Central Texas Festival

Here’s basically everything you might need to know about this weekend’s Central Texas Festival.

• 18U/16U Girls & Boys Divisions – Online Schedule/Results
• How to do scoresheets (a very good primer – watch it!)
• AquaTex Volunteer Schedule, Signup
• AquaTex/Zilla Secondary Waiver
• Central Texas Festival – Coach Meeting – 18U/16U Divisions (Zoom meeting Video)
• Tournament Safety Guidelines
• Mikki Pool Layout (Round Rock)
• Specific Pool Rules (Both Pools)
• USAWP Rules Changes for 2020
• USAWP Playing Rules

From Joe Linehan, Tournament Director, to team coaches:

This is the final update for this weekend’s Central Texas Festival – 18U/16U Girls & Boys Divisions on Saturday-Sunday, October 10-11 in Round Rock/Cedar Park.  Below is all the tournament information for the weekend including a schedule link (no changes from previous schedules) and a recording of last night’s Coach Meeting.  PLEASE be aware and make sure your athletes/parents know of the all Safety Guidelines, Secondary Waiver, Mikki Pool Layout (Round Rock), Millburn Pool Layout (Cedar Park), Specific Pool Rules (Both Pools), Athletes/Coaches Game Flow, Switching Ends, Spectators info, etc. for this weekend.  Athletes/coaches can arrive 45 minutes prior to their games. Spectators will not be able to enter the pools until 10 minutes prior to the game. After each game, all athletes, coaches, & spectators will need to leave the pool area as quickly as possible (team meetings outside the pool area).

The referees WILL be doing ID Checks prior to each game (please be prepared).  When you arrive on Saturday for your first game, I will be giving each coach their Team Packets that will include schedules, Game Sheets, etc.  Teams will use the Game Sheets for their ID Checks prior to each game and then turn in a Game Sheet to the table prior to each game.  Rosters will be closely monitored during the event with ID Checks throughout the weekend.  Only those listed on the roster (athletes/coaches) will be allowed to be on the team benches.  We suggest all teams print out their athlete membership cards (can do through the roster portal at the USAWP website).

AquaTex and Zilla are the local hosts of the event with USA Water Polo, and they will be providing table workers/supervisors, safety monitors, and drinks for coaches/referees.  All games will be using the new USA Water Polo rules which went into effect on January 1, 2020 (see links below).  All games will be 4 x 5:00 minute start/stop games.  Each team will receive two timeouts per game.  All games will be played until there is a winner.  Games tied after four quarters will go straight to a shootout.  Below are all details on the event as well as the emails sent previously.

Central Texas Festival – 18U/16U Girls & Boys Divisions –Tournament Information:

• Dates/Locations:  October 10-11, 2020
  • Mikki Krebsbach Pool, 301 Deep Wood Dr, Round Rock, TX 78681 (Outdoor Pool)
  • Elizabeth Millburn Pool, 1901 Sun Chase Blvd, Cedar Park, TX 78613 (Outdoor Pool)
• Teams/Divisions
  • • 18U/16U Girls:  Aquatex, Cowtown, Lone Star/Mavericks, Southside, Thunder, Triumph, Viper Pigeons, Zilla
    • 18U/16U Boys:  Aqua Swift, Aquatex, CFWPC, Cowtown, Gold Coast A, Gold Coast Blue, Lake Jackson, Lone Star/Mavericks, Southside Navy, Southside Silver, Thunder Black, Thunder Silver, Viper Pigeons, Zilla Green, Zilla Yellow

  Round Rock Aquatics/Zilla Water Polo Secondary Waiver:   All participants (athletes, coaches, referees, volunteers, and spectators) will need to sign the Secondary Waiver.  Coaches will need to collect all Secondary Waivers for their team (coaches/athletes) and turn in all signed waivers together into the check-in table when arriving prior to their first game of the tournament.  The referees, volunteers, and spectators need to bring a completed form to the facility and show it to the check-in table each time they enter the facility.

  Central Texas Festival – Safety Guidelines & Procedures:  There will be Safety Monitors on the pool deck throughout both weekends to help enforce the various guidelines, but this will be a team effort from all involved to make this a successful tournament regarding physical distancing (coaches need to be responsible for themselves, their athletes, and their team spectators).  Please be sure to educate your parents about the Safety Guidelines & Procedures.  All participants MUST WEAR MASKS while on deck at the facilities.  If there are any spectators, athletes, and/or coaches who repeatedly refuse to wear face masks while on deck at the tournament and are not following the Safety Guidelines & Procedures,  they will be asked to leave the facility.  If participants still refuse to leave, the game in which the participant is playing, coaching, and/or watching will be suspended and the game forfeited.  Please be proactive with your athletes/parents and help make sure we don’t get to this last step.  Thank you in advance.

  Pool Layouts/Specific Pool Rules/Switching Ends:  Below are links for the Pool Layouts/Specific Pool Rules for both the Elizabeth Millburn Pool in Cedar Park and the Mikki Krebsbach Pool in Round Rock.  The Mikki Pool is an outdoor, heated, 25 yard, all deep 8 lane outdoor pool.  The Millburn Pool is an outdoor, heated, 25 meter/shortened to 25 yard, 8 lane pool with one deep end and the other end at 4.5 feet (quickly slopes to all deep).  We will be switching sides as per USA Water Polo rules.  At the Mikki Pool, teams will switch sides at halftime.  At the Millburn Pool (shallow/deep), teams will switch sides each quarter.  When switching sides at both pools, all athletes will swim to the other side while coaches walk to the other side wearing a mask.

  Athletes/Coaches Game Flow:  Athletes/coaches can arrive 45 minutes prior to their game.  When athletes/coaches arrive at a pool, there will be a designated “ready area” for each team.  At the conclusion of the game immediately before their game and after the teams have vacated the pool/bench areas, athletes/coaches can move to and bring their stuff to the bench to begin their team warm-up (5-10 minutes before the game starts).  At the end of each game, athletes will swim to the bench where they started the game while coaches walk wearing a mask to the same area (essentially switching sides one more time).  Therefore, the last thing an athlete does before getting in the pool for warm-up is take off their mask, and the first thing they do when they get out of the pool is put on their mask.  Thank you for the help in making this happen.

  Spectators:  Spectators WILL BE ALLOWED into the facility (two spectators per athlete) but they will need to show a completed Secondary Waiver form for themselves when coming into the pool each time.  Spectators will not be allowed to come into the facility until 10 minutes before each game (athletes can get to the pool 45 minutes prior to each game).  After each game, all athletes, coaches, & spectators will need to leave the pool area as quickly as possible.   Please note that everyone needs to bring their own chairs as there is very limited spectator seating at both pools.  There will be designated spectator seating for each team.

  ID Checks/Photo ID’s:  The Referees will be doing ID Checks for coaches and athletes prior to each game of the tournament.  All athletes need to be at least Bronze members of USA Water Polo.  All coaches need to be registered with USA Water Polo and updated on their background check, 1st Aid/CPR, Safe Sport, etc.  We recommend that all athletes download a picture with their USA Water Polo account (process takes two minutes).  Teams are responsible for providing their verified team rosters when doing roster checks (specific to this event, provided in team packets).  Teams will need to line up prior to their game in number order.  All teams can print out team membership cards (click print membership cards at the bottom of each team’s final roster).  Athletes can also have individual membership cards (this takes longer than printing out team membership cards).