CenTex Consolidated

CenTex Consolidated: 2023 TISCA State Championship

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From the Hosts

The TISCA Water Polo Fall Champs (Non UIL Teams) will be on Saturday, October 14th at the Garland ISD Natatorium in North Texas. The event will be hosted by Garland ISD and Pegasus Water Polo. The eligibility for this event will be non-UIL teams/athletes meaning teams that do not play within the UIL this fall season and athletes who are not playing for any UIL school. The event will be a one day championship event with a Girls Division and a Boys Division (coed teams will play in the Boys Division). Games will be played in two courses running simultaneously and begin Saturday morning and end around 7:00 pm on Saturday evening. Games will be 4 x 6:00 minute quarters using NFHS rules. All teams will be guaranteed at least two games. Below is all the tournament info. Team Registration: Team Entry Deadline is Wednesday, October 4th. To register for the event, please email your team entries (be specific on team names/divisions when entering teams) and bring entry fee checks to the pool the weekend of the tournament (check made payable to “Garland ISD”).

TISCA Water Polo – Fall Champs – 2023 (Non UIL Teams):
Date: Saturday, October 14, 2023. Games will be played in two courses running simultaneously and begin on Saturday morning and end around 7:00 pm on Saturday evening.
Location: Garland ISD Natatorium, 2585 Firewheel Pkwy, Garland, TX 75040
Divisions: Girls Division, Boys Division (coed teams will play in the Boys Division).
Eligibility: All athletes need to be in 9th-12th grade. The eligibility for this event will be non-UIL teams/athletes meaning teams that do not play within the UIL this fall season and athletes who are not playing for any UIL school. Consolidated teams are welcome to enter. Athletes must be in good standing academically to participate (no pass, no play).
Entry Fee: $275 per team. Please bring checks made payable to “Garland ISD” to the pool the day of the event.
Format: Games will be 4 x 6:00 minute quarters. All teams will receive at least two games.
Team Registration: Entry Deadline is Wednesday, October 4th. To register for the event, please email your team entries (be specific on team names/divisions when entering teams) and bring entry fee checks to the pool the weekend of the tournament (check made payable to “Garland ISD”).
Roster Deadline: Wednesday, October 11, 2023. Email your team rosters to
Schedule: An online schedule will be sent to everyone on Friday, October 6, 2023.

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New Coaches, New Athletes, New Competition

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It’s September and aside from the weather it seems like a new beginning for the club. Some important updates for everyone as we welcome a new season with lots of new faces.

New Coaches

We want to welcome four people to the coaching ranks. Sebastian Houng is our newest hire. He comes from Diamond Bar High School in SoCal where he was a record-setting goalkeeper prior to earning a spot at West Point, where he played and coached water polo. He’s now serving in the US Army in Austin.

Anthony Gerakos has graciously joined us to help with our Consolidated HS team in particular. He is another SoCal native who played at Indio High School and now lives in Belton with some young man named Jacob (a long-time member of the club for those who didn’t already know!).

Akriti Mandal and Kailee Seto are AquaTex athletes who join Corina Nunziata as coaches with our Swim2Score program under Coach Babs. All of them have been terrific additions to the staff. Just ask the youngsters who work with them!

Welcome aboard, all of you, and thank you for your dedication.

New Athletes/Families

It’s been a banner fall for the club with a host of new families. It’s an exciting time for the club with the influx of new, young faces. We’re excited to start competing with all of them. Welcome to all of you, and to those yet to join us (we hope you will). Here are a few things for you and for our veteran families.

Parent Meeting

You can plan on an invitation to an online parent meeting in the coming weeks. We have a lot of new faces as part of the program, and lots of veterans as well. We need to share important information about how the club works: competition, communications, training, finances, etc. If you have a topic you want covered be sure to contact Coach James. Very tentatively we’ll put it on the calendar for Thursday, September 21 at 7:00 PM. More to come.

Communications

A quick reminder especially to our newcomers: because we’re part of AquaTex Swim Team you can expect to get emails from Coaches Mark and Marcy that are intended for swim families but not necessarily for water polo families. The emails that pertain specifically to AquaTex Waterpolo will either come from or from an email with aquatexwaterpolo.com domain. In response to an email regarding USA Swimming registration someone asked if that was relevant to water polo families. It is not but if you have any doubts please do contact me.

Roster Calls

You can find these events on our Tourneys page. And for those who might ask, we are trying very hard to field our own teams from now on. I’ve mentioned it many times: we are very pleased with our relationship with Longhorn. And we will continue to communicate with them about fielding joint teams if neither club has enough for its own. But let’s plan on working toward fielding AquaTex-only rosters as much as possible going forward.

The Alamo Classic for 14u athletes is on October 7-8 in San Antonio and we do plan on sending AquaTex teams (12u and 10u in particular). This will be the first competition for many of our athletes, which we’re really excited about. We expect a big turnout so sign up today.

The Team Vegas Founders Cup will be our first ever trip to Nevada. As of now our plans are to take that same 14u team that competed in California at JOs this past summer. Every one of those athletes, except one (!), is eligible. I would like to have a team of 10 athletes committed to travel and play at that tournament by September 22 so we can officially enter. The deadline is October 1 but the tournament is filling up quickly. The sooner we can rally the sooner we can register. So start bugging each other via GroupMe! And, of course, if there are sufficient numbers of 12u athletes then we’ll sign them up too.

TAGS (Texas Age Group Championships), AKA the Texas middle school championships, is now officially on the calendar for November 4-5 in Southlake and Keller. Again, we want a big turnout for this tournament since it marks the end of our Fall season. It’s what we’re training for!

Camps & Clinics

ODP

I’m delighted to hear how many of our families are interested in or already registered to participate in ODP (USA Water Polo’s Olympic Development Program). For our newcomers, you can read more about what ODP is here. Maybe even more important, here is when and where the camps are taking place and for which age groups.

I was the head coach of the Southwest Zone Boys for eight great years so I have a high opinion of the program. Feel free to ask questions about it if you have any. I plan to attend the Cadet Camp #1 at the RRAC on September 17, and I encourage our coaches to do the same. There are some great opportunities to learn from other coaches.

The Perfect Goalie Camp

On September 16 Team USA goalie coach Michael Zellmer will be in Houston conducting two back-to-back goalie clinics. Our goalies are encouraged to attend. And we’ll definitely keep an eye open for other goalie-training opportunities in Texas.

CenTex Consolidated

Our consolidated team has a big weekend ahead with games at the RRAC against both consolidated and UIL teams (exhibitions!). Also, we are looking in to hosting a scrimmage day with other consolidated teams at the end of September. Stay tuned.

See you on the deck.

CenTex Consolidated: Westlake HS Game Day

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Both committed AND tentative athletes.
CapNameGradeSchoolClub
1/14William Lunsford12McNeilAQTX
13/1AJackson (JP) Place9Vista RidgeAQTX
4Cash Brown9Vista RidgeAQTX
7Jacob Gerakos11Lake BeltonAQTX
9Tristan Chamas9VandegriftLH
10Aaron Gordon11VandegriftAQTX
11Ava Chamas11VandegriftLH
12Chase Wadley9East ViewAQTX
15Alexander Savage9VandergriftZilla
16Yuri Alfredo Morales9St. Dominic SavioZilla
17Saar werpoler11Cedar ParkZilla
18Saul JR Gutierrez11LehmanLH
19August Nordstedt12St. Andrew'sLH
13Nethanial Mester10VandegriftNone
14Connor Cox12VandegriftNone
21Remy Lievens9Stony PointAQTX

Zilla has organized a Game Day for consolidated high school teams on Saturday, August 19. These will be coach-refereed games. Here’s the tentative schedule:

Here are my estimated start times. If we don’t have enough girls, maybe we can push all games 20 minutes to allow for morning warm up. Please be sure all kids are registered with USAWP.

9:00am – set up course
9:30am – Central Texas vs. Cedar Park
10:20am – Dallas vs. Houston
11:10am – Central Texas vs. Dallas
12:00pm – Cedar Park vs. Houston
12:50pm – Girls game (if not enough girls, will use this time to catch up if late)
1:40pm – Central Texas vs. Houston
2:30pm – Cedar Park vs. Dallas

Each athlete can expect to pay AquaTex (Coach James) around $80 for three games. It’s possible it will be a lot less than that but it serves as a good estimate.

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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.

 

CenTex Consolidated: 2023 Round Rock Polo Festival

Schedule

Working Roster

Some athletes are tentatively participating.

Both committed AND tentative athletes.
CapNameGradeSchoolClub
1/14William Lunsford12McNeilAQTX
13/1AJackson (JP) Place9Vista RidgeAQTX
4Cash Brown9Vista RidgeAQTX
7Jacob Gerakos11Lake BeltonAQTX
9Tristan Chamas9VandegriftLH
10Aaron Gordon11VandegriftAQTX
11Ava Chamas11VandegriftLH
12Chase Wadley9East ViewAQTX
15Alexander Savage9VandergriftZilla
16Yuri Alfredo Morales9St. Dominic SavioZilla
17Saar werpoler11Cedar ParkZilla
18Saul JR Gutierrez11LehmanLH
19August Nordstedt12St. Andrew'sLH
13Nethanial Mester10VandegriftNone
14Connor Cox12VandegriftNone
21Remy Lievens9Stony PointAQTX

From the Hosts

Round Rock Polo Festival 2023 Hosted by Round Rock High School

Please join us for our first annual Round Rock Polo Festival. Game schedule (times & pairings) will be communicated to your team along with this information. We will play Festival Style (no bracket) with each team guaranteed three games.

Dates: Friday and Saturday, Sept. 8-9, 2023

Location: RRISD Aquatic Center (RRAC), 2801 Gattis School Rd, Round Rock, TX 78664

Game Information: All competitions will run under 2023-24 NFHS Rules

All Games will be 6 minute quarters; 1 minute between quarters, 2- minute halftime, one 2- minute timeout per half. In the case of a tie, one 5-minute “sudden death” quarter will be played (golden goal).

Two pools will be run concurrently. Games on the hour. Pool #1 is located closest to the entrance. Pool #2 is located closest to the scoreboard

Entry Fee: $250 per team. Girls and Boys teams count as two separate teams. Teams may pay through the RRHS Water Polo Booster Club Venmo (see bottom) or through check made payable to RRHS Water Polo Boosters c/o Tom Arredondo, RRHS 201 Deepwood Drive Round Rock, TX 78681

Please bring your check to the tournament or mail it before the tournament date. Booster Club W-4 attached for accounting purposes.

Table Workers: Each team is responsible for supplying a worker to keep stats for their team. Round Rock will supply workers for the time clock.

Concessions: Will be available throughout the two day tournament.

Hospitality: Will be available in the Coaches’ office for coaches and officials only throughout the tournament.

Admission Fee: $15 for a two day pass wristband. Please post the RRHS Water Polo Booster Venmo for your parents so they can purchase tickets in advance.

Parking: Parking information will be emailed to all coaches the week before the tournament. Please contact Coach Arredondo with any questions about the Festival.