One tournament fell through but another looms, and it’s going to be fun (and nearby). Zilla beach polo, fall tournament schedule, and a final shout from Junior Olympics.
Zilla Beach Water Polo Tourney Roster Call
August 16 is the deadline for the Zilla tourney at Lake Travis on August 24-25. Given the tremendous interest by our athletes for the regrettably canceled Titan tournament, we expect all our 14u athletes to participate, and we want to field an 18u team too. Let Danny or Coach James know soon, and/or log on and commit via the Team Unify site.
It will take place at Volente Beach Resort & Water Park, which includes water slides, pools, a lake front beach, full bar and restaurant, sand volleyball court, and more. Players and coaches are covered under team entry fees including 1 allowed cooler. Volente is offering significant discounts for non-players. Non-player entry fees are $19.99 for the weekend for full use of the park, or $12.99 for the weekend for use of the park except the slides, or $10 single day spectator pass. Weekend cooler fee is $10 and weekend parking pass is $7. Tickets can be purchased directly through the water park at www.volentebeach.com or at the gate.
Games are played using beach waterpolo rules: 4 on 4 field players plus goalies; continuous play and live-time substitutions; first team to five goals wins the game; first team to win three games wins the match. Rosters are only between 5-9 athletes so we should field AT LEAST one 14u coed team and an 18u coed team. You can find the entire event description and can commit here (scroll down to find the event). Unfortunately the tournament will NOT include a masters/open division.
Junior Olympics
Sam’s Longhorn team finished at Junior Olympics with the club’s best ever results for an 18u girls team going 4-5 with wins over Viper Pigeon, Puget Sound from Washington, and 209 and Silicon Valley Outlaws from California. Well done to Sam as she gets ready to leave us for college in a few weeks. A recap by Coach Tom of Longhorn:
Our Longhorn Ladies are starting to find their stride in their third year of competition at JOs. The 2019 edition saw our girls play to a 4-5 record and a 13th place finish in Bronze. The wins tie the most ever for a Longhorn team at JOs, they joined the 18 boys and 16 girls in winning a game on day one for the first time ever, and they came the closest ANY Longhorn team has ever been to a second win on day 1 to earn a place in the silver division. Much like the 18 boys, our entire game plan was built around strong goalkeeping; in this case Corine doubled as our last line of defense as well as our first touch on the counterattack. In the field we had a true team effort from the remaining eight athletes, with all making contributions in every game. Our in-game defense was led by Sophia calling out rotations and switching when needed. Sarah was close to undefeated on sprints and threw in some counter attacks when she found an opening. Our front court offense was anchored by Lindsay driving in close to the goal and Sofia dropping in shots from 5 meters. Magaly and Ashley were great on both sides of the ball, driving to open water, pulling up for long range shots, and shutting down drives on defense. Sam and Cora rounded out the squad with great help defense and a memorable full court drive and score from Sam along with an gutsy 1v2 rebound steal from Cora that led to an extra possession. The girls saved their best game of the tournament for last, showing great resilience after giving up a 3-goal lead, going down by one, and then digging in and executing on back to back set plays to secure the win. The girls improved all tournament long on their teamwork and communication and by the last game were a force to be reckoned with. We will have a tough time filling the shoes of graduating seniors Corine and Sam, but we will have a strong core of 6 rising seniors to build around.
Fall Tournament Schedule
It’s updated and we have many opportunities to compete this fall and in to the winter, both 18u and masters. All available on the calendar, here is the entire fall tournament schedule:
- Aug 24-25 Zilla Beach Tournament, Lake Travis. (age group)
- Sept 14-15 Thunder Armadillo Classic, Southlake, TX (age group)
- Sept 21-22 H-Town Showdown, Houston, TX (masters/open)
- Oct 5-6 Viper Pigeon Octopolo Fest, Rosenberg, TX (age group)
- Oct 19-20 CFWPC Sharkfest, Houston, TX (age group)
- Nov 2-3 Dallas Fall Invite, Southlake, TX (age group)
- Nov 9-10 Dallas Masters Tournament, Dallas (SMU), TX (masters/open)
- Dec 7-8 Cowtown Stampede, Fort Worth, TX (age group)
- Jan 18-19 Texas Dare to Dream Festival, TBD (12u & 10u only)
Gear
Thanks to everyone who ordered shirts. Don’t forget we have yard signs, window stickers and more. Scroll to the bottom for a link to our gear page.
See you on the deck,
James
Click image for AQTX Waterpolo Gear
