U.S. women’s water polo team was inspired by Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour: “We want to be like her”U.S. women’s water polo team was inspired by Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour: “We want to be like her”

Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for USOPC

When the U.S. women’s water polo team goes for the program’s fourth gold medal at the Summer Olympics, they want to show the world that they can “do it with a broken heart,” so to speak.

The team was in Paris for an event in May, and their visit coincided with Taylor’s Eras Tour show at the city’s La Défense Arena, the location of the final rounds of the Olympic water polo tournaments. They asked for tickets and, as USA Today reported, Taylor ended up inviting the team backstage, as well as giving them VIP seats and merch.

They said after the show they were fired up by seeing Taylor dominate the same arena in which they might find themselves in August. 

Team member Maggie Steffens told reporters on Wednesday, “We talked about it after … like, if we get the chance to play in La Défense Arena, we want to be like her. We want to be able to love the pressure and be able to perform and have fun and enjoy that moment and make the most of it.”

“As bada** and powerful of a woman as she is, for us to be able to see that in person was pretty magical,” Steffens added.

“I thought to myself, ‘This is exactly what we want to bring to the pool,’” team coach Adam Krikorian added. “What better way to get in the right mindset and to experience that energy and that joy and that love. Because those are the values that we want to play with.”

Krikorian promised Taylor a “front-row seat” if the team makes the final. Unfortunately, she has a concert that day, Aug. 10, in Vienna, Austria, so she might be a little bit busy.

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