Milestones

PoloMickiSunset

SWZ Spring Champs Schedule, JOs Registration, Milestones and More

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Let’s get right in to it.

Junior Olympics Registration

A quick reminder and update regarding our plans for Junior Olympics this summer. As of today we are fielding two teams: 14u boys, who will attempt to qualify for Session 1 of the tournament in Southern California, and 18u boys who will forego qualifying and directly enter Session 3 of the tournament to be held in North Texas. As of today all other AquaTex athletes who want to play at JOs will be placed on Longhorn rosters, specifically 10u mixed, 12u mixed, and 18u girls. There is some chance that Longhorn will also field a 14u girls team. But if not, then we’ll partner with AAAA.

If there are enough athletes committed to any age group then our strong preference is to take AquaTex teams to JOs. We love our relationship with Longhorn but want to field our own teams as much as possible.

All four JOs-related tournaments are now open for registration via TeamUnify so go ahead and indicate whether you plan to attend via that.

This is a subject that probably deserves another Zoom meeting so plan on one in the next couple weeks.

Tee-shirt Design

Each year we produce an AquaTex Junior Olympics tee-shirt. Who wants to design this summer’s? The competition is wide open. We’ll set a deadline for submissions but feel free to get working on one (or more) design ideas now. Make sure you follow Printful’s design rules and file guidelines.

Gear

Speaking of team tee-shirts, we now have four items in our shop from Arena, including a customizable team backpack (would be sweet to show up at JOs, everyone wearing one of them!), parka, warmup jacket, and polo shirt. Check out the Arena collection here.

Oh, and your hard work volunteering at SpinLob has paid off: new caps!

Southwest Zone Spring Champs

The schedule is out. A 10am start on Saturday is downright civilized! The team will be led by Coaches James and Savvy unless Babs’ travel schedule miraculously frees her up for the weekend. We’ll see you (again) in Cypress, one hour before the first game.

Training Schedule Update

May 6-7

Coaches Alon and Matt will run practices this weekend, May 6-7. All athletes will practice together for two hours: Saturday 10-noon, Sunday 9-11. No staggered practices.

Summer Schedule

Beginning on May 27 our summer schedule will go in to effect. As of today the summer schedule will be:

High School Waterpolo Training Group
– Tuesday 7 – 9 PM
– Friday 7:15 – 9:15 PM
– Saturday (select): 10 AM – noon
– Sunday: 10 AM – noon

Age Group Waterpolo Training Group
– Tuesday 6-8 PM
– Friday 7:15 – 9:15 PM
– Saturday (select): 9 AM – 11 AM
– Sunday: 9 AM – 11 AM

Novice Waterpolo Training Group
– Tuesday 6-7 PM
– Friday 7:15 – 8:15 PM
– Saturday (select): 9 AM – 10 AM
– Sunday: 9 AM – 10 AM

Swim2Score
– Sunday 10 AM – 11 AM

Masters Waterpolo
– TBD

Also note that there may be schedule changes coming for the month of May itself as Round Rock Dolphins begin their swim season next week.

CenTex Consolidated High School Team

We’re going to attempt to field a team of high schoolers this fall who do not have a UIL team to play for. And, the good news is that Houston will also be fielding a consolidated team in addition to the one in Dallas. So there’s competition to be had for those who want it. If you haven’t already, fill out this form to show your interest, and please do share it with anyone you know who wants to play high school water polo this fall.

Milestones

There are a ton! First, congratulations to Colton for earning the coaches’ April Player of the Month honors. Well done.

Look how many AquaTexans have May birthdays!

William, May 8
Isabelle, May 3
Reinhold, May 21
Josh D., May 19
Colton, May 13
Parker, May 13
Adrian, May 7
Ethan, May 17
Ryan, May 8
Kailee, May 24

Happy birthday to all of you.

And welcome to Devin and Imran. Devin gave us a try a couple weeks ago and we’re looking forward to having him back. Imran is jumping in with us this weekend. Welcome aboard to both of them.

Requests for Services

It would be nice to rehabilitate the goals that we own (actually, two goals are Coach James’ and the other older goals are, basically, Round Rock High School’s, kinda) so we’re looking for potential vendors who could do several things with them, including but not at all limited to:

  • Stripping and repainting or powder coating the metal frame
  • Replace the current nets and ropes
  • Replace any screws, eyelets, etc that are missing
  • Replace broken plastic hinges with something more durable
  • Re-attach the foam in a way that actually floats the cages and doesn’t fall out

The stripping and repainting are by far the most important but we figured we’d ask for everything. If anyone has advice about someone who would do that kind of work at a reasonable price please contact Coach James.

CyFairNatatoriumLobby

Spring Jam Preview, Weekend Schedule Change, Milestones

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Another big tourney this weekend. We cover that a little plus more.

Spring Jam Details, Weekend Training Schedule

First, youth training this weekend will begin at the scheduled time but practices will not be staggered. That means that all age groups (14u, high school, novice) will start at 10 AM on Saturday, 9 AM on Sunday. Swim2Score will remain the same time, 11:00 AM on Saturday. Masters on Sunday will go from 10:30 to noon.

As always we’ll try to share all the details regarding the Spring Jam 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

  • Longhorn 10u will be coached by Coach Molly. Make sure you’re meeting with her or an assistant 30 minutes before your games.
  • Longhorn 12u: Ilay, Neel, and Clayton are on that roster. Time permitting, Ilay can also play for the AquaTex 14u mixed team. Coach Magaly will be in charge. Meet 30 minutes before your first game.
  • AQTX 14u mixed will be with Coaches Savvy and James. Meet them one hour before your first game each day.
  • AQTX 18u boys will be with Coach James. Same thing: meet him one hour before your first game each day. 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. Note that there are four Longhorns on that roster: Jackson (not JP!), JR, Sam, and Campbell.
  • Longhorn 18u girls will be with Coach Tom. Meet 45 minutes before game time, Corina Noelle and Erica!

Requests of our Families

Videographers

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.”

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!

Milestones

Welcome

We’re so happy to keep growing, adding new young members. In March we welcomed Ryan, Ethan, Jacob B., Rachel, Josh, and Brodie. Welcome to the club all of you and your families.

Birthdays

And now, April birthdays. Happy Birthday!

  • Rachel, 4/13
  • Diego, 4/27

See you on the deck.