The reminder is posted in bold white letters on a poolside chalkboard.

"Attitudes are contagious."

Whether for practice or a game, when Chloe Barr enters the water with her University of Hawaii teammates her intensity has a way of catching on through the lineup.

"She’s competitive as heck … she’s got the fire and she’s definitely one of the leaders on the team in that regard," Rainbow Wahine water polo coach Maureen Cole said of the sophomore. "When she’s on, it tends to rub off on the rest of the players."

The fire Cole referenced ignited when Barr took on her older brother, Paxton, in backyard rugby matches at their home in Australia and was stoked playing against boys when she followed him into water polo at 12. It fueled a rapid ascent in the sport, propelling her to a spot on Australia’s junior national team and eventually to Hawaii for college.

The Big West Freshman of the Year last season, Barr enters the late stages of her sophomore season as the league’s leading goal scorer as the Rainbow Wahine prepare to host the conference tournament.

"I’m a small player so you have to bring something else to the table," Barr said, "and I think I try to out-compete people."

Listed at 5-foot-9, Barr has scored in all but three matches for third-seeded UH (15-8, 3-2 Big West) and has 45 goals going into Friday’s quarterfinal match against Long Beach State (16-13, 1-4), the sixth seed, at Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.

Barr, whose parents planned a trip to Hawaii for the Big West tournament, developed her knack for scoring in Australia’s free-flowing style and adapted to the more structured setting of U.S. water polo last year. Melding the two approaches contributed to a sizable increase in production after netting 31 goals as a freshman.

"Sometimes things don’t go quite to plan and that’s when you need to kind of come up with something on the spot and that’s definitely helped me this season," said Barr, who matched her career best of four goals in three matches and posted hat tricks in five others.

She is part of a balanced lineup that includes scoring threats in juniors Paula Chillida Esforzado (32 goals) and Claire Nixon (28).

"We have so many players who can score and can shoot. They have just amazing shots, freaks of nature almost," Barr said. "I would say at any stage anyone in the pool could step up and score a goal so I don’t really feel the pressure to do it because I know if I make this pass that person can score the goal.

"(Senior) Zoe Respondek is one of those players who sets up a lot of people and I don’t think anyone on the team could score without having players like her on the team as well, being the one to make the pass or assist."

Cole said Barr is playing with greater confidence after adjusting to the NCAA game, though her intensity remained a constant throughout the process and isn’t reserved for game days.

"I see it every day in practice," Cole said. "I think that’s what you need to have to be a winner and it doesn’t just show up come game-time. She’s got it on a consistent basis throughout training and that’s what makes her so great.

"I’d say this year has been the best practice team we’ve ever had. Every day we’re battling and I think that’s made us that much stronger and feel that much more prepared going into this weekend."

While the Wahine push each other in practice, "the girls know how to leave it in the pool," Cole said.

"(Barr’s) got a great sense of humor. She’s serious when she needs to be but she loves to joke around and she’s just an awesome teammate," Cole said. "She keeps it fun. I think the whole team does a pretty good job of that."

Big West Women’s Water Polo Championship
At Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex

When: Friday-Sunday
Tickets: $15 all session (Adults), $10 all session (youth/senior), $8 single day (adult), $5 single day (youth, students). Tickets available at HawaiiAthletics.com and the Stan Sheriff Center box office one hour prior to the first match of the day. 

Schedule
>> Friday: UC Santa Barbara vs. UC Davis, 5:45 p.m.; Long Beach State vs. Hawaii, 7:30 p.m.
>> Saturday: UC Irvine vs. UCSB/UCD winner, 5:45 p.m.; CSUN vs. LBSU/UH winner, 7:30 p.m.
>> Sunday: Fifth place, 2:30 p.m. Third place, 4:15. Championship 6 p.m.