Let’s get right in to it.
Junior Olympics Registration
A quick reminder and update regarding our plans for Junior Olympics this summer. As of today we are fielding two teams: 14u boys, who will attempt to qualify for Session 1 of the tournament in Southern California, and 18u boys who will forego qualifying and directly enter Session 3 of the tournament to be held in North Texas. As of today all other AquaTex athletes who want to play at JOs will be placed on Longhorn rosters, specifically 10u mixed, 12u mixed, and 18u girls. There is some chance that Longhorn will also field a 14u girls team. But if not, then we’ll partner with AAAA.
If there are enough athletes committed to any age group then our strong preference is to take AquaTex teams to JOs. We love our relationship with Longhorn but want to field our own teams as much as possible.
All four JOs-related tournaments are now open for registration via TeamUnify so go ahead and indicate whether you plan to attend via that.
This is a subject that probably deserves another Zoom meeting so plan on one in the next couple weeks.
Tee-shirt Design
Each year we produce an AquaTex Junior Olympics tee-shirt. Who wants to design this summer’s? The competition is wide open. We’ll set a deadline for submissions but feel free to get working on one (or more) design ideas now. Make sure you follow Printful’s design rules and file guidelines.
Gear
Speaking of team tee-shirts, we now have four items in our shop from Arena, including a customizable team backpack (would be sweet to show up at JOs, everyone wearing one of them!), parka, warmup jacket, and polo shirt. Check out the Arena collection here.
Oh, and your hard work volunteering at SpinLob has paid off: new caps!
Southwest Zone Spring Champs
The schedule is out. A 10am start on Saturday is downright civilized! The team will be led by Coaches James and Savvy unless Babs’ travel schedule miraculously frees her up for the weekend. We’ll see you (again) in Cypress, one hour before the first game.
Training Schedule Update
May 6-7
Coaches Alon and Matt will run practices this weekend, May 6-7. All athletes will practice together for two hours: Saturday 10-noon, Sunday 9-11. No staggered practices.
Summer Schedule
Beginning on May 27 our summer schedule will go in to effect. As of today the summer schedule will be:
High School Waterpolo Training Group
– Tuesday 7 – 9 PM
– Friday 7:15 – 9:15 PM
– Saturday (select): 10 AM – noon
– Sunday: 10 AM – noon
Age Group Waterpolo Training Group
– Tuesday 6-8 PM
– Friday 7:15 – 9:15 PM
– Saturday (select): 9 AM – 11 AM
– Sunday: 9 AM – 11 AM
Novice Waterpolo Training Group
– Tuesday 6-7 PM
– Friday 7:15 – 8:15 PM
– Saturday (select): 9 AM – 10 AM
– Sunday: 9 AM – 10 AM
Swim2Score
– Sunday 10 AM – 11 AM
Masters Waterpolo
– TBD
Also note that there may be schedule changes coming for the month of May itself as Round Rock Dolphins begin their swim season next week.
CenTex Consolidated High School Team
We’re going to attempt to field a team of high schoolers this fall who do not have a UIL team to play for. And, the good news is that Houston will also be fielding a consolidated team in addition to the one in Dallas. So there’s competition to be had for those who want it. If you haven’t already, fill out this form to show your interest, and please do share it with anyone you know who wants to play high school water polo this fall.
Milestones
There are a ton! First, congratulations to Colton for earning the coaches’ April Player of the Month honors. Well done.
Look how many AquaTexans have May birthdays!
William, May 8
Isabelle, May 3
Reinhold, May 21
Josh D., May 19
Colton, May 13
Parker, May 13
Adrian, May 7
Ethan, May 17
Ryan, May 8
Kailee, May 24
Happy birthday to all of you.
And welcome to Devin and Imran. Devin gave us a try a couple weeks ago and we’re looking forward to having him back. Imran is jumping in with us this weekend. Welcome aboard to both of them.
Requests for Services
It would be nice to rehabilitate the goals that we own (actually, two goals are Coach James’ and the other older goals are, basically, Round Rock High School’s, kinda) so we’re looking for potential vendors who could do several things with them, including but not at all limited to:
- Stripping and repainting or powder coating the metal frame
- Replace the current nets and ropes
- Replace any screws, eyelets, etc that are missing
- Replace broken plastic hinges with something more durable
- Re-attach the foam in a way that actually floats the cages and doesn’t fall out
The stripping and repainting are by far the most important but we figured we’d ask for everything. If anyone has advice about someone who would do that kind of work at a reasonable price please contact Coach James.
