Balancing it all has been grueling. The Johnsons have been married five years, aided partly by sympathetic employers who let Darren work at offices in Los Angeles for occasional one-week spans.

“It’s been hard, but what is normal? We decided to define what normal is for us,” Darren Johnson said.

Her law professors, Johnson said, have been supportive. She has taken exams in hotel rooms during international tournaments, with coaches acting as proctors.

“Every single player has given us something from different parts of their lives, but Courtney is amazing,” Baker said. “I don’t want to say she’s doing it all, but she’s doing a lot.”

Just part of a day’s work to Johnson.

“It’s been real hard,” she said. “But it has been rewarding.”

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U.S. Water Polo Web site: www.usawaterpolo.org