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Isabelle Morrison, AQTX Waterpolo Player of the Month

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Isabelle (Izzy!) Morrison is AquaTex coaches’ choice for December Player of the Month.

A full-time member as of just last May, Izzy has become one of our attendance superstars, both at training and (even more important) competitions. If there’s an AquaTex event, she’s there!

She and her 12u teammates have already had great success, including a big weekend at the recent Cowtown Stampede where they placed third. No one plays defense with as much energy as Izzy, as her opponents have quickly discovered. Her commitment to the club has paid off as she has shown enormous improvement over the past months.

It’s an exciting time for us with the influx of some great young athletes including Isabelle, our December Player of the Month. Congratulations!

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Game Day and December 3-4 Training Update

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A reminder that our San Antonio Game Day schedule and rosters are available here. Be prepared to warm up one hour before game time.

Practice on Saturday, Dec 4 will take place as usual from 10:00 AM to noon for High School and Middle School athletes.

Practice for High School and Middle School athletes is cancelled on Sunday, Dec 5. All our high school athletes are strongly encouraged to attend Masters from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM.

Swim2Score and Masters will take place as schedule on Sunday, Dec. 5. Swim2Score at 10:30 to 11:30 and Masters from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM.

November 2021 player of the month

Kendall Strauss, AQTX Waterpolo Player of the Month

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Kendall Strauss is AquaTex coaches’ choice for November Player of the Month. One of our longest tenured athletes she is a leader on this team. A month ago she started coaching our Swim2Score athletes and has been one of the most creative coaches on our staff. Plus, she was honored to be named to the ODP Southwest Zone Youth travel team which will compete at ODP West Region Championships in January.

We’re also excited to know that she is being recruited by several collegiate varsity programs, and deservedly so.

Congratulations, Kendall, on being selected by coaches as our November Player of the Month.

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Training Update for Thanksgiving Week and More

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Updated Training Schedule

  • Practices on Monday, Nov 15 and Wednesday, Nov 17 are as usual: 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
  • Practice on Saturday Nov 20 is on and will include:
    • High school and middle school from 10:00 AM to noon
    • Swim2Score from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM
    • Masters from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
  • All training/scrimmaging on Sunday, Nov 21 is cancelled
  • Time Change: Practices on Monday, Nov 22 and Wednesday, Nov 24 will be from 6:00 PM to 8:oo PM. Be sure to check our GroupMe during the week for any possible changes to the schedule
  • Practices on Saturday, Nov 27 and Sunday, Nov 28 are on at their usual times

Swim2Score at Cowtown

We’ll be contacting all our great Swim2Score families with news that we plan to enter a 10-and-under (10u) team at the upcoming Cowtown Stampede in Keller on December 11-12. We’re partnering with Longhorn to do so as usual and we encourage all our young athletes to give it a try! This tournament is made for newcomers and we’ll have a good mix of experienced players with new ones too.

For those who haven’t seen a 10u team here are some highlights of our team winning JOs in September! Notice that the ball, the course, and the goals are smaller than typical, and fewer players are in the pool. It is a very simplified version of the game which is perfect for young athletes. Take a look at the video below and we’ll be in touch with details about how these tournaments work.

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ODP Selections, TCC Recap, Cowtown Call

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We had a great weekend in Justin and simultaneously received great news from USA Water Polo. And the final big tournament of the season is on the horizon.

ODP Selections

We shared yesterday that three of our athletes were selected to USA Water Polo’s Southwest Zone ODP teams. Kendall Strauss, Aaron Gordon, and Tristan Chamas will take part in training with the Zone’s Youth, Cadet, and Development teams respectively, and will head to Utah for West Region Championships on January 8-9. We are enormously proud of them and wish them success for the remainder of the ODP season, which ends in February and March with a national championship tournament in California. Congratulations to all three!

Texas Challenge Cup

Our AquaTex 16u team finished fourth at the recently completed Texas Challenge Cup in Justin. The boys defeated Cy-Fair convincingly on day one after a three-goal loss to Pegasus. On Sunday they fell twice to strong teams from Viper Pigeon (tourney champs) and Thunder with only one substitute. Riley returned to play goalie and was a force while Declan kept up his habit of winning sprints and making steals. Kai continued to make progress at his second-ever tournament making steals and playing some solid offense too. Of course our friends from Longhorn were huge too: Greyson, Axel, Bash, Evan, Kelly (wishing a speedy recovery from a scratched cornea), and Cruz, all of whom have made great progress. Congratulations on their fourth-place finish!

Meanwhile, our athletes littered Longhorn 14u and 12u rosters. The 14s also finished fourth with Tristan and Tomas leading the way. Both had great tournaments and drew the notice of their opposition.

The 12s were loaded and AquaTexans again led the way with Tristan, an unstoppable scorer, and Tomas making opponents miserable with some great defense. Silas and William (the counterattack king) were also at the top of their games, while Isabelle showed off those sneaky steal skills and played some great defense. And two first-timers, Wes and Rudy, scored their first ever goals at a USA Water Polo tournament. We are so excited to see all those newcomers at the Cowtown Stampede in just a few weeks.

Well done to all our AquaTexans, our friends from Longhorn, and all our supportive parents.

One point of admin: thank you to all who have paid me for the tournament so far. As Coach Tom of Longhorn has hopefully informed his athletes, if you played for our 16u team you should pay me directly ($67) via venmo. All AquaTex-registered athletes on Longhorn’s 14u and 12u teams will also pay me directly. Longhorn-registered athletes on those two rosters will be charged directly by their club and should not pay me.

For final results you can go to the 2021 Texas Challenge Cup event page.

Cowtown Stampede Call

We have to be excited about our participation at this annual tournament in Keller on December 11-12 (our 14u team won the whole darn thing a couple years ago). Our partnership with Longhorn is in play although, given the sheer number of 12u athletes, we may look to enter two teams! Even better, the tournament WILL feature competition for 10u athletes and yes, our Swim2Score families are strongly encouraged to attend. The tournament features competition for all age groups so make sure to commit as soon as possible (contact me for the link to commit).

USA Water Polo Membership Renewal

A reminder to renew your USA Water Polo membership for 2022 now since there are some cost savings in doing so early. Here’s more.

See you on the deck.

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AquaTexans Selected to 2021 USAWP Olympic Development Program Rosters

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AquaTex is delighted to announce that Kendall Strauss, Aaron Gordon, and Tristan Chamas were selected to USA Water Polo’s Southwest Zone Olympic Development Program training rosters. The three will be headed to Utah in January to compete at the organization’s West Region Championships.

Kendall and Tristan are first-time selections for the Youth girls’ and Development boys’ teams respectively, while Aaron returns for another season with the boys’ Cadet team.

It’s an honor that these three are representing our club and Central Texas this season. All of them will have the chance to compete in Utah and then be considered for a spot on the Southwest Zone team that competes at National Championships in February and March. There they’ll be considered for the USA’s national Youth, Cadet and Development teams, which will compete internationally this summer and beyond.

You can find the entire group of selections, including several of our friends from Longhorn, here.

Congratulations to Kendall, Tristan, and Aaron!

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Texas Challenge Cup Schedule, Training Agenda

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We’re headed to Justin this weekend for the Texas Challenge Cup. But training will still take place on Saturday and Sunday, including Swim2Score. That and more as we turn to November.

Texas Challenge Cup

We’re all set for this weekend’s tournament in Justin at the very new NISD Aquatic Center. AquaTex is sending a 16u team while Longhorn will field 12u and 14u teams (we’re still waiting to hear from Thunder about whether they’ll add 10u competition, which we are strongly advocating). Our athletes on Longhorn rosters can expect to hear from Coach Allie or Sidney about when to arrive, etc, but you should be on site a minimum of 30 minutes before your game. All 16u athletes are expected to be ready to warm up dry land one hour before game time. I’ll be joined by Coach Kendall this weekend (nice!) for that team.

Find all that information, rosters, maps, and more on our 2021 Texas Challenge Cup event page. Bookmark it!

UT Game Day

Big thanks to Longhorn for hosting us at UT on Oct. 24. We had an excellent day of competition starting with our newest athletes mixing it up and learning a ton on the 10u course, followed by big success by our 12s, 14s, and high school athletes. While the scores were very unofficial we came out on top in many ways aside from the number of goals. Well done to everyone and we’ll look forward to doing it again perhaps in November.

USA Water Polo Membership and Affiliation

I’ve made some headway in getting several athletes affiliated with AquaTex. But your help would still be immensely appreciated since I can’t make significant changes to your records (nor should I be able to). So here are instructions on how to check your current club affiliation and change it to AquaTex if you need to.

Also, November means that USA Water Polo is pushing registration for 2022, which often can be a good idea for some cost savings.

Player of the Month

Congratulations to Sofia for being selected by coaches as AquaTex Waterpolo’s October Player of the Month. More here.

Practice

A gentle reminder about expectations and practice, from our FAQs page:

While we believe in the #BeYourBest ethos we ask each 18u athlete to consider this:

Participation in AquaTex Water Polo is an obligation to your teammates and a commitment to each of their individual opportunities for development, as well as to your team and to yourself. AquaTex coaches understand that the club’s players are active and involved in many diverse and challenging activities, and we understand that conflicts may arise. We are committed to the development of well-rounded young athletes, so we understand when conflicts occasionally interfere with AquaTex events. In recognition of the commitment that our players have made to their teammates, all players and their parents should consider every practice, game and tournament to be as important to their teammates’ development as to their own.

Many teams require that athletes have attended at least two practices the week prior to any competition. We don’t have that requirement, but it is reasonable to expect that those who attend regularly will be more likely to play in competitive games.

Mosquito-infested ultimate training, October 2021

See you on the deck.

Oct 2021 POM

Sofia Silvestrini, AQTX Waterpolo Player of the Month

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Sofia Silvestrini is AquaTex coaches’ choice for October Player of the Month. Sofia joined us not long ago playing in her first ever tournament just a few weeks ago at OctoPoloFest. She is a very fast learner and has taken a leadership role after just a few months. That includes goalkeeping, which she tried and excelled at just a week ago.

She was recently selected to her middle school basketball team and will be juggling a couple sports for a bit.

Congratulations, Sofia, on being selected by coaches as our October Player of the Month.

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Weekend Training and Competition Update: UT Game Day

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Our participation at the Longhorn Aquatics Game Day on Sunday, plus a high school swim meet, will affect our entire weekend schedule, including masters. Read more!

Weekend Training Changes

Due to a huge high school swim meet there will be no training for middle- or high-school athletes on Saturday the 23rd. On Sunday the 24th, the only training that will take place at Micki Krebsbach is Swim2Score at 10:30-11:30. There will be no masters at Micki on the 24th. All youth athletes are expected to play at the UT Game Day, and our masters athletes are encouraged to do so too at no cost.

Upcoming Competition

UT Game Day

We’re all set for the October 24 Longhorn Aquatics Game Day. Take a moment to look at the rosters and schedules on the event page. Our youth athletes can expect to play on rosters that may not correspond with their actual age group, mainly to allow our newest athletes a chance to play against similarly-experienced competitors. We scheduled a 10u game specifically for our youngest players, so Swim2Score athletes are strongly encouraged to attend.

As mentioned above, bring a filled and signed “tryout” form even though none of you are actually trying out for Longhorn.

Texas Challenge Cup

Longhorn has entered 12u and 14u teams, and AquaTex has entered a 16u team to compete up in Justin at the Texas Challenge Cup. See the event page for updated rosters and hotel information. The schedule will be linked there as soon as we get it. There is still time to get on one of the rosters so contact me if you’d like to play.

USA Water Polo Affiliation

Many of you have already done so but another reminder to be sure to change your USA Water Polo affiliation to AquaTex Waterpolo instead of Longhorn. It’s extremely helpful to me since the new system does not allow me to view records of athletes who have temporarily switched affiliation to Longhorn. Thanks!

See you on the deck.

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