With the Super Bowl back in Santa Clara, Santa Clara alumna Nicolette Balch is watching from a different vantage point than the one she had nearly a decade ago — not as someone working the event, but as a former student-athlete whose career once took her to the NFL's biggest stage.
 
Balch has followed a path in sports production since graduating from Santa Clara in 2015 that has included time on the crews for "Fox NFL Sunday" and "Fox NFL Kickoff," and a trip to Super Bowl LI in Houston — an experience she still remembers clearly.
 
"We all got to go out to Houston for Super Bowl 51 in Houston. That was the famous Tom Brady comeback game against the Falcons, one of the best Super Bowls ever, probably. I'll never forget that moment and that time doing that."
 
FROM SANTA CLARA TO THE SPORTS WORLD
 
A former Santa Clara women's water polo player and communications graduate, Balch built early experience in sports production that included roles with Fox Sports, NFL programming and UFC broadcasts. . Today, she lives in San Diego and works as director of content and digital media for USA Water Polo, bringing her career back to the sport that first brought her to the University. With the 2028 Olympic Games set for Los Angeles, her role now connects her to another global stage event only two years away.
 
"I worked for the Padres. That's my team. I worked for the NFL and UFC. I played water polo and now I'm working for USA water polo. Kind of special to me very much so."
 
Balch came to Santa Clara from San Diego after a recruiting trip that made an immediate impression.
 
"The campus is amazing, the community, culture, the people there just made me feel like this is where I wanted to be."
 
A lifelong water polo player, she said the sport shaped more than her college experience.
 
"Water polo shaped the course of my life through schooling. It taught me a lot about teamwork and dedication and resilience."
 
Those lessons carried into her professional life. While still a student, Balch participated in Santa Clara trips to Los Angeles that introduced students to the entertainment industry and networking — experiences that helped connect her to a marketing internship with Fox Sports between her junior and senior years.
 
"That was definitely a really cool opportunity just to understand how networking works early while you're still in college."
 
Her career later expanded into broader production roles in sports media, experiences she said were rooted in the foundation built during her time as a student-athlete.
 
A COMMUNITY THAT SHOWS UP
 
While those career milestones stand out, some of Balch's most lasting memories from Santa Clara center on community.
 
"Santa Clara is such a good community," said Balch. "There's a lot of fun, you know, team bonding. Santa Clara is also in such a beautiful area, the Bay Area."
 
During her senior year, when her mother was battling breast cancer — and is now fully in remission and healthy — she said her teammates and the broader program rallied around her family.
 
"In my senior year, my mom was battling breast cancer. The team kind of rallied around her and did a lot of really cool fundraising stuff with these t-shirts they made and we had pink breast cancer caps and stuff, so that was really cool and special, just to see them rally around me and my family."
 
Support extended beyond her teammates.
 
"There was a lot of alumni who I was close with who were a huge support system for me and my family."
 
She also remembers the everyday experiences — trips with friends to Big Sur and Monterey and spending time outdoors around the Bay Area — as part of what made Santa Clara special.
 
LESSONS THAT LAST
 
Ultimately, Balch said Santa Clara's influence extended beyond the pool.
 
"I chose Santa Clara University to go to because it was a first-class education, and I'd heard so much about the community and the networking that can come from it, but also the people that are at the University as well."
 
What she learned there continues to guide her.
 
"Communication and resilience, teamwork, how to be a good teammate and definitely how to be a good friend. What sticks with people is how you are as a person. I think Santa Clara taught that and instilled that in me."
 
More than a decade into her career, Balch said the path from Santa Clara to major sports production roles — and now back to water polo — still feels connected to the foundation she built as a student-athlete and is leading her toward another global sports stage in the years ahead.
 
"Wouldn't be here without Santa Clara, I don't think."