JOs Competition

2022 06 27

SOGO Roster Call, Shop’s Open, SWZ Fest Fees

jamesesmith Announcement, News, Schedule/Results JOs Competition, Junior Olympics, Roster Call, Schedule, Sun's Out Guns Out

I’m back from overseas and we’re just a few weeks out from Junior Olympics. Our final chance to compete before the big tournament is July 9-10 in Pearland and we expect all our Junior Olympic athletes to play. So read on about SOGO, TeamUnify, our new Shop and more.

Team Unify

Two requests/requirements of our AquaTex families with regard to our TeamUnify platform. We are experiencing a good problem: the addition of many new athletes. That has made managing information about our athletes and families more complicated. So to simplify that work we’re asking all our families to get used to using the TeamUnify platform more.

Tournament Commitment

Starting with the Sun’s Out Guns Out tournament we want our families to use the “Attend/Decline” feature on TeamUnify to indicate intent to play in a tournament. If you are not logged in to your account it should appear like this.

If you are logged in, it should look something like this. Then proceed to edit your commitment. All the athletes in your family should be listed.

Make sure to note the roster deadline, which is typically 7-10 days before the event, and commit as early as possible so we can plan for the tourney.

For our friends from Longhorn or outside the AQTX sphere, for any particular tournament please let Coach James or Coach Tom know you want to attend so we can put you on our working roster.

USAWP Member Number

While you’re in your AquaTex TeamyUnify account please update your athletes’ USA Water Polo membership number if you have not already. This will be enormously helpful for future tournaments and will take just a couple minutes. AQTX Waterpolo coaches cannot edit this information for you so we’re asking for your help. Thank you all in advance.

SWZ Festival Fees

AquaTex families should have been charged via TeamUnify for participating at the Southwest Zone Festival on June 11-12. Our friends from Longhorn, if you have not already, please use Venmo to pay @aquatex (Mark Parshall) $95 for taking part and note that it for the “SWZ Festival.” I’ll be emailing those families again to follow up. You can expect to do the same for Junior Olympics.

The Shop

We’ve had several orders fulfilled already and our new AquaTex Waterpolo Shop is open for business. There you can find a good and growing assortment of shirts, hats, bags, stickers, and other AQTX branded stuff. And, if you have a request for a new product just let me know (check out the Printful catalog). Tell friends and family too.

Junior Olympics Tee Shirt

Speaking of which, our 2022 JOs t-shirt is now in the store. The vendor says the price will reduce on July 6 so if you want to save a buck you can wait until then. The shirts are optional but our athletes are expected to wear team gear at JOs so show your support!

AquaTex Waterpolo 2022 National Junior Olympics T-Shirt

Training Schedule

Practice on Tuesday, Jun 28 is cancelled due to a swim meet. Practices the weekend of July 9-10 are cancelled due to swim meets as well. We will look for times to make up and may have either online chalk talks or conditioning work in the small pool at Micki. Stay tuned.

2022 06 07

JOs Quals, SWZ Fest, and WTTS Results

jamesesmith Announcement, News, Schedule/Results JOs Competition, Junior Olympics, Schedule, Welcome to Texas Shootout

It’s already here: qualifying for Junior Olympics and the Southwest Zone Festival kick off this weekend. Some more details on that, plus some really excellent results from the Welcome to Texas Shootout.

SWZ Festival and JOs Quals

We are updating our event page quite often and just added Friday’s schedule so take a look again if you haven’t recently. There’s also a bit of an explainer about the difference between quals and the festival for Longhorn/AquaTex teams (not a whole lot, it turns out). Only Longhorn 14u boys and 18u boys will be playing on Friday – that’s one thing we’re certain about.

For our two AquaTex teams – 18u girls, 16u boys – as always meet your team one hour before game time. 18u girls are working with Coach Kendall and 16u boys with me (Coach James). Use the GroupMe groups if you have any questions or issues. Don’t be late!

Welcome to Texas Shootout

It was so gratifying to observe from a distance how we performed at WTTS. In the end, our 16u boys finished third after a very interesting tie-breaker decision that decided the championship matchup (I guess next time we’ll run up the score when we can… or not). The 18u boys finished fifth with a very close game against that good team from Southside. 14u mixed earned a very good fourth place finish and the 12u mixed team got fifth. Congratulations to all our athletes who participated, and to our coaches: Matthew, Kendall, Cole and Tomas. And if you have any more photos from the weekend just let me know and I’ll share a Google Photos link with you where you can upload them.

Upcoming Competition Schedule

Coach Tom and I have discussed our July tournament plans and have decided to skip the Endless Summer Classic and instead focus on the Suns Out Guns Out tournament in Pearland AND North Texas on July 9-10. That’ll serve as our final official competition prior to Junior Olympics.

Training Schedule

A reminder that AquaTex middle school and high school practices will be on Tuesday and Friday only this week. There is no practice for those age groups on Saturday or Sunday, June 11-12. Masters is ON this Sunday from 9:30 to 11:00 AM. Thanks for the big turnout on June 5! And we had a huge turnout for Swim2Score last Thursday. It is ON again this Thursday at 10:00 AM. Check the calendar for the latest on our training schedule.

Coaches News

Summer travel issues have an effect on coaches too, you know. Notice that Coach Alon is traveling in Italy and, surely, elsewhere in Europe until July. And Coach James will be in France for 10 days beginning on June 13. Middle school and high school athletes will be delighted to know that they’ll be in the good hands of Coaches Kendall, Matthew, and Babs throughout that period. Just remember to bring a water bottle!

That’s all for now. See you on the deck.

2022 01 24

2022 Southwest Zone JO Qualifier Tournament & Festival

jamesesmith JOs Competition, Junior Olympics, Tournaments, USAWP Southwest Zone

Schedule/Results

For Longhorn 18u boys and 14u boys only: Southwest Zone NJO Qualifier Schedule/Results

For Longhorn 10u mixed, Longhorn 12u mixed, AquaTex 16u boys, AquaTex 18u girls: SWZ Festival Schedule/Results

IDs and Scoresheets here.

From Coaches Tom and James

Who’s Playing Where and When?

This tournament (really two tournaments) is a new one for us so hopefully this will provide a little clarity about what’s going on.

Longhorn 10U mixed: only playing in the SWZ Festival Saturday and Sunday. Not Friday.
Longhorn 12U mixed: Longhorn is the only Texas 12u mixed team going to CA so we get the top seed! We’ll have no games Friday, and will start playing in the SWZ Festival on Saturday the 11th.
Longhorn 14U boys: 14u boys will play Pegasus and Thunder Friday, 1:00 PM first game, 4:00 PM second game. Those two games will produce 1-3 seeding. We will then play in the SWZ festival Saturday and Sunday.
Longhorn 18u boys: have a single game on Friday, 2:00 PM vs Pegasus. Then will play at the Festival on Saturday and Sunday.
AquaTex 16u boys: Saturday and Sunday only.
AquaTex 18u girls: Saturday and Sunday only.

Working Rosters

These are working rosters based on input from Longhorn and AquaTex families so far. Contact me for a link to the form we are using to record your interest in participating at Junior Olympics this summer if you have not already.

As of 29 June

Age Group/Gender	10u mix	12u mix	14u boys	16u boys	18u boys	18u girls
Qualification Plans	Session 3 in Dallas	Qualify for session 2, NorCal	Qualify for session 1, NorCal	Register Session 3, Dallas	Qualify for session 1, NorCal	Register Session 3, Dallas
	SWZ Festival	JO Quals	JO Quals	SWZ Festival	JO Quals	SWZ Festival
Club	Longhorn	Longhorn	Longhorn	AquaTex	Longhorn	AquaTex
Coaches (?)	Evan	Tom	Evan, Cole	James, Matthew	Tom	Kendall, Alon
Athletes	Calder May Gold, DOB	Daniel Armendariz	Pierce Green	William Wright	Axel Haidt	Addison Rodwell
	Eric Brian Crockett	Laird Green	Nick Musil	Jacob Gerakos	Billy Flukinger	Corina Nunziata
	Claire Green	Sawyer Jayasuriya	Jake Ryan Roberts	James Strauss	Evan Schaffer DOB	Morgan Spooner
	Cia Crowley	Silas Chamas	Zeke Simeloff	Luca De Arajuo	Gavin Orris	Kelsie Warmack
	Jane Harrington	Lennon Beavers	Landon Vickery	David Hennecke	Greysen Gaderson	Kailee Seto
	Grey Benson	Avi Singhal	Finnley May Gold, DOB	Maxwell Vale	Manu Singhal	Akriti Mandal
	Ryan Benson	Robert Roth JOs only	Cruz Crowley	Declan Graves	Matthew Guy	Rowan Hunter
		Rudy-Matheo Garcia	Tristan Chamas	Finnegan Harrington	Owen Murphy	Kendall Strauss
		Isabelle Morrison	Maddox Conte	Adlee Colegrove	Perrin Minter	Cate Sloat
		Alex Catterson (Quals only)	Laird Green	Matthew Dixon	August Nordstedt	Kateryna Ortiz
		William Pemberton Club	Tomás Bellavia	Gavin Hantelman	Kelly Murphy	Molly Arredondo
		John "Wes" Kelly (not CA)		Riley Dixon	Thomas Woodley	Alexandra Lazor
				Max Bisang	Chase Kershner JOs Only	Nichole Wood
					Evan Minter
					Peter Wallace Gold

2022 Junior Olympics Event Info

	Session One	Session Two	Session Three
Divisions	Boys 12U, 14U, 16U, & 18U	Girls- 10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, 18U, Mixed- 10U, 12U	Girls & Boys 14U, 16U, 18U, Mixed 10U, 12U
Play Dates	July 16-19	July 21-24	July 28-31
Location	San Jose, CA area	San Jose, CA area	North Texas
Zones	All- Qualification Required	All- Qualification Required	All- No Qualification Required
JO Expo	7/15/2022	7/20/2022	7/27/2022
Team Registration Deadline	June 1 or 15 days prior to JO Qualifier, whichever comes first	June 1 or 15 days prior to JO Qualifier, whichever comes first	June 1, Registration will re-open for teams that Do Not Qualify for Sessions 1 or 2
Roster Deadline / Lockdown	July 1 / July 8 ($100 fee incurred for roster changes between 7/1 & 7/8. NO changes after 7/8)	July 6 / July 13 ($100 fee incurred for roster changes between 7/7 & 7/13. NO changes after 7/13)	July 13 / July 20 ($100 fee incurred for roster changes between 7/14 & 7/20. NO changes after 7/20)
Coaches Check In/Packet Pick Up*	Friday July 15 from 12:00PM - 6:00 PM	Wednesday July 20 from 12:00PM - 6:00 PM	Wednesday July 27 from 12:00PM - 6:00 PM

Steps for AQTX & Longhorn Athletes

Change your athlete’s club affiliation to AquaTex Waterpolo Club, #24177.
Upgrade to Gold membership
Upload a current passport-style headshot to your USAWP profile
Submit your Date of Birth verification and sign that USAWP Covid Waiver
Join our relevant GroupMe for the most immediate communications and add/invite anyone in the family who should be included. Contact Coach James or Tom for the link.
Check the roster. If we’re missing anyone let us know
Get geared up. Please order now so it arrives before the end of July.
We are extremely likely to have team tee-shirts available soon.
Follow updates regarding all Junior Olympic competition, including the SWZ Festival & JO’s qualifications on our events pages.
Practice! Make sure to practice with your teams but most important is that we expect to see you at our Sunday practices at Micki. They will take place from 9-11 AM unless/until we need to change them. The next Sunday practice will be on June 5.

From the Host

The SWZ NJO Quals will be for those teams trying to qualify for Session #1 or Session #2 and will be played on June 10-12 (Friday-Sunday). On June 11-12 (Saturday-Sunday), we will have a separate tournament named the SWZ Festival for all other clubs/teams in the SWZ. The SWZ Festival is NOT a “seeding” tournament for those teams entered in Session #3. The SWZ Festival is an opportunity for clubs/teams to have a competitive tournament this specific weekend even if they are not trying to qualify for NJO’s Session #1 and Session #2. The intent is to have a large event (both tournaments, same weekend/locations) where all SWZ teams, clubs, and athletes can play and compete. Both tournaments will be in Northwest Houston, locally hosted by the CFWPC. The primary location is the CFISD Natatorium with secondary locations at Cy Ranch HS and Bridgeland HS. Below is all the info on both events.

SWZ NJO Quals – 2022:

Dates: June 10-12, 2022. Games will begin on Friday morning, run all day on Friday/Saturday/Sunday morning, and then end around 4:00 pm on Sunday afternoon.
Primary Location: CFISD Natatorium, 12550 Windfern Rd, Houston, TX 77064. Three all deep courses running simultaneously.
Secondary Locations: Cy Ranch HS and Bridgeland HS. These are single course facilities reserved in case we need to have overflow games on Saturday/Sunday.
Divisions: 18UG, 18UB, 16UG, 16UB, 14UG, 14UB, 12UG, 12UB, 12UM, 10UM
Entry Fee: $600 per team. Payments will be collected when completing the online registration. Clubs will still need to register for NJO’s Session #1 or Session #2 to complete their teams registrations (see email below for more information on the USA Water Polo National Junior Olympics)
Registration Deadline: Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 11 pm (CT)
Online Team Registration: SWZ NJO Quals
Roster Deadline: Thursday, June 2, 2022 at 11 pm (CT)
*Roster Lockdown Deadline: Monday, June 6, 2022 at 11 pm (CT).
Athlete Requirements Deadline: Monday, June 6, 2022 at 11 pm (CT)…Club Affiliation, Birthdate Verification, & Gold Membership.
Ineligible Athletes/Coaches: Any ineligible athletes or coaches will be removed from the roster on June 6th at 11:01 PM (CT), Roster Lockdown Deadline.
Schedule: An online schedule will be sent to everyone in early June (7-10 days prior to the event)
Admissions: There will be an admission charge at all locations.

Tournament Notes:

Four or More Teams in a Division: If there are four or more teams in a specific division, the teams will play games Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to determine qualification/seeding.
Three or Fewer Teams in a Division: If there are three or less teams in a specific division, the teams will play their qualification/seeding games on Friday. On Saturday & Sunday, the teams will automatically be placed in the SWZ Festival and play four additional games. No additional entry fees need to be paid (will need to do a team roster for both events).

SWZ Festival – 2022:

Dates: June 11-12, 2022. Games will begin on Saturday morning, run all day on Saturday/Sunday morning, and then end around 4:00 pm on Sunday afternoon.
Primary Location: CFISD Natatorium, 12550 Windfern Rd, Houston, TX 77064. Three all deep courses running simultaneously.
Secondary Locations: Cy Ranch HS and Bridgeland HS. These are single course facilities reserved in case we need to have overflow games on Saturday/Sunday.
Divisions: 18UG, 18UB, 16UG, 16UB, 14UG, 14UB, 12UM, 10UM
Entry Fee: $600 per team. Payments will be collected when completing the online registration.
Registration Deadline: Friday, June 3, 2022 at 11 pm (CT)
Online Team Registration: SWZ Festival
Roster Deadline: Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 11 pm (CT)
Schedule: An online schedule will be sent to everyone in early June (7-10 days prior to the event)
Admissions: There will be an admission charge at all locations.

2022 Junior Olympics Overview

The USA Water Polo Junior Olympics Championship (JOs) is the largest water polo tournament in the US
2022 JO will consist of three sessions. Session 1 and 2 will be in Northern California. Session 3 will be in the Dallas area.
Different teams from the same club are allowed to choose to attend the California OR Dallas sessions (but the same team can not attend both)
In order to participate in Session 1 and 2 in California, each team will need to qualify for a slot by competing in the Southwest Zone JO Qualifier Tournament in Texas in June. Session 3 will not need qualifier tournament (TBD)
To be eligible to compete, all athletes must be USA Water Polo GOLD members with birth date verification. If your child wants to play in JOs, please make sure to sign up on USAWP for 2022 Gold membership and complete birth date verification prior to June 2022. Also, please upload your child’s photo.

2022 01 24

2022 USA Water Polo National Junior Olympics Session 2 – NorCal

jamesesmith JOs Competition, Junior Olympics, Tournaments

Sessions & Age Groups

Southwest Zone JO Qualifier tournament – June 10-12 in Texas. All age groups, boys and girls. Location TBD
Session 1- July 16-19 in Northern California for Boys 12U, 14U, 16U, 18U
Session 2- July 21-24 in Northern California for Girls 10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, 18U & Mixed 10U, 12U
Session 3 – July 28-31 in Dallas for Girls & Boys 12U, 14U, 16U, 18U, Mixed 10U, 12U, and Girls 10U

2022 Junior Olympics Overview

The USA Water Polo Junior Olympics Championship (JOs) is the largest water polo tournament in the US
2022 JO will consist of three sessions. Session 1 and 2 will be in Northern California. Session 3 will be in the Dallas area.
Different teams from the same club are allowed to choose to attend the California OR Dallas sessions (but the same team can not attend both)
In order to participate in Session 1 and 2 in California, each team will need to qualify for a slot by competing in the Southwest Zone JO Qualifier Tournament in Texas in June. Session 3 will not need qualifier tournament (TBD)
To be eligible to compete, all athletes must be USA Water Polo GOLD members with birth date verification. If your child wants to play in JOs, please make sure to sign up on USAWP for 2022 Gold membership and complete birth date verification prior to June 2022. Also, please upload your child’s photo.

2022 01 24

2022 USA Water Polo National Junior Olympics Session 1 – NorCal

jamesesmith JOs Competition, Junior Olympics, Tournaments

Sessions & Age Groups

Southwest Zone JO Qualifier tournament – June 10-12 in Texas. All age groups, boys and girls. Location TBD
Session 1- July 16-19 in Northern California for Boys 12U, 14U, 16U, 18U
Session 2- July 21-24 in Northern California for Girls 10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, 18U & Mixed 10U, 12U
Session 3 – July 28-31 in Dallas for Girls & Boys 12U, 14U, 16U, 18U, Mixed 10U, 12U, and Girls 10U

2022 Junior Olympics Overview

The USA Water Polo Junior Olympics Championship (JOs) is the largest water polo tournament in the US
2022 JO will consist of three sessions. Session 1 and 2 will be in Northern California. Session 3 will be in the Dallas area.
Different teams from the same club are allowed to choose to attend the California OR Dallas sessions (but the same team can not attend both)
In order to participate in Session 1 and 2 in California, each team will need to qualify for a slot by competing in the Southwest Zone JO Qualifier Tournament in Texas in June. Session 3 will not need qualifier tournament (TBD)
To be eligible to compete, all athletes must be USA Water Polo GOLD members with birth date verification. If your child wants to play in JOs, please make sure to sign up on USAWP for 2022 Gold membership and complete birth date verification prior to June 2022. Also, please upload your child’s photo.

2022 01 03

2022 USA Water Polo National Junior Olympics Session 3 – TEXAS

jamesesmith JOs Competition, Junior Olympics, Tournaments

Working Rosters

As of 29 June

Age Group/Gender	10u mix	12u mix	14u boys	16u boys	18u boys	18u girls
Qualification Plans	Session 3 in Dallas	Qualify for session 2, NorCal	Qualify for session 1, NorCal	Register Session 3, Dallas	Qualify for session 1, NorCal	Register Session 3, Dallas
	SWZ Festival	JO Quals	JO Quals	SWZ Festival	JO Quals	SWZ Festival
Club	Longhorn	Longhorn	Longhorn	AquaTex	Longhorn	AquaTex
Coaches (?)	Evan	Tom	Evan, Cole	James, Matthew	Tom	Kendall, Alon
Athletes	Calder May Gold, DOB	Daniel Armendariz	Pierce Green	William Wright	Axel Haidt	Addison Rodwell
	Eric Brian Crockett	Laird Green	Nick Musil	Jacob Gerakos	Billy Flukinger	Corina Nunziata
	Claire Green	Sawyer Jayasuriya	Jake Ryan Roberts	James Strauss	Evan Schaffer DOB	Morgan Spooner
	Cia Crowley	Silas Chamas	Zeke Simeloff	Luca De Arajuo	Gavin Orris	Kelsie Warmack
	Jane Harrington	Lennon Beavers	Landon Vickery	David Hennecke	Greysen Gaderson	Kailee Seto
	Grey Benson	Avi Singhal	Finnley May Gold, DOB	Maxwell Vale	Manu Singhal	Akriti Mandal
	Ryan Benson	Robert Roth JOs only	Cruz Crowley	Declan Graves	Matthew Guy	Rowan Hunter
		Rudy-Matheo Garcia	Tristan Chamas	Finnegan Harrington	Owen Murphy	Kendall Strauss
		Isabelle Morrison	Maddox Conte	Adlee Colegrove	Perrin Minter	Cate Sloat
		Alex Catterson (Quals only)	Laird Green	Matthew Dixon	August Nordstedt	Kateryna Ortiz
		William Pemberton Club	Tomás Bellavia	Gavin Hantelman	Kelly Murphy	Molly Arredondo
		John "Wes" Kelly (not CA)		Riley Dixon	Thomas Woodley	Alexandra Lazor
				Max Bisang	Chase Kershner JOs Only	Nichole Wood
					Evan Minter
					Peter Wallace Gold

2022 Junior Olympics Event Info

	Session One	Session Two	Session Three
Divisions	Boys 12U, 14U, 16U, & 18U	Girls- 10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, 18U, Mixed- 10U, 12U	Girls & Boys 14U, 16U, 18U, Mixed 10U, 12U
Play Dates	July 16-19	July 21-24	July 28-31
Location	San Jose, CA area	San Jose, CA area	North Texas
Zones	All- Qualification Required	All- Qualification Required	All- No Qualification Required
JO Expo	7/15/2022	7/20/2022	7/27/2022
Team Registration Deadline	June 1 or 15 days prior to JO Qualifier, whichever comes first	June 1 or 15 days prior to JO Qualifier, whichever comes first	June 1, Registration will re-open for teams that Do Not Qualify for Sessions 1 or 2
Roster Deadline / Lockdown	July 1 / July 8 ($100 fee incurred for roster changes between 7/1 & 7/8. NO changes after 7/8)	July 6 / July 13 ($100 fee incurred for roster changes between 7/7 & 7/13. NO changes after 7/13)	July 13 / July 20 ($100 fee incurred for roster changes between 7/14 & 7/20. NO changes after 7/20)
Coaches Check In/Packet Pick Up*	Friday July 15 from 12:00PM - 6:00 PM	Wednesday July 20 from 12:00PM - 6:00 PM	Wednesday July 27 from 12:00PM - 6:00 PM

Steps for AQTX & Longhorn Athletes

Change your athlete’s club affiliation to AquaTex Waterpolo Club, #24177.
Upgrade to Gold membership
Upload a current passport-style headshot to your USAWP profile
Submit your Date of Birth verification and sign that USAWP Covid Waiver
Join our relevant GroupMe for the most immediate communications and add/invite anyone in the family who should be included. Contact Coach James or Tom for the link.
Check the roster. If we’re missing anyone let us know
Get geared up. Please order now so it arrives before the end of July.
We are extremely likely to have team tee-shirts available soon.
Follow updates regarding all Junior Olympic competition, including the SWZ Festival & JO’s qualifications on our events pages.
Practice! Make sure to practice with your teams but most important is that we expect to see you at our Sunday practices at Micki. They will take place from 9-11 AM unless/until we need to change them. The next Sunday practice will be on June 5.

From the Host

SWZ NJO Quals – 2022:

Dates: June 10-12, 2022. Games will begin on Friday morning, run all day on Friday/Saturday/Sunday morning, and then end around 4:00 pm on Sunday afternoon.
Primary Location: CFISD Natatorium, 12550 Windfern Rd, Houston, TX 77064. Three all deep courses running simultaneously.
Secondary Locations: Cy Ranch HS and Bridgeland HS. These are single course facilities reserved in case we need to have overflow games on Saturday/Sunday.
Divisions: 18UG, 18UB, 16UG, 16UB, 14UG, 14UB, 12UG, 12UB, 12UM, 10UM
Entry Fee: $600 per team. Payments will be collected when completing the online registration. Clubs will still need to register for NJO’s Session #1 or Session #2 to complete their teams registrations (see email below for more information on the USA Water Polo National Junior Olympics)
Registration Deadline: Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 11 pm (CT)
Online Team Registration: SWZ NJO Quals
Roster Deadline: Thursday, June 2, 2022 at 11 pm (CT)
*Roster Lockdown Deadline: Monday, June 6, 2022 at 11 pm (CT).
Athlete Requirements Deadline: Monday, June 6, 2022 at 11 pm (CT)…Club Affiliation, Birthdate Verification, & Gold Membership.
Ineligible Athletes/Coaches: Any ineligible athletes or coaches will be removed from the roster on June 6th at 11:01 PM (CT), Roster Lockdown Deadline.
Schedule: An online schedule will be sent to everyone in early June (7-10 days prior to the event)
Admissions: There will be an admission charge at all locations.

Tournament Notes:

Four or More Teams in a Division: If there are four or more teams in a specific division, the teams will play games Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to determine qualification/seeding.
Three or Fewer Teams in a Division: If there are three or less teams in a specific division, the teams will play their qualification/seeding games on Friday. On Saturday & Sunday, the teams will automatically be placed in the SWZ Festival and play four additional games. No additional entry fees need to be paid (will need to do a team roster for both events).

SWZ Festival – 2022:

Dates: June 11-12, 2022. Games will begin on Saturday morning, run all day on Saturday/Sunday morning, and then end around 4:00 pm on Sunday afternoon.
Primary Location: CFISD Natatorium, 12550 Windfern Rd, Houston, TX 77064. Three all deep courses running simultaneously.
Secondary Locations: Cy Ranch HS and Bridgeland HS. These are single course facilities reserved in case we need to have overflow games on Saturday/Sunday.
Divisions: 18UG, 18UB, 16UG, 16UB, 14UG, 14UB, 12UM, 10UM
Entry Fee: $600 per team. Payments will be collected when completing the online registration.
Registration Deadline: Friday, June 3, 2022 at 11 pm (CT)
Online Team Registration: SWZ Festival
Roster Deadline: Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 11 pm (CT)
Schedule: An online schedule will be sent to everyone in early June (7-10 days prior to the event)
Admissions: There will be an admission charge at all locations.

2022 Junior Olympics Overview

The USA Water Polo Junior Olympics Championship (JOs) is the largest water polo tournament in the US
2022 JO will consist of three sessions. Session 1 and 2 will be in Northern California. Session 3 will be in the Dallas area.
Different teams from the same club are allowed to choose to attend the California OR Dallas sessions (but the same team can not attend both)
In order to participate in Session 1 and 2 in California, each team will need to qualify for a slot by competing in the Southwest Zone JO Qualifier Tournament in Texas in June. Session 3 will not need qualifier tournament (TBD)
To be eligible to compete, all athletes must be USA Water Polo GOLD members with birth date verification. If your child wants to play in JOs, please make sure to sign up on USAWP for 2022 Gold membership and complete birth date verification prior to June 2022. Also, please upload your child’s photo.

2021 05 09

USA Water Polo National Junior Olympics Session 3 – TEXAS

jamesesmith Deadlines, JOs Competition, Junior Olympics, North Texas, Southwest Zone Championships, Tournaments

USAWP Pool/Hotel Map	USAWP Blocked Hotels
TX JOs “Hot” Results	Tourney Schedule
Coaches: Know Before you Go

Competition Week

Finally! Now some details on our actual first day of competition as Longhorn.

For the first game of the day (and all others for 16u boys) plan to arrive one hour prior to listed start time to allow for locating the facility and pool site. A link to a map of all the locations is above. Your team coach will use the GroupMe to tell you where athletes are meeting pregame (contact Coach James or Coach Tom if you’re not on the GroupMe).

Update: I’ve removed first day game info because there were some changes made by USAWP after we first published it. Rely on the tourney schedule for locations and game times.

Team Info

10U Coed

Head Coach Evan Sayer

12U Coed

Head Coach Becca Andrew

14U Boys

Head Coach Tom Andrew; Assistant, Kendall Katusak

16U Boys

Head Coach, James Smith; Assistants Alon Yoeli, Matthew Smiley

18U Girls

Head Coaches: Allie Hill and Alon Yoeli

18U Boys

Head Coach Cole Kershner; Assistant, Matthew Smiley

Key Deadlines/Events for AQTX and Longhorn Families

Date	Deadline/Event
Tuesday, May 25	Commitment Deadline: Athletes/parents will need to register online for the event with AquaTex and Longhorn
Thursday, May 27	Online team registration deadline for the Southwest Zone Champs (NJO Qualifier)
Monday, June 7	SWZ Zone Championships Roster Deadline (must be on roster to play at JOs)
Wednesday, June 9	Athlete Requirements Deadline: athletes must be affiliated with their club via the USAWP portal, must be current members with Gold status, and provide birth certificate verification of their age. No exceptions.
Wednesday, June 9	SWZ Zone Roster Lockdown Deadline. Roster changes made between June 7-9 incur a $100 penalty. No roster changes after June 9, no exceptions
Fri-Sun, June 11-13	Southwest Zone Champs (NJO Qualifier), Cy-Fair Natatorium
Thursday, July 22 (est.)	Final payment due for NJO’s trip costs
Sunday, July 25 (est.)	Final rosters, schedules, detailed itinerary, etc. will be emailed
Thu - Sun, July 29 – Aug 1	National Junior Olympics Session 3, North Texas

Teams

Longhorn and AQTX have begun accounting for all the athletes who are eligible for which teams this summer at JOs. And the news is good. Based on the total number of our players, plus some estimates regarding who is interested in going, we are aiming to field the following teams at JOs and SWZ Quals. The numbers take into account the ages of our athletes as of 8/1/2021. We can enter multiple teams per age group if the numbers of athletes are sufficient. Athletes CAN play up with older age groups as long as they are listed on all relevant team rosters.

Age Group/Gender	12u mix	18u boys	18u girls
Qualification Plans	Qualify for session 2, NorCal	Qualify for session 1, NorCal	Register Session 3, Dallas
	JO Quals	JO Quals	SWZ Festival
Club	Longhorn	Longhorn	AquaTex
Coaches (?)		Tom	Alon, Kendall


Athletes	Daniel Armendariz	Axel Haidt	Helen Randle
	Laird Green	Billy Flukinger	Sonia Randle
With TU	Sawyer Jayasuriya	Evan Schaffer	Bridget Guy
Signups 5/9	Silas Chamas	Gavin Orris	Cate Sloat
	Lennon Beavers	Greysen Gaderson
	Robert Roth	Manu Singhal
	Rudy- Matheo Garcia	Matthew Guy	Morgan Spooner
	Isabelle Morrison	Owen Murphy	Corina Nunziata
		Perrin Minter	Flora Garcia
	William Pemberton	August Nordstedt	Izzy Spencer
	Alex Catterson	Kelly Murphy	Kendall Strauss
		Thomas Woodley
		Chase Kershner	Amanda Easter
		Evan Minter

		Peter Wallace

Asked Questions

Athletes must compete at Southwest Zone Championships on June 11-13 to be eligible to play at JOs in July.
- USA Water Polo’s Olympic Development Program (ODP) has no connection with Junior Olympic competition. There is no requirement to participate in one in order to compete in the other.
USA Water Polo allocates limited numbers of spots for each Zone to compete at JOs. The number of teams per age/gender category are yet to be published but based on past experiences we are confident that at least one of each of our teams will qualify.
Athletes will need to be Gold members of USA Water Polo prior to Southwest Zone Championships.
Athletes are required to be affiliated with the club for which they are competing. We will provide a deadline for families to make necessary changes depending on which club will be the “lead” for each team.
AQTX and Longhorn will not be making travel arrangements for participating families, including ground transportation in North Texas.
Costs per athlete will cover coaches’ travel and time, tournament entry fees, and miscellaneous costs associated with participating. Amount and method of payment TBD.
Athletes will likely be required to have team gear (suit, shirt) for the trip (check out our online store!)

2021 04 01

Southwest Zone National Junior Olympics Qualifiers

jamesesmith Cy-Fair, JOs Competition, Junior Olympics, Southwest Zone Championships, Tournaments, USAWP Southwest Zone

Required for any athlete interested in playing at National Junior Olympics (simplified to “JOs”). Follow that link for more details on both SWZ Quals and JOs.

Locations Map

All 18u and 16u matches: Cy-Fair Natatorium, 12550 Windfern Rd B, Houston, TX 77064
All 12u matches: Bridgeland High School, 10707 Mason Rd, Cypress, TX 77433
All but one 14u match: Cypress Ranch High School, 10700 Fry Rd, Cypress, TX 77433

Schedules/Results

18u & 16u boys/girls 14u & 12u boys/girls

Zone Championships and JOs Details

Rosters

Click the button below to see the latest list of athletes committed to the event.

Live Rosters

Spectators/Admissions

SWZ NJO Quals – Admissions: $30/Three Day Pass, $20 Saturday & Sunday Pass. Children 10U are free. Athletes participating in the event do not need to purchase tickets (they will receive a deck pass the first day of the event). Tickets are only available online. Please bring proof of purchase to the pool for the event. Spectators will be asked to leave the facility immediately after the conclusion of their games due to capacity issues.

Key Dates

Date	Deadline/Event
Tuesday, May 25	Commitment Deadline: Athletes/parents will need to register online for the event with AquaTex and Longhorn
Thursday, May 27	Online team registration deadline for the Southwest Zone Champs (NJO Qualifier)
Monday, June 7	SWZ Zone Championships Roster Deadline (must be on roster to play at JOs)
Wednesday, June 9	Athlete Requirements Deadline: athletes must be affiliated with their club via the USAWP portal, must be current members with Gold status, and provide birth certificate verification of their age. No exceptions.
Wednesday, June 9	SWZ Zone Roster Lockdown Deadline. Roster changes made between June 7-9 incur a $100 penalty. No roster changes after June 9, no exceptions
Fri-Sun, June 11-13	Southwest Zone Champs (NJO Qualifier), Cy-Fair Natatorium
Thursday, July 22 (est.)	Final payment due for NJO’s trip costs
Sunday, July 25 (est.)	Final rosters, schedules, detailed itinerary, etc. will be emailed
Thu - Sun, July 29 – Aug 1	National Junior Olympics Session 3, North Texas

Tournament Info (USAWP)

From USA Water Polo

All SWZ teams must enter the SWZ NJO Quals AND NJO’s by Thursday, May 27th in order to play at the USAWP National Junior Olympics Session #3, July 29-August 1 in North Texas. All athletes must still be gold members of USAWP, have their age verification complete, and be affiliated with the club they intend to compete at SWZ NJO Quals and NJO’s. The SWZ NJO Quals will be in Northwest Houston locally hosted by the CFWPC. The primary location is the CFISD Natatorium with secondary locations at Cy Ranch HS and Bridgeland HS. If only 1-2 teams enter a specific division, this division/teams will not play at the SWZ NJO Quals (and their Quals entry fee will be refunded).

Below is all the basic info for the upcoming SWZ NJO Quals and the SWZ NJO Quals/NJO’s Registration Process.

Dates: June 11-13, 2021. Games will begin on Friday morning, run all day on Friday/Saturday/Sunday morning, and then end around 4:00 pm on Sunday afternoon.
Primary Location: CFISD Natatorium, 12550 Windfern Rd, Houston, TX 77064. Two all deep courses running simultaneously.
Secondary Locations: Cy Ranch HS and Bridgeland HS. These are single course facilities reserved in case we need to have overflow games on Saturday/Sunday.
Athlete Requirements Deadline: Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 11 pm (CT), Roster Lockdown Deadline. Club Affiliation, Birthdate Verification, & Gold Membership.
Ineligible Athletes/Coaches: Any ineligible athletes or coaches will be removed from the roster on June 9th at 11:01 PM (CT), Roster Lockdown Deadline.
Schedule: An online schedule will be sent to everyone in early June (7-10 days prior to the event)
Spectators: Spectators will be allowed into the facilities for the games. There will be an admission charge at all locations.
Streaming: Clubs/teams will be allowed to provide a videographer for live streaming while providing their own equipment, platform, and wifi.
Tournament Hotel: There is no official tournament hotel [contact Danny Dixon for info on AquaTex’s unofficial hotel of choice]

National Junior Olympics Session 3, North Texas

Final zone allocations will be announced after June 1st. There will be a NJO Expo in North Texas. All-American selections will be made for each session. The facilities we have secured [for JOs in North Texas] will be allowing spectators to watch games (pools located throughout North Texas). Athletes may play in multiple divisions, but can only play for a single club. All updated info for Session #3 will be located at USAWP National Junior Olympics website.

Longhorn (AQTX) Fielded Teams

Age Group/Gender	12u mix	18u boys	18u girls
Qualification Plans	Qualify for session 2, NorCal	Qualify for session 1, NorCal	Register Session 3, Dallas
	JO Quals	JO Quals	SWZ Festival
Club	Longhorn	Longhorn	AquaTex
Coaches (?)		Tom	Alon, Kendall


Athletes	Daniel Armendariz	Axel Haidt	Helen Randle
	Laird Green	Billy Flukinger	Sonia Randle
With TU	Sawyer Jayasuriya	Evan Schaffer	Bridget Guy
Signups 5/9	Silas Chamas	Gavin Orris	Cate Sloat
	Lennon Beavers	Greysen Gaderson
	Robert Roth	Manu Singhal
	Rudy- Matheo Garcia	Matthew Guy	Morgan Spooner
	Isabelle Morrison	Owen Murphy	Corina Nunziata
		Perrin Minter	Flora Garcia
	William Pemberton	August Nordstedt	Izzy Spencer
	Alex Catterson	Kelly Murphy	Kendall Strauss
		Thomas Woodley
		Chase Kershner	Amanda Easter
		Evan Minter

		Peter Wallace

Longhorn

After discussing it with Coach Tom we’ve decided to compete as Longhorn this summer. By far the biggest reason why is that Longhorn simply has more athletes than we do. We could, for example, compete as AquaTex with our 16u boys because we have the most athletes. But some want to play for multiple rosters (16u and 18u for example), which would not be allowed if one team was AquaTex and the other Longhorn.

Earlier there was some doubt that Longhorn would be allowed by the University to compete under the Longhorn name. That has been clarified and now the club is allowed to do so.

We also felt it was better to field stronger teams combined with Longhorn rather than weaker ones with just AquaTex athletes. We could easily field our own 16u boys team, but it would include younger athletes that we’d prefer to compete within their own age group.

An imperfect solution but one I think is worth taking, especially given our good relations with Longhorn.