Junior Olympics

ShieldyJOS

Final Session 3 Update, Summer Break, Fall Scheduling

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AquaTexans, we have arrived at the end of our training year. Session 3 of JOs begins on Thursday so here’s a final update prior to then. And there’s info for all families who will be training with us this fall, current members and potential ones. Read on.

JOs Session 3

The tournament schedule, locations, and much more are on our Event page. Please take a moment to view all the special instructions for a couple locations where we’ll likely end up: SMU and Garland. And be sure to read in detail what spectators should expect, including online ticketing. For our 18u families have a printed and signed version of the proper form (linked here) when we get to SMU on Wednesday evening. There’s one form for adults and athletes age 18 and up, and another for minors. Coaches will be collecting your forms and then packaging them for our friends at SMU.

We will attempt to keep everyone informed during the tournament via our GroupMe’s and on the Event Page.

For our NWC players make sure you’re communicating with Coach Daniel and we’ll see you and your Chicago teammates soon!

Good luck to everyone participating and make sure to share any photos or game film with us. We’ll use it for Instagram and we’ll create a shared folder on the interweb where all of them will be kept for posterity.

IDs

USA Water Polo will be checking the identity of each athlete prior to games and requires a physical photo ID of everyone. The ID can be your USAWP ID card, a drivers license, official state ID card, school ID card, passport. You can also download a photo ID with your USAWP membership. This only takes 1-2 minutes and can be done from a phone. Login to your account at the USAWP website and then click the blank profile picture to download a photo ID. Step by Step Instructions on How to Update USAWP Membership Photo.

Team Dinner

All our non-18u athletes and families are expected to attend a team dinner at Black Walnut Cafe in Coppell at around 6:30 PM on Wednesday, July 31. We’ve reserved a large room to accommodate families for three whole teams! It is a seated restaurant but each person orders at a counter. Tip your waiters generously.

Fall Training Schedule

Our practice on Tuesday, July 30 is the last one of the summer and marks the end of the 2023-24 club water polo season. We will take a well-deserved break after JOs Session 3 and then resume training on Sunday, August 11. That includes all training and new-athlete evaluations: Swim2Score, age group, high school, and novice. The detailed fall schedule will be out soon. We’ll see you again in August.

Re-registration

This is important! Especially for our UIL high school athletes.

All AquaTex member families (water polo or swim) are “terminated/suspended” at the end of July each year, and are then required to re-register via the Team Unify site on or after August 1. Many of you are quite familiar with this but we also have some newcomers who may not be aware of it.

For those who will train with AquaTex in August you have until the 11th to re-register. That includes all Swim2Score, age group, novice waterpolo, and CenTex Consolidated high school athletes. It’s pretty simple: if you’re practicing with AquaTex you need to be registered with the club.

If your athlete will be playing for a UIL-sanctioned high school team (not CenTex Consolidated) this fall then do not re-register on August 1. Let your membership lapse. Wait until November, or whenever your athlete resumes training with AquaTex. You are more than welcome to continue training with AquaTex during the UIL season but (no surprise) you will need to be a paying, registered member. Otherwise, we’ll see you again in November.

Contract

Note that we now require each family that (re-)registers with the club to agree to a Player/Team/Parent contract. Take the time to review the draft of it now. An electronically signed version of this contract will be required from each family upon registration.

Account Suspensions

Also note in the contract that there are new rules for any temporary suspension or termination of an athlete’s AquaTex account. For those high school athletes who are suspending their accounts until November in order to play UIL-sponsored water polo, please fill out this form. Each of those athletes will be automatically re-instated on November 1.

It’s been a great year. Thank you everyone for making it the best we’ve ever had at AquaTex Waterpolo. And the future is bright. We’ll see you at JOs and then in August.

James

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Summer, JOs Update

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For all our members, and those playing with us at JOs this summer, a quick but quite important note about a few things coming up quickly this summer.

Junior Olympics

We’ve been informed of a few things that will help us plan for Session 3 of JOs. None of this has been officially confirmed but is very likely based on what someone I trust told me.

  • It is very likely, but not certain, that the team registration deadline will be extended past June 1, which gives us more time.
  • We’ve been told that if our 16u boys team does not receive a slot at Session 1 (unfortunately, it’s highly unlikely we’ll receive a slot) that the roster is wide open for Session 3. We can add athletes or move them to different age groups. Which means…
  • Our 14u roster will (very likely) include several players from that 16u JO Quals team which means that roster is already bigger than expected.
  • Another club has invited our 12u mixed athletes to participate with them at JOs Session 3. AquaTex coaches will be deciding if it’s a good fit in the coming days, but it’s good news for our 12u athletes who don’t have a team to play for. More to come.
  • Our plans are to have Longhorn athletes join us on a 10 and under mixed team! This is so exciting for us. If you are part of our Swim2Score or Novice Waterpolo programming and haven’t signed up to participate at JOs it’s not too late. Probably the most fun part of the whole tournament.
  • We’re so pleased to have several girls join us recently and we are still looking for a place where they can play at JOs.

Summer Schedule

As of today we are fortunate to have all of Micki Krebsbach to ourselves on weeknights for the coming few weeks (the swim team will be training at the RRAC). So, our TENTATIVE schedule beginning June 3 is something like this. We want to keep you informed as best as possible but this is, as always, subject to change. Overall though this is great news for the club. We’ve never had regular access to the whole facility on weeknights in the summer.

Coaches

We’re hopeful that we could bring on at least one if not two very experienced coaches in the coming weeks. We’re in very early discussions and will let everyone know when we have news.

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STX Champs Recap, JOs on the Calendar

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A quick note as we’re already in February of a busy year.

STX Champs Recap

AquaTex’s 14u team came away undefeated at last weekend’s South Texas Spring Champs in San Antonio after two matches to win the “B” bracket of their age group. Two convincing wins means that next time that team can look forward to playing in the “A” bracket! Plus, our newest players got some great game experience in a setting that encourages newcomers to take part. Congratulations lads.

Our 16u team did take part in their A bracket and came away with two educational defeats to Alamo and Viper Pigeon. The results might be disappointing but this team is much improved since last summer. Coaches are pleased with the progress of this team… but expects even more! Keep working hard.

Meanwhile, Gavin and his Longhorn 18u boys teammates fell to their new nemesis, Alamo, in the final match to place second out of four.

Well done to everyone who participated, thanks to all the parents who attended, and to Coach Max for leading the team.

A reminder to those who did participate: the fee is $45/athlete payable to Coach James via Venmo or Zelle.

Roster Calls

Most important: All the Junior Olympics tournaments are now on the calendar. It’s the most important competition of the year so read on:

Longhorn Game Day

AquaTex will have a Game Day with Longhorn on Sunday, February 25. The schedule will be basically the same as it has in past months.

Dare to Dream

Dare to Dream for 10u and 12u athletes is in Pearland (Houston) on January 27-28. Our young athletes are expected to attend. We want AquaTex 10u and 12u teams ready to go! It’s USA Water Polo’s most prestigious tournament explicitly for our youngest athletes.

2024 National Junior Olympics

That’s right: we’re beginning planing for a tournament that takes place in July/August! There are several steps we need to take (as most of you already know) in order to take teams to one of the three Junior Olympics sessions. Just know, our aim is to bring as many AquaTex teams to California as possible.

For our newcomers, JOs is the biggest youth water polo tournament in the world. There are three sessions, two of which are in California, one in North Texas. Any team that plans to compete in one of the two California sessions *must* qualify via a Zone Qualifying Tournament. Thus, any athlete who plans to play on a California-headed roster is obligated to be on the Zone Qualifying roster as well. There are no exceptions. The Southwest Zone JOs Qualifier tournament takes place May 3-5, the earliest it has ever taken place in Texas. Thus the increased planning urgency.

  • An “intent” form is coming for all AquaTex families. Knowing full well that plans can change we need to assess our level of commitment to fielding teams for NJOs.
  • The tentative deadline to confirm intent to play at JOs is March 15. That date may change so stay tuned.

Much more to come about JOs but just know we plan on having a big turnout.

Communications

A reminder that GroupMe will remain our method for the most urgent communications between and among coaches, athletes, and families. All families are expected to join the AquaTex Waterpolo Club GroupMe for that reason (contact Coach James if you need the link to join). In addition:

  • Because the group is meant for AquaTexans of all ages, it will remain a squeaky-clean family friendly zone! All communications will be assiduously G-rated.
  • Our families often use the GroupMe to share that they won’t be attending a particular practice. From now on coaches would prefer that the athlete him- or her-self share that information in the GroupMe. Athletes should take responsibility for their own attendance.

Homework

Everyone should be watching (if possible) as much World Championship water polo as possible. Team USA has already qualified for the Paris Olympics this summer but this is one of the best tournaments of the year. For Americans, Team USA games are available on Peacock. If you’re sufficiently inventive there may be ways of watching a lot more via other sources. Good luck!

Milestones

January and February Birthdays! Happy birthday to all of you.

  • Aanay, 2/16
  • Ilay, 2/28
  • Jean, 2/18
  • Roman, 1/14
  • Remy, 2/21
  • Cash, 1/14
  • James, 1/16
  • Coach James, 1/23

See you on the deck.

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JOs are Done and Fall is Here

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The Fall is here. How do we know? Well, JOs are over, coaches are scattered, and the high school athletes are already in the pool for their season. We have several things to cover so, let’s go!

JOs Session 3

We will have more to say, I think, about Session 3 over time but it was a phenomenal end to another historic season for the club. Suffice it to say, we sent Alon off with an 18u boys team that earned a spot in the platinum division, another first for AquaTex. Huge thanks to him, Coach Matt, all our fantastic supportive parents, and to the players for working hard at the biggest tournament in the world.

Meanwhile, Morgan and Corina made their mark for Longhorn’s 18u girls team, which finished with a record of 3-5 which placed them 7th in the gold division. Coach Evan paid big compliments saying that Morgan was the, “stable core to our offense, consistently generating goals from counterattacks and drives. And then, in their final game the team experienced a “Corinasance!”

For about 45 minutes the world stood still as we bore witness to the “Corinasance”. Corina scored goal after goal from set, bringing us into a close shootout in an otherwise unfavorable game. This again spoke toward the team’s adaptability. It was exciting to watch the team grow over such a short period of time, and we look forward to what they will accomplish in the coming year.

Well done by them, their Longhorn teammates, and Evan and his coaching staff.

Izzy turned some heads, including this coach’s, with an outstanding performance for Alamo Area Green 16u girls. Not only was she the most conspicuous thief, she shut down defenders on the perimeter, and scored at least one counterattack goal that I saw. AAAA parents LOVED having her on the team, which makes me a proud as anything. Congratulations Izzy!

Finally, our three 10u athletes, Ryan, Grey, and Emeric, were huge contributors to the Longhorn’s top-four Platinum finish. Grey has become an offensive juggernaut, while Ryan and Emeric played “tenacious” defense according to Coach Cole.

Again, a huge year for the club punctuated by our biggest presence ever at Junior Olympics. Let’s do it all again soon, right?

But first: Declan inspired by Shieldy blasts a fast 12.5 to win the sprint!

And finally, sadly, we want to say goodbye to Riley Dixon, Liam Graves, Vitalik Pavlenko, and Coach Alon (though he may come back on occasion). It’s always hard to see our athletes graduate and move on but having known all of them has made the club better and this coach happier. I’ll miss y’all.

The Fall

Training Schedule

Here we go. The fall practice schedule is now available on our Calendar page: Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday. Please go read the details.

Re-registration

Not all the registration costs are correct so if you are registering for Novice Waterpolo, Swim2Score, or masters waterpolo please wait. High School and Age Group Waterpolo are correctly priced so proceed.

Speaking of fees, they have gone up as you’ll notice but are still extremely competitive with other clubs’. That, and re-registration fees will now be $150. If you suspend your account (with some exceptions) you can expect to pay the $150 fee after returning to training. More below.

Newcomers

We are extremely excited to have at least 20 young athletes express interest in our Swim2Score, Novice, and Age Group water polo training. We expect to meet them all during evaluations on Sunday, August 13 at 10 AM and/or Saturday, August 19 (when we return to our typical Saturday evaluations).

Coaches

Speaking of newcomers, we want to welcome Brandon Molina. He will begin his coaching trial with us on August 13. Brandon was a member of the best high school water polo team I’ve ever seen: Mater Dei from Santa Ana, CA in the early 2010s and then coached at two big youth programs in SoCal: Bruin, and United. Welcome to Brandon!

Contract

Note that we now require each family that (re-)registers with the club to agree to a Player/Team/Parent contract. You can read and sign it now even prior to registering. An electronically signed version of this contract will be required from each family upon registration.

Account Suspensions

Also note in the contract that there are new rules for any temporary suspension or termination of an athlete’s AquaTex account. For those high school athletes who are suspending their accounts until November in order to play UIL-sponsored water polo, please fill out this form. Each of those athletes will be automatically re-instated on November 1.

CenTex Consolidated

We’re on the calendar for the Round Rock HS Polo Fest, September 8-9. Read all about it here! You can see the roster as currently constituted but we will expect to add a few Zilla athletes as well who need a team to play for.

The schedule for our Consolidated team is a work in progress but we can plan on taking part in the TISCA High School Championships in San Antonio, October 13-14. Definitely more to come.

That’s all… for now.

 

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Pre-JOs Session 3 Update, Summer Break, Fall Scheduling

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AquaTexans, we have arrived at the end of our training year. A few things regarding Session 3 of Junior Olympics and about resuming activities in August. Please give it a read whether you’re heading to Session 3 or not. Plus…

JOs Session 1

Our 14u boys ended an historic Junior Olympic tournament in Southern California with 3 wins an 4 losses, plus a ton of interesting stories, probably sunburn, and some great memories. Check out these great photos from their time in SoCal. Congratulations to them, Coaches Babs and Savvy, and our great families who went to support them.

JOs Session 3

The schedule is out. Our 18u boys play at 7:30 AM on Thursday, July 27 at Keller ISD Natatorium. Find its exact location, along with all other sites, on our Location Map. For those playing for AAAA and Longhorn make sure you are checking in with those coaches regarding when you’re supposed to meet prior to your games.

We will attempt to keep everyone informed during the tournament via our GroupMe’s and on the Event Page.

Good luck to everyone participating and make sure to share any photos or game film with us. We’ll use it for Instagram and we’ll create a shared folder on the interweb where all of them will be kept for posterity.

IDs

USA Water Polo will be checking the identity of each athlete prior to games and requires a physical photo ID of everyone. The ID can be your USAWP ID card, a drivers license, official state ID card, school ID card, passport. You can also download a photo ID with your USAWP membership. This only takes 1-2 minutes and can be done from a phone. Login to your account at the USAWP website and then click the blank profile picture to download a photo ID. Step by Step Instructions on How to Update USAWP Membership Photo.

Team Dinner

All our athletes and families are expected to attend a team dinner at Black Walnut Cafein Coppell at 6:00 7:00 PM [we pushed the time back to allow more people to show up] on Wednesday, July 26. We’ve reserved a large room and plan on a couple announcements there, including a farewell to Coach Alon. For those new to it, it is a seated restaurant but each person orders at a counter.

Fall Training Schedule

Our practice on Tuesday, July 25 is the last one of the summer and marks the end of the 2022-23 club water polo season. We will take a well-deserved break after JOs Session 3 and then resume training on Sunday, August 13. That includes all training: Swim2Score, age group, high school, and novice. The detailed fall schedule will be out soon. We’ll see you again in August.

Re-registration

All AquaTex members are “terminated/suspended” at the end of July each year, and are then required to re-register via the Team Unify site on or after August 1. Many of you are quite familiar with this but we also have some newcomers who may not be aware of it. Given our post-JOs break you will have until the weekend of August 12 do so but make sure you’re properly registered prior to attending training on the 13th.

Contract

Note that we now require each family that (re-)registers with the club to agree to a Player/Team/Parent contract. Take the time to review the draft of it now. An electronically signed version of this contract will be required from each family upon registration.

Account Suspensions

Also note in the contract that there are new rules for any temporary suspension or termination of an athlete’s AquaTex account. For those high school athletes who are suspending their accounts until November in order to play UIL-sponsored water polo, please fill out this form. Each of those athletes will be automatically re-instated on November 1.

It’s been a great year. Thank you everyone for making it the best we’ve ever had at AquaTex Waterpolo. And the future is bright. We’ll see you at JOs and then in August.

James

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Pre-JOs Competition, Longhorn Scrimmages, JOs

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Let’s catch up.

Roster Calls

We are not sending any teams to the Endless Summer Classic but will instead shift our focus to the Sun’s out Guns out Tournament in Pearland and Cypress, July 8-9. It is the last chance for us to compete prior to JOs so our 14u and 18u boys teams in particular are expected to play. As usual, our athletes can play on select Longhorn rosters if there is no AquaTex team for them this tournament. Read more details on SOGO here.

Longhorn Friday Scrimmages

Longhorn has invited our teams to scrimmage them at UT on the next two Fridays, June 23 and June 30. On the 23rd it’ll be for our 14u athletes. On the 30th it’ll be a high school-age scrimmage. Again, we’re doing what we can to get as much competitive experience before we head off to JOs. All athletes are required to have this form signed, printed, and presented to the people working the front desk on the day of the scrimmage. Don’t forget!

Junior Olympics

It’s just a couple weeks away, unbelievably. Some reminders and some new info:

14u Boys

Coaches Babs and Savvy will be traveling with the 14u boys team to California. The unofficial team hotel is the Delta Hotels Anaheim Garden Grove. Coach Babs may expect athletes to meet some time the afternoon/evening of Friday, July 14 to distribute bag tags and discuss expectations for the tournament. She’ll make that call via GroupMe. Regardless, athletes are expected to be at the first game of the day one hour prior. Expect games to begin early on Saturday, July 15 and will run all the way through Tuesday, July 18, so be sure to plan on it.

There is a JOs expo on the 14th where there will be a lot of booths, probably some colleges recruiting, and speakers. You can find the general agenda on USA Water Polo’s JOs site.

We’re also looking for a family or families who might be interested in opening up their home for a final carb-loading session (really an excuse to eat spaghetti) prior to both teams heading to JOs. Contact Coach James or Babs if you’d be willing (date TBD).

18u Boys

Coaches Alon and Matt are leading the charge with our 18s in Dallas. There will be a team dinner on Wednesday, July 26 at the Black Walnut Cafe in Coppell. All athletes and families should plan on attending as we prepare for the tournament and say so-long to Alon.

Gear

A reminder that our special 2023 JOs tee-shirt is available in our shop, including a youth size version. Order one of those and lots of other great stuff (those Arena backpacks look fantastic) to show off at competitions this summer.

New and Returning Athletes

Miriam, who’s 11, gave us a try last Sunday and plans to join us soon – very exciting. And Kyle has joined us permanently as well while Alex has returned after a hiatus. Welcome (back) to all of them!

Speaking of Alex, Happy Birthday! She’s our only athlete born in June.

May POM

Elliot Bronshteyn is the choice of AquaTex Waterpolo coaches for May Player of the Month. If you haven’t already check it out. Well done, Elliot.

CenTex Consolidated High School Team

A reminder that 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.

See you on the deck (soon).

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WTTS, Junior Olympics, Summer Training Schedule

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There’s a lot to cover. First, big thanks to all our coaches who are taking care of business while I’m overseas with the family. I’ll return on June 3 and am (obviously) still in communication with y’all.

WTTS

The schedule is out. Coaches Matt and Savvy will be updating all our participants via GroupMe. Good luck and have a great weekend in San Antonio.

Summer Schedule

May 27-28 Weekend

Keep an eye on GroupMe for announcements from Coach Alon about practice this weekend. It’s entirely possible we’ll cancel since most will be in San Antonio or out of town for the holiday.

Summer Schedule

The summer training schedule is here:

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

Regarding our Tuesday practices, we may consolidate them on occasion and start only at 7PM to accommodate coaches’ schedules. A reminder that our goofy summer schedule is meant to maximize the amount of deep-water training we get during the pool’s busiest time of year.

Junior Olympics Update

By Junior Olympics I mean the JOs Qualifier Tournament, The Southwest Zone Festival, and then Sessions 1-3 of Junior Olympics themselves. Here’s an update, and some task items for those of you participating.

First, if you haven’t done so already all participants must have Gold USAWP membership and have submitted valid Date of Birth verification.

If you are playing for a non-AquaTex Team (Longhorn, Alamo Area) you need to change your club affiliation. If you are not in communication with Longhorn or Alamo Area let me know.

14u boys

14u boys are paid and registered for the JOs Qualifier/JOs Session 1. A couple reminders:

Qualifier games will begin on Friday, June 9 itself so prepare for early Friday morning games (I’ll be checking in on Thursday afternoon). The location in Cypress again with our games likely to all be at the CFISD Natatorium next to Pridgeon Stadium.

Our aim is to place top six in the category which would earn us a trip to California! If we don’t achieve that we will most definitely play at Session 3 JOs in North Texas at the end of July instead of at Session 1. I personally won’t be making California travel plans until after the Qualifer tournament but advise our families to at least begin looking for or even booking refundable flights and hotels near Irvine, CA for for Session 1.

18u boys

18u boys are registered and paid for Session 3 of JOs and will be registered and paid for the SWZ Festival on or before May 31. Remember that these two tournaments are basically separate: one does not affect the other. There is no qualifier for Session 3. The Festival is a great warmup tournament for our team and we will enter it, but athletes are not required to be on the SWZ Festival roster to play at Session 3.

Plans are already afoot among parents for traveling to Session 3. Keep an eye on GroupMe for hotel suggestions, etc.

Also, we’re very pleased to have Kaden from Longhorn joining our roster as a goalie. Thanks to him and his family! We’ll make introductions very soon.

10u mixed, 12u mixed, 14u girls, 18u girls

  • 10u mixed: Ryan, Grey, and Emeric are all on Longhorn’s 10u roster and will attempt to qualify for Session 2
  • 12u mixed: Ilay and Neel are on Longhorn’s 12u mixed team attempting to qualify for Session 2
  • 14u girls: Izzy is on board with Alamo Area, which will play at Session 3
  • 18u girls: We have until May 31 to assemble an AquaTex 18u girls team. If that doesn’t work out then any AquaTex 18u girl who wants to play at JOs will be placed on Longhorn’s Session 3 roster. Let Coach James know what your plans are as soon as possible.

Session 3 Team Dinner

For those headed to Session 3 plan on a team dinner on July 26 tentatively set for 6:30 PM at the Black Walnut Cafe in Coppell. We’ll both celebrate our participation at JOs and (unfortunately) say farewell to Coach Alon.

Gear

I see that some have ordered our new backpack and it looks great. For JOs in particular it would be great to see our athletes donning that gear. You can see our Arena collection here.

A JOs t-shirt is coming. Promise!

CenTex Consolidated High School Team

A reminder that 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.

See you on the deck (soon).

 

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SWZ Spring Champs Schedule, JOs Registration, Milestones and More

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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.

Historic Junior Olympics Recap, Fall Programming

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2022 Junior Olympics Recap

It was an historic week for AquaTex. In past years we’ve happily partnered with Longhorn to send all our athletes to JOs. This year we sent two AquaTex teams and plan on doing more of it in the coming years.

Meanwhile, the Longhorn 10u coed team, featuring AquaTex’s Grey and Ryan Benson, won a full-on Gold Medal, beating Thunder in the final match. It’s been a spectacular summer for our 10u and 12u athletes.

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16u Boys

Our 16u boys improved four places over the Longhorn team that competed in 2021, finishing ninth in the Gold bracket and with a 5-4 record. The boys were the only Gold bracket team to beat Colorado, the club that won the bracket championship.

Any mention of individual players risks leaving others out of the conversation, but particular credit to Declan, who was a defensive monster all tournament, and “Waco” Will, who provided us with the goalkeeping stability we needed. Luca and Max locked down that left-hander side producing the bulk of our non-counterattack goals. Riley showed center skills that surprised both our opponents and this coach (I’m still not sure how a couple of those goals happened). Gavin was a dynamo, improving his defense throughout the event. James, Adlee, and David gained truly important experience and showed improvement, especially defensively, as the games progressed. Jacob was our super-sub center who knocked the defense off balance and showed tremendous effort all week. Matthew showed huge potential and great instincts for a newcomer, while Finn (still in middle school!) was fearless, especially defensively, against a lot of larger, older dudes.

We played a good variety of teams from throughout the US. You can see our final results below, a roller coaster of wins and losses, with an extremely memorable end to the tournament: a penalty goal by Riley with zero seconds left in the game vs. Raider from Miami, Florida. It’s so great to end JOs with a memorable finale. And now we look forward to 2023…

Results

  • WCAC (Pennsylvania), 9-13
  • Cowtown, 19-5
  • Kraken (Atlanta), 7-9
  • Southside, 7-9
  • Colorado, 10-8
  • Great Lakes (Michigan), 11-5
  • Zilla, 11-14
  • Texas Mavericks, 21-11
  • Raider (Miami), 12-11

18u Girls

By Coaches Kendall and Alon

Right out the gate, our young team had the opportunity to experience both the Florida and Chicago style of play in their first two games against Orlando and Chicago WP. Though we fell to both teams, Morgan  led our team with multiple steals and a goal in each game.

During day two the ladies faced off against the Southside Honey Badgers from Houston TX, where they held the team to a one goal game until the second half where a few players had to sit out due to penalties. Nichole Wood put the team in a great position at the start of each quarter by winning three out of the four sprints. Corina Nunziata led the offense with 4 goals that game, and stepped up to the role of being the team’s primary center for the first two days of the tournament.

The second game the ladies took on another team from Florida called Raider. Kendall Strauss entered the playing field (with a broken finger on her shooting hand!) and put a couple of goals on the board for her team while Katya Ortiz shut down the middle of the pool on defense.Day three took the AquaTex girls all the way to the Northwest ISD Aquatics Center where they played the Texas team Maverick. Though the team didn’t see a win that game, we did see our goalie, Addison, make some key blocks and Akirti helped the team’s defense by putting her player under major pressure. The ladies found victory later that day against New Mexico’s Duke City, with goals from Morgan, Corina, Nichole and Kendall. Molly never gave up any goals on defense and Kailee showed major defensive improvements. Kelsie kept the defense on their toes with drives and post ups.

The last day the ladies ended with meeting Southside in the pool again and fell to the team’s strong offense and counter attack strategies.

All in all, our young players saw much improvement in the short course of 4 days. Coaches Kendall and Alon look forward to seeing the girls take what they learned from this tournament into the first UIL high school season, and wish Kendall Strauss the best of luck in her first year as a collegiate water polo player!

10u Longhorns

By Coach Tom

Return of the Champs!

Let’s kick off the email with a huge shout out to our 10 and under team who successfully defended their 2021 title and secured a gold medal finish in the Platinum division of Junior Olympics Session 3! The 10Us capped off their title run with an impressive 11-6 victory over Thunder in the championship game. Congrats to all our athletes, coaches, and parents that worked hard all year to bring the gold back to Austin!

Other Stuff

Fall Training

We’ve gotten a TON of new interest in water polo and the club (thanks and welcome to you all). One of the most common questions is, when’s practice? So here you go:

Until August 16

Middle School and High School

  • Tuesday, 6-8 PM
  • Friday, 7:15-9 PM
  • Saturday, 9-11 AM
  • Sunday, 8-10 AM

Swim2Score

  • Saturday, 10-11 AM

Masters

  • Sunday, 9:30-11 AM

August 16-Sept. 1

Age Group and High School (including 10u athletes approved by coaches)

  • Monday & Wednesday, 7-9 PM
  • Saturday & Sunday, 9-11 AM

Swim2Score

  • Saturday, 10-11 AM

Masters

  • Sunday, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM

Beginning September 1

With our new programming that includes age group training for 10u, 12u, and 14u athletes, plus plans for a Novice group for those who need a little extra attention before “graduating” to Age Group training, we’ll be working out the schedule a bit as we go. For now, the schedule will remain nearly identical to the August 16 – September 1 schedule above. But we may need to increase the number of practice days to accommodate our new young, and novice athletes. It’s a very good problem to have and we’ll address it based on the numbers that register with the club. We’re fortunate to have access to more time at Micki, and we’ll take it if necessary.

Competition

Our focus is entirely on Age Group water polo this fall. There is no club competition for high school-age athletes until November. So, we ask all our 14u, 12u, and 10u families to put these tournaments on the calendar. We will try to send teams to each one of those events (with Longhorn if necessary but preferably as AquaTex). Our key aim this fall is to prepare for and compete at TAGS on November 19-20. That’s the goal. Everything we do this fall is geared to being as good a team as we can be at TAGS (the unofficial “middle school” championship, BTW).

Obviously, after the high school season is complete we’ll ramp up competition for those athletes too. Can we win the Cowtown Stampede in December again?

We’re really excited to have so many newcomers in those younger age groups. So get ready to compete because that’s what we’re going to train you for as quickly as possible! #OneTeamOneDream

Registration

That’s right, it’s August, which means that if you were a club member on July 31 and haven’t gone back in to TeamUnify to re-register, then technically you’re not a member of the club! Please do it prior to your next practice. And if you’re a newcomer, please do the same. All water polo athletes must be registered with the club and with USA Water Polo in order to train with us.

Team Suits

The Turbo store is open again until September 18. After it closes on the 18th is when the products will be ordered and shipped. Identical suits from RYTE are available at any time and ship within weeks (I love Turbo but the RYTE suits are cheaper, more available, and high quality. I think you know my preference…). Now is the time to order a new suit if you don’t already have one. All registered AquaTex youth athletes (not masters or Swim2Score) are required to have an official team suit and now’s the time to do it. Grab a shirt while you’re at it cuz it’s also required. Oh, and Coach Alon, you should get one of these (I ordered one).

Coaches

You’ve already read about our programming plans. Well we need more coaches – always. If you are aware of anyone, a high school or college graduate who aspires to get in to coaching, please steer them my way. Water polo experience is preferred but not entirely necessary (we can teach you!). Again, it’s a good problem to have but we can use your help finding new coaching talent.

DeclanShotblockJOs2021Empire

JOs are Here, and Fall Programming Update

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Training Schedule

All training between Friday and Sunday, July 29 through 31, is cancelled. That includes high school, middle school, masters waterpolo, and Swim2Score. We’ll resume training on August 16. [Nope. We’ll continue training throughout with a change of schedule beginning on the 16th. Read the latest.]

The schedule after August 16 will likely revert to one similar to that of the fall of 2021. Plans are for four practices a week if not more, including Saturdays and Sundays whenever possible in order to take advantage of the deep water (Saturdays may be quite busy given the first ever UIL high school season).

Fall Programming

We are planning some exciting changes in programming beginning this fall. Details need to be hashed out so nothing is written in stone, but the tentative plans are:

  • Create our first ever 10 and under training/competition group. The athletes in this group would train 3-4 times a week for two hours each just like the other Age Groups.
  • Create “Age Groups:” 10 and under, 12 and under, and 14 and under. Like our current “Middle School” group, all those Age Groups are still likely to train together. But, the aim over time is to grow each age group so that there are enough athletes to have their own training sessions. Plus, the individual Age Groups are a better reflection of how teams compete at USA Water Polo events. “High school” will remain its own training group. Two-hour practices four times a week.
  • Create a “Novice” training group for anyone under 14 who is brand new to the sport and requires entry-level training. Athletes in this group will “graduate” to their appropriate Age Group upon coaches’ approval. Training sessions would last for one hour four times a week.
  • Swim2Score remains in place and we are exploring some changes in emphasis so we’re better preparing our athletes for competition. Obviously, some of our current Swim2Score athletes are ready for either the new Novice group or our 10u Age Group. More to come.

Club Registration

A reminder that EVERY member of the club is required to re-register via our TeamUnify site on August 1 of each year. It is an annual thing for all our families, swim and waterpolo. Registration is currently closed but please don’t delay once August 1 arrives. This goes for current families and those who have joined us in just the past couple weeks (thanks for that!).

Junior Olympics

So, this awesome thing happened in case you didn’t already know.

Session 3 is basically here. The main schedule, ticket info, and lots of other stuff (including a link to the official USAWP JOs page) are available throughout the tournament on our event page. Bookmark it!

  • On Thursday our 16u boys kick off the tournament vs. WCAC (Pennsylvania, I believe) at 10:00 AM at the CISD Aquatic Center on the campus of Southlake Carroll High School.
  • 18u girls face Orlando United (FL) at 11:00 AM on Thursday at the Garland ISD Natatorium. Their next game is against Chicago at 2PM.
  • The Longhorn 10u team faces some team called Pegasus at 11:00 AM on Thursday at the LISD Westside Aquatic Center in Lewisville. Next game vs. Zilla at 2PM.
  • 18u and 16u athletes are expected to meet with the team one hour before their first game each day. 10u families, consult with Coach Tom about when you’re expected to meet on Thursday morning.

I’m excited. Lots to look forward to. See you on the deck.

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