Two-time Olympian Clara Vulpisi joined the UC Santa Barbara Women’s Water Polo staff as a goalkeeping coach in September of 2024, embarking on the first collegiate coaching role of her career. During her youth and collegiate careers, Vulpisi coached younger players at her hometown water polo club in Montreal, including leading the U14 team to a silver medal at a regional tournament. She also held multiple leadership roles throughout her career, including captaining Canada’s youth team.
Vulpisi competed for Canada at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, getting firsthand experience against some of the best players in the world, facing 2024 bronze medalists the Netherlands and 2024 gold medalists Spain. She was also a member of the Canada team that won silver at the 2023 Pan American Games in Chile, where she faced current Gaucho student-athlete Juju Amaral in the semifinals, and she was named Most Valuable Goalkeeper when Canada won the 2016 Junior Pan American Championships.
Collegiately, Vulpisi played alongside Gaucho Assistant Coach Emma Myall at Pacific, where she was an All-Golden Coast Conference Honorable Mention and All-Freshman Team selection when the Tigers won the conference title in 2019. Vulpisi also garnered All-GCC Honorable Mention in 2023 and was named to the All-GCC First Team in 2022. She graduated with a degree in political science in 2023.
