This feature originally appeared in the 2025-26 Winter edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. 




Julia Bonaguidi spent most of last summer circumventing the globe as a member of the United States National Team program.

Between playing for the American senior team at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore and for the junior team at the World Junior Championships in Salvador, Brazil, Bonaguidi was only stateside for a few days from the beginning of July until the end of August.

So when she finally returned to Berkeley for the start of the 2025-26 academic year, she had a completely natural reaction.

"Let's get started," Bonaguidi said.

It's that kind of drive, curiosity and courage that has developed Bonaguidi into an elite, holistic student-athlete. Whether it's leading the Golden Bears to the NCAA Championships or spearheading an impactful community service project with a local elementary school, Bonaguidi doesn't appear particularly interested in rest.

"She's definitely built for this," Cal head coach Coralie Simmons said. "She wants to be an Olympian, so there are no days off. And that's a learning tool for everyone in our group that this is how things need to get done. If you want big things, this is how you have to do it."

Bonaguidi became the first Cal women's water polo player to compete in an international tournament with the U.S. Senior National Team since Heather Petri and Elsie Windes helped the Americans win the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The U.S. was edged by Spain 13-12 in the bronze-medal match in Singapore, and after returning home for a few days, Bonaguidi was back on a plane to begin training with the U.S. Junior National Team in Salvador for the World Junior Championships.

With current Cal teammate Rosalie Hassett also on the junior team roster and Simmons serving as an assistant coach, the Golden Bear trio helped Team USA win the gold medal by defeating Spain 16-15 in the final.

"I came back to Cal and I was hungry to compete again," Bonaguidi said. "The national team really does something different to you in that you learn to compete so hard every day and you learn to fall in love with it."

Bonaguidi was one of only two American players named to the media all-star team after the World Junior Championships, and now she has her sights set on leveraging the summer's international experience into success in Berkeley. With All-MPSF goalie Talia Fonseca back in the cage and three returning players who were named to the MPSF All-Newcomer Team last season, the Bears are thinking big in 2026.

"My takeaway from (World Junior Championships) was that we really learned how to fight through any adversity that we were given," Bonaguidi said. "When I think about the adversity that I've faced here at Cal, I think about how to have a winning mentality – and that's to put everything aside and just focus on the main goal, which is to win. This year, from our very first meeting that we had as a team, I said off the bat that we need to start speaking about our goals and start speaking about winning an NCAA Championship if that's our goal."

If the Bears have extensive success this season, Bonaguidi figures to be a big reason why. She scored 36 goals last season as a sophomore and ended the season strongly with a berth on the MPSF All-Tournament Team. Factor in her success in the summer's international competition, and she figures to have a lot of eyeballs on her as she leads Cal throughout the season.

"It's a known thing that she's always pushing herself," Hassett said. "She's so hard on herself, but it makes her so much better. She's always hungry. She got a taste of some success this summer with the national teams that she played on, and I think she just wants us to have that same taste."

While Bonaguidi is one of Cal's undisputed leaders in the pool, she's just as much outside of it. This past fall, Bonaguidi led a partnership to provide mentorship and support for students at Sylvia Mendez Elementary School in Berkeley. Originally born from a class rooted in collaboration between the Cameron Institute and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education called "Cal & Our Community – Critical Service Learning & Community Building through Sport," the program encourages student-athletes to make an impact on local schools through positive play and tutoring. Bonaguidi arranged to have classes of first graders take a field trip to Spieker Aquatics Complex to watch Cal practice and interact with players afterward.

"They are always going to remember that field trip," said Regina Maradiegue, a first-grade teacher at Sylvia Mendez. "It really gives them some perspective. At this age, they really need this kind of exposure. At our school, we have a mix of kids whose families may have graduated from Berkeley and some who don't have anyone who has graduated from college. So we want to expose them to university life as much as we can."

The Sylvia Mendez first graders watched the Bears scrimmage and then each of the players introduced themselves on the pool deck. Simmons and assistant coach Heather Petri, each of whom were U.S. Olympians, shared the medals they earned while playing for Team USA.

"For many students, their first step is a one-time volunteer experience or they are brought along by a teammate," Cal Director of Community Engagement & Partnerships Jessie Stewart said. "For Julia to proactively initiate it and say she wants to go deeper into her community-based leadership at Cal was just really cool. She clearly has positive influence within her team and is someone who really leads by example and is also willing to put in the behind-the-scenes effort to organize her teammates and make opportunities accessible to them."

Bonaguidi was raised on community service. Her high school - The Bishop's School in La Jolla – requires all students to put in a minimum number of community service hours. Her chosen model to have the first graders at Sylvia Mendez interact with her and her teammates had multiple objectives.

"I felt like I had to get out there and do something in the community," Bonaguidi said. "But also, water polo is my life at this school. So I get to do my due diligence in spreading the word about my sport but also engaging in the community. I'm doing both at once."

Much of Bonaguidi's natural leadership instincts are a result of a healthy dose of curiosity and being unafraid of asking hard questions. That's something she has done with the Bears and Team USA.

"Julia has been very thoughtful and mindful through this process" U.S. Women's Water Polo National Team Head Coach Adam Krikorian said. "Sometimes, she has a tendency to overthink and analyze moments. She's a professional, and she's incredibly mature for someone that age. It's harder and harder for kids these days to keep their attention and be process-oriented, but she does a wonderful job of that. That's a credit to who she is as a human being more than a water polo player."