2023TCC14uSilverMedalists

New Seasons, TCC Recap, Middle School Games

, , , ,

Welcome back to school, everyone. I’m sure there are quite mixed feelings about that! But with that, we turn the page with some news regarding our programming, upcoming competition, and more.

New Seasonal Training Plan

Some years ago we ceased using seasons as a way of organizing training and competition. The main reason was for billing and to manage expectations: some would be under the impression that our sport was seasonal (Spring only, for example) instead of year-around. And billing for AquaTex is monthly whereas with other clubs it is often seasonal.

But we’re changing things up beginning today. Billing remains EXACTLY the same as it is now: monthly fees. But, training will now roughly follow this seasonal pattern:

  • Winter: 1 December to 10 March
  • Spring: 21 March to 25 May
  • Summer: 29 May to 30 July
  • Fall: 8 August to 18 November

Each of those seasons is punctuated by a tournament. Our work for that season will be aimed so that we peak for that final competition. Junior Olympics at the end of July of each year will feature most prominently. At the beginning of each season we start with conditioning and fundamentals and end the season with more tactical skills: from basic to more sophisticated.

We will also strongly encourage new athletes to join us at the beginning of each season so they can learn the fundamentals (other teams require it).

So, welcome to the new Spring season of 2023. Athletes should bring workout clothing every practice for the first three weeks of the season (shoes not slides!) and have goggles ready for any swim sets. Our aim is to peak for the The Welcome to Texas Tournament in San Antonio on May 27-28. All other competition before that is important but more focused on individual and team development.

TCC Recap

Hardware! We had a very successful Texas Challenge Cup just prior to Spring Break. Check out photos from our experience here (add any you might have.)

Both the boys 18u and 14u teams placed second in the Silver bracket of their tournaments, two rosters full of brand new players. Meanwhile, Our 10u players placed third overall with the Longhorns, Ilay and his Longhorn 12u teammates earned second place, and our 18u girls were (in this coach’s opinion) the standouts on Longhorn’s 18u girls roster, which went 2-2. We finished the winter season with a nice collection of hardware, some great experience for our newest athletes in particular, and momentum toward a successful spring. Well done to everyone who participated, and huge thanks to our families for supporting us from the stands and, especially, for working the desks.

Spring Middle School Games

Longhorn Coach Tom has invited our middle schoolers to compete against the team he coaches at St. Stephen’s in Austin. We’ll be consulting with Age Group parents in the coming days but want to play at at least two of the following four available dates at St. Stephens’ pool beginning at 4pm until 5:30: March 29, April 6, April 26, May 3. Plus, Longhorn wants to have a middle school game day at UT on April 13 from 7-9pm. You can plan on us going to that one for sure. This is an exciting time for Central Texas as it’s the first time we’ve ever had specific competition for middle schools.

Roster Calls

Houston Spring Jam

We still have some time but check out the current sign-ups for the Houston Spring Jam, April 1-2. Our 1ou mixed, 12u mixed, and 18u girls athletes will likely be playing for Longhorn unless (of course!) we get enough of our own to sign up.

SW Zone Spring Champs

Played as two separate tournaments – one for 16s and 18s in Lewisville, the other for all other ages at the CyFair Natatorium in Houston – this should be one of the biggest tournaments of the spring if not the whole year.

Program Changes Coming in August

A brief note on some changes that will take place beginning in August. We’ve gotten feedback from athletes and parents about the structure of our program and are going to make some adjustments that all families will be required to acknowledge and agree to prior to re-registering in August, as all families must. The details are in the works but some of the tentative changes include an agreement to be signed by each family acknowledging the club’s expectations regarding training, competing, playing time, uniforms, discipline, communications, and more. Plus, more clarity from the club on our philosophy, which directly affects expectations for our athletes and families. It’s a work in progress so if you have feedback let Coach James know.

JOs Meeting

We’ve scheduled an online meeting regarding Junior Olympics for Friday, March 24 beginning at 7:00 PM. There will be two Zoom links for calls beginning at 7:00 PM and 7:40 PM. My account is limited to 40 minutes so I just set up two meetings, both of which will be recorded so we can share them with you. Keep an eye out for an email and/or GroupMe message with the links.

See you on the deck.

POM Banner

Rudy-Matheo Garcia, February Player of the Month

Some call him Matheo, some Rudy-Matheo; we call him Rudy! And he’s our February 2023 Player of the Month.

Coaches have been watching this young man improve, get faster, work harder, and help lead his team. He’s been a regular performer at practice and in games and is coming on strong both athletically and as a leader. Look for him to be a center for this program for years to come.

Congratulations, Rudy!

#BeYourBest

NISDAquaticCenterJustin1080x720

TX Challenge Cup Preview, LISD Story, and More

, , , ,

Catching up after quite a few weeks. We have a big tourney this weekend so let’s cover that and more.

Texas Challenge Cup

First, we’ll cancel all training this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, March 4-5, since such a huge crowd of us will be competing in North Texas.

As always we’ll try to share all the details regarding the tourney on the Event Page. When in doubt, bookmark that page and check it out. On it includes the schedule, rosters, notes on travel, entry fees, and much more.

Notes on Rosters

  • AQTX 10u will be coached by Longhorn Coach Magaly and maybe our new coach Savvy. Make sure you are meeting with Coach Magaly 30 minutes before your games. (Coach James will be there too if not coaching the 14s.)
  • Longhorn 12u: Ilay can choose to play with the Longhorn 12u team if he wishes.
  • AQTX 14u mixed will be with Coach James. Meet him one hour before your first game each day.
  • AQTX 18u mixed will be with Coach Alon. Same thing: meet him one hour before your first game. Corina and Noelle, your priority is with your 18u girls team; Cash and Rocco, you will focus on the 14u boys team. If and only if you want more playing time then you can play on the 18u boys team; you are not expected to.
  • Longhorn 18u girls will be with Coach Sydney (I believe). Meet 45 minutes before game time, Corina and Noelle. As Thunder has pointed out, please notice that some 18u girls games are at Northwest ISD in Justin each day. Check the schedule!

Requests of our Families

Desk Workers

According to Thunder, the hosts, the tournament has gotten so big they are going to require one worker assigned by each participating team to work the desk. Luckily we have plenty who helped at Spin Lob, whether an athlete who’s not playing in that game or a parent, so we should be covered. We may send out a signup sheet like with did for Spin Lob so please keep your eyes open for that.

Videographers

Starting with this tournament we’d also like every AquaTex game recorded on video so we can review them during Monday training sessions. So if you’d like to give it a try, or have experience doing it, please let Coach James know. For those who might help us with video recording, a couple notes:

Get your zoom in and out ready. What we want to see (and hear) as coaches is:

  • A view of the front court offense in its entirety as tightly viewed as possible while still containing all (or nearly all) of the players. The view should be of one-half of the pool. Close-ups on individual players or pairs are rarely helpful.
  • A view of the entire pool as a team counterattacks. Upon the turnover, zoom out to show the entire pool as both offense and defense convert to the counterattack. You may be tempted to focus on the goalkeeper as he/she holds the ball prior to passing it. Please don’t! It’s exponentially more important that we see what’s happening on the counterattack than what the goalie is doing with the ball.
  • A view of the front court defense in its entirety viewed as tightly as possible while still containing all the defenders.
  • Optional but very helpful: call out the goals and exclusions by cap number kind of as you would if working the scoresheets at the desk. It should be as simple as “Dark 9 goal,” “11 white exclusion,” “2 Dark penalty.”

AQTX, LISD Athletes on KXAN

Check out this KXAN story that features Cash Brown and many of his LISD compatriots who are, along with their parents, working hard to re-instate UIL water polo at Vista Ridge, Cedar Park, and Vandegrift in 2023. Since we have several athletes already or soon-t0-be competing for one of these three schools, we support completely every effort to reverse this silly decision.

You already know AquaTex’s position on the issue: cancelling water polo is as short-sighted a decision a district could make especially after a season in which three schools fielded teams for the first time. What an amazing letdown! I’ll be writing about it more on TXWaterpolo.com in the coming days. Until then, check out these cheerful faces and, if you’re a resident of the LISD, perhaps you could let the administration know you want your UIL Polo back!

Spring Break

We’re consulting as coaches about training during Spring Break, between 11 and 18 March. It is likely that if we have training it will include all groups simultaneously or something like that. Stay tuned.

Lake Creek

Mainly for our newer members, April is approaching which means that the Round Rock ISD will shut down Micky Krebsbach for 2-4 weeks so they can clean the pool, paint the locker room floors, and some other stuff that never seems to include replacing old poorly functioning electrical outlets, installing more storage space, or much at all that directly helps us as an aquatics program (one can be grateful and annoyed at the same time!). But, as usual, we’re not entirely certain when our eviction will take place let alone how long the repairs will take. Just get ready for the jaunt to the East Side: Lake Creek Pool! (And yes, of course we’re hoping the RRAC might be available).

JOs Meeting part Deux

We need to have another online meeting about JOs this summer. I’m going to pencil in on the calendar Friday, March 24 at 7:00 PM online. Let me know what you think. By the way, I created this cool flowchart to help anyone understand how we decide to go to California or Dallas. More links and details forthcoming.

Milestones

Welcome

It’s been a while since we updated the list of our newest members. Thanks to all of you for coming to us and welcome to AquaTex, Rein, Melia, Keegan, Remy, Noelle, Colton, Jake, Emeric, and Ethan, let alone the several who have given us a try but haven’t signed up yet. We hope they will.

Birthdays

And finally, some belated and some forthcoming birthday best wishes. Happy Birthday!

  • Remy, 2/21
  • Aaron B, 2/24
  • Ilay, 2/28
  • Elliott, 3/10
  • JP, 3/24
  • Molly, 3/28

See you on the deck.

POM Banner

Cash Brown, January Player of the Month

No one has put in the work that Cash has since joining us a short time ago. One of the most eager to train, including attending extra practices, he’s shown huge improvement in his limited time with the team. Plus he’s one of very few who were selected to play on an ODP Southwest Zone roster at the recent Super Regionals. We’re super proud and excited to have him as a young leader on AquaTex.

Congratulations, Cash!

#BeYourBest

2023SpinLobPreTourneyCalm

Spin Lob Success, Roster Call

, , , , ,

Spin Lob Thank You

We did it. The biggest hosting effort AquaTex Waterpolo has ever done. The Spin Lob Classic is over and after 38 games our people received big compliments from visiting teams, referees, parents of younger players, and USA Water Polo. I personally want to thank everyone who spent time at one of the desks, helped with hospitality, cleaned up, learned something new, took some of your weekend time to do a good deed. Thank you, AquaTexans! You stepped up when the club needed you and for that I’m grateful.

Our gratitude and thanks to Mark Stohrer and all those who work so hard at the RRISD Aquatic Center (the “RRAC” as far as we’re concerned). They set us up for success and were always there to support our efforts not to mention, were willing to host two days worth of masters water polo. That was the first USA Water Polo event in those pools, and we hope there will be many more, and soon.

My friend and colleague Joe Linehan deserves mention for organizing the entire event and reaching out to AquaTex when he needed another local host. USA Water Polo entrusted us with overseeing the event and we performed well, so can expect similar requests in the future. Plus, the cash money and new water polo balls never hurt.

Roster Call

Yes, we’re planning on going to the Texas Challenge Cup in North Texas on March 4-5. Families can register their interest in playing via our TeamUnify site. Find the event and then either attend/decline or “Edit Commitment.” The deadline is early for this tourney, February 17, so let us know your plans as soon as possible.

2022UILRegionalsTrophies

Training Changes, Roster Call, LISD

, , , ,

Schedule Change

As we just emailed to all our active members our training schedule is changing immediately. A quick note to our Novice and Age Group families. We’d like you to begin your Tuesday/Thursday schedule right away so plan on coming tomorrow and not tonight, Monday.

Given the sheer number of athletes we now have we’re running out of pool space. So we’re changing the schedule to accommodate more bodies and give each group the attention it deserves. This includes the addition of a Tuesday practice and staggered start times on the weekends. (I haven’t yet updated it on the calendar but will).

  • Monday and Wednesday
    • High School Waterpolo, 7-9 PM
  • Tuesday and Thursday
    • Novice Waterpolo, 7-8 PM
    • Age Group Waterpolo, 7-9 PM
  • Saturday
    • Novice Waterpolo, 10-11 AM
    • Age Group Waterpolo, 10 AM – noon
    • High School Waterpolo, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
    • Swim2Score, 11:00 AM – noon
  • Sunday
    • Novice Waterpolo, 9 – 10 AM
    • Age Group Waterpolo, 9 – 11 AM
    • High School Waterpolo, 10 AM – noon
    • Masters Waterpolo, 11:30 AM – 1 PM

Welcome

Speaking of growth, welcome to all the athletes – and their families – we’ve added in the last few weeks: Rein, William, Parker, Colton, Noelle, Elliot, Alyssa, Erica, Keegan, Remy, and Emeric. Did I miss anyone?!

LISD Water Polo

There’s a serious effort by parents, athletes, supporters, and coaches to convince the Leander ISD to reverse it’s decision to drop varsity water polo after just one season. Anyone who’s interested in supporting that cause can start by visiting saveleanderwaterpolo.org.

My opinion:

I have on- and 0ff-the-record opinions of their decision. I’ll reserve the pithier, more annoyed off-the-record one for more personal discussions. Regardless, the LISD decision is short-sighted. And anyone involved in the sport locally knows there are solutions to the problems sited by the District in their decision.

Yes, you can find coaches (they don’t need to be swim coaches).

Yes, you may need to be creative but there is pool time.

Yes, we understand that it would be optimal for every school in your district to support water polo programs, but that simply doesn’t exist in ANY other district in Texas.

We all know these things (and more) to be true.

I admire those who are putting together plans for how parents and students can address these issues positively, offering actual solutions rather than simply bemoaning the decision. Well done. You have my support.

I also have faith that there will come a change of plans by the District. We may not yet be close to that but there appear to be positive forces working toward that end.

And I have strong opinions about what’s going on but feel that as a club coach I need to lend my voice sparingly. Of course I support maintaining UIL water polo, especially at our local schools, for all kinds of reasons. But I could also see how my input might be counterproductive, so I will defer to those of you leading this effort and contribute just about any way you think will help.

Tourneys

Dare to Dream

The rosters are set for this weekend’s Dare to Dream tournament in College Station. AquaTex has entered its first ever 10u team to be led by Coach Babs. It includes Ryan, Grey, Neel, Ilay, Emeric, and a youngster from San Antonio we’ll meet when we’re there. Meanwhile, Clayton and William will play for Longhorn’s 12u team. Such an exciting start for so many of our new players. Make sure you have fun and learn something! We have lots of newcomers so please be sure to join our GroupMe if you haven’t already so Babs can communicate with all our Dare to Dream families. Good luck!

South TX Winter Champs

It’s a one-day championship bonanza in San Antonio on Sunday, Feb 5 for all ages and featuring teams exclusively from Central Texas. AquaTex intends to enter 18u boys, 18u girls, 16u boys, 14u boys, 10u mixed. If you haven’t already indicated your commitment go here and click on the “attend/decline” button. Each roster will play two games but anyone who qualifies for two rosters (those who play on 16u and 18u, for example) can expect four games. Then you can go to Cabo Bobs.

See you on the deck,

handsparkler

New Year Sale, Scrimmage Day, Roster Calls, Parent Meeting

, , , , , , ,

Here’s wishing all our families, athletes, coaches, and supporters a prosperous 2023. We’ve been dormant for only a couple weeks but it seems like a lifetime so we’re excited to resume activities in the coming days.

Training Update

We return in full force on Saturday, January 7, 10:00 AM. Then on Sunday the 8th we’ll host a controlled scrimmage day with Longhorn. The schedule will resemble our game days but we will be a bit flexible. Controlled scrimmage means that coaches will manage the scrimmage with specific goals in mind and likely have an agenda (press vs. Zone defense and 6 on 5 come to mind).

Updated, 2 January 2023

  • 9:00-10:00ish AM, Age Group (12u/14u) Coed scrimmage
  • 10:00-11:00ish AM High School scrimmage
  • 11:00-noonish, Masters

Roster Call(s)

We’re not attending the Cowtown Stampede the weekend of January 7-8 but there’s the Dare to Dream tournament, which takes place on January 28-29, already on our calendar. This tournament is geared entirely toward 12u and 10u athletes. So we want as many of our Novices and Swim2Score athletes taking part. And this season it is being held at Texas A&M.

Also, I have good info that there should be a one-day event in San Antonio for all ages before the end of January. Stay tuned.

Gear: New Year Sale!

To say thanks for your support of the club and to boost our gear wearage (?) we’re having a sale! Use the coupon code NYear23 for a 23% discount on any purchase of Printful gear from the AquaTex Waterpolo Shop. The discount does not apply to RYTE suits. The sale ends on January 16 so order soon.

Finances

I’m way behind on tournament finances (someone kindly gave me a kick in the pants about it.) I’ll have specific charges for families who still owe me for participating at one of the three tournaments below soon. But if you notice via your Venmo records that you haven’t paid me for any or all of these, feel free! My Venmo handle is @sadhuminstrels. And for those who may be newer to our program, I do pay for tournaments myself (entry fees, coaches’ lodging, fuel per diem), thus the request for Venmo payments to directly reimburse me. Please remember, the charge is per roster, meaning that if your athlete played both 16u and 18u games they owe the fee below times two.

  • Alamo Classic (18u/16u), Nov 5-6, $65
  • TAGS, Nov 19-20, $75
  • Jingle Bells Festival, Dec 17-18, $61

Parent Meeting for JOs

That’s right. The start of 2023 means we have to start planning for JOs. On January 10 at 7:00 PM I’ll be hosting an online meeting where I’ll share our current plans for Junior Olympics in the summer of 2023 and ask for you feedback about expectations. The biggest question for each team: do we want to qualify to go to California or do we want to play in North Texas? Our friends from Longhorn will be having a similar discussion and our coaching staffs will coordinate as much as necessary. Look for a link to the meeting via GroupMe as that date approaches.

International AquaTex

Given the very serious and fantastic international flavor of our club we’re making a multi-lingual tee-shirt on which we’ll print “waterpolo” in as many languages that are spoken within our families. That includes, but is not at all limited to: Spanish, Italian, Korean, Hebrew, Russian, Ukrainian, Swedish, Nepali, Hindi, Cantonese, Vietnamese, French, English… Surely there are more so please contact me if your family actively speaks a language at home that’s missing from this list.

Happy New Year.

JTJ_5470

Gordon Earns UIL All-Region 3 Honors

, , ,

Aaron Gordon has earned 2022 UIL Second-Team All Region 3 water polo honors as voted on by high school coaches.

As a sophomore, Aaron led Vandegrift HS to its first ever UIL water polo playoff spot where it reached the area finals before falling to regional champions, Austin High.

The news comes a week after 14 AquaTex athletes received All-Region 21 honors as the first ever UIL water polo season came to a close.

All of AquaTex’s coaches congratulate Aaron on his well-deserved selection. Well done, Aaron!

 

 

 

RoRoBoysGirlsFall2022

AquaTexans Atop UIL All-District Prep Teams

, , ,

Coaches from the UIL’s District 21 have selected their inaugural All-Region High School Water Polo teams. We’re exceptionally proud to announce the following AquaTex athletes who were honored by the district.

Water Polo District 21 2022 Girls All-District Team

Most Valuable Player

  • Morgan Spooner

All-District First Team

  • Erica Campbell
  • Nyla Kent
  • Corina Nunziata
  • Morgan Spooner

All-District Second Team

  • Molly Arredondo
  • Noelle Nealis
  • Nichole Wood

Water Polo District 21 2022 Boys All-District Team

Most Valuable Player

  • Riley Dixon

Defensive Player of the Year

  • Declan Graves

All-District First Team

  • Luca De Araujo
  • Riley Dixon
  • Declan Graves
  • James Strauss

All-District Second Team

  • Adlee Colegrove
  • Matthew Dixon
  • Gavin Hantleman

The entire coaching staff congratulates all our athletes on a spectacular first year of UIL water polo capped by this tremendous list of honorees. We expect to see more in the future as the sport grows. You have done your club proud along with your high school!

You can view the entire list of outstanding local athletes here: Water Polo District 21 All-District

#proudcoach

Load More