The 2020 tournament season is over. So, a recap and some other important scheduling updates for us through January.
North Texas Tournaments
AquaTex finished its busiest ever year with four rosters at two tournaments 40 minutes apart in North Texas. And while the younger teams were pretty lean they found some success Ironman-style. Our 7th grade u co-ed team, featuring the scoring-addicted Tomas and our lefty assist-man assassin Tristan, helped the team to an impressive fourth place finish, including yet another shootout win to finish the competition.
Also at TAGS, our very young 9th grade u co-ed team held up against some teams featuring some pretty huge players. That included a gutsy win over Cowtown to finish the tournament on a high note. Jacob took Coach Kendall’s advice and scored some timely goals from the posts, James was a scoring machine from the left-hand side, Tristan (that guy again!) was a huge attacking threat from his left-hander side, and Morgan won every sprint she started, plus continued her assault on the front of the cage.
Across town our 18u girls had a very good weekend with a third place finish at the Cowtown Stampede. Kendall continues her perimeter shooting onslaught, Cammi is becoming a counter attacking machine, and Morgan earns the attention of the opposing team with her attacks on the cage. Mac and Riley (the thief) were big contributors to the very successful weekend for the 18u boys, who went 3-1 to place top four in the highly competitive festival.
A year-ending well done to all those who participated and excelled, including our friends from Longhorn.
Scheduling
The schedule for December and January is updated. We will not be taking our traditional year-end break but should have some fun practices before January arrives. The calendar is now updated: we’ll continue Monday/Wednesday weekday practices and weekend practices on (mostly) Saturday. Once school is out, practices will be from noon to 2 PM.
This Week
We are moving practice from Wednesday to Thursday this week due to a high school swim meet. On Wednesday we’ll have our 7:30 Chalk Talk with Justin Pudwill joining us to share his success in utilizing a 4-2 offense while he was head coach at Whittier College.
And all practices originally planned for Saturday are moved to Sunday at noon. That includes FREE Scorpions Ball for any athlete age 5-11. Bring lots of friends, and spread the word.
Masters
We will plan on hosting masters’ shoot-arounds after any youth practices during the weekend. Sessions will start at 2 PM or whenever the youth practice ends.
COVID and Coaches
To perhaps help give some peace of mind to our families, some Covid news. I today tested negative as did Coaches Alon and Kendall in the past couple weeks. We’re pleased to note that we have experienced only one known case among coaches and athletes since March, and that athlete had stopped practicing with us weeks before reporting it. So there was never any exposure to it by other athletes.
January Parent Meeting and Collegiate Recruiting
We have an online parent meeting on the calendar for Thursday, January 7 at 7:30 PM. In addition to going over plans for the club in 2021 we expect to have an extremely knowledgeable guest join us to go over details of college water polo recruiting. An invitation is forthcoming. Parents and athletes are welcome to take part.
Gear for the Holidays
Not only is there plentiful AquaTex Waterpolo swag available for your holiday gifting needs, you can also support the TXWaterpolo Podcast and news site by giving loved ones some beautiful TXWaterpolo (and Total Waterpolo) gear at the TWp Sports Store.
Happy Holidays, everyone, and I’ll see you bundled in the parking lot.
James
