Registration

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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.

 

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Alamo Success, Girls Training, TAGS, and more

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Alamo Classic

The 18u boys went 4-0 and the 16u boys, featuring several very new 14u athletes, played three very close games versus good opponents this past weekend. I call that a success.

Congratulations to all those who participated and to Coaches Alon and Matt (first timer!) for leading the team to such a positive outcome. And, as always, thanks to our great parents for repping, cheering, and helping the athletes get ready for a  weekend of a lot of water polo

Find final results here and ping me if you want a link to a gallery of great photos from the event.

Parent Meeting

Thank you to all of you who attended and participated in my online parent meeting last Thursday. Much of what follows here will be related to the things we talked about in the meeting. We’ll plan on re-convening likely in January or February to start laying down dates for Junior Olympics 2023.

Programming

We’ve arrived at a point where our training is often too crowded. This is a problem we’ve been hoping to have ever since the club started. So, we are working on new weeknight arrangements so we can keep our training manageable.

First, our aim is to start girls-only practices on Thursdays starting December 1. Coach Babs is taking the lead in training all our girls (we expect y’all back, you know who I’m talking about!) with help from the other coaches when necessary. You can expect to participate at the Cowtown Stampede under Coach Babs, and then start getting prepared for 2023.

If Monday/Wednesday numbers remain high you can expect us to add training on Tuesdays, perhaps for high school athletes only. We’re still working on that.

Weekend practices will remain the same. Since we can use the entire pool on weekends then we can still effectively keep training groups separate if necessary.

And, a reminder that all HS athletes should have a notebook at practice. Plans are to have chalk talks and video review session on Mondays. BUT those sessions could get postponed or changed so have your notebook with you regardless of day.

Player of the Month

We only just formed our new Novice Waterpolo group and already one of our superstars has earned the coaches’ attention. Ilay Lev is the AquaTex Waterpolo October Player of the Month! Congratulations to him.

Communications and TeamUnify

I’ve been contacting some of you about making sure your TeamUnify profile is up to date, that you’re registered for the correct group, that your contact info is correct, etc. As I increasingly use TeamUnify for email and SMS communications it’s important we have all those things up to date. As our numbers have grown (happily) it has become easier to use the TeamUnify platform for these purposes.

Right now it appears that nearly everyone is registered for “Waterpolo,” “Novice Waterpolo,” “Swim2Score,” “Masters Waterpolo,” or “Swim/Polo.” If not, let me know and we’ll ask Coach Mark to switch you to the correct billing/roster group. It definitely matters for communications, billing, and rostering.

Please also check that the email addresses you have added to your TeamUnify accounts are “Verified.” It appears that if they are not verified you may not receive communications from me. Here are instructions.

You keeping your profile up to date is extremely helpful so I appreciate you taking the time to do so.

Roster Calls

  • TAGS for 8th, 6th, and 5th grade and under teams takes place in just a couple weekends. The location has changed to Garland ISD Natatorium instead of SMU. We’ll be working with Longhorn to create rosters for the tourney.
  • The Cowtown Stampede is the last club tourney of the calendar year. We expect to have a pretty large presence with 18u boys, 18u girls, 16u boys, 14u mixed, and hopefully 12u and/or 10 teams as well (could be with Longhorn). Danny Dixon is looking for hotel blocks so make sure you’re monitoring GroupMe for that info, and sign up via TeamUnify.

Team Suits

As I’ve been harping, it’s required for all members to have a team suit. For any of our boys who need to buy a suit I have a fitting kit with me at practice. Make sure you try on one (or more) of the sample briefs to find your proper size. (We don’t ask for fitting kits for jammers because they are so much more forgiving with stretch).

For girls, we are soon going to discontinue the “old” design in favor of the new suit, which is a brand new RYTE product. The suit, I’ve heard, better resembles the fit and stretch of other water polo suits. I’ve heard that’s a good thing.

The suit is so new that RYTE does not have a fitting kit for us. So, you can order one (or more) of the new suits, try it on, and return it if it’s not the right fit. I encourage you to do that prior to Cowtown.

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Alamo Tourney Deets, Fall Game Day, Welcome Coach Matt

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Fall Game Day

Thanks to everyone – athletes, coaches, parents, fans – for coming to our Fall Game Day on October 2 at Micki. It is something we will plan to repeat as the 2022-23 USA Water Polo season continues and our Junior Olympics plans come more in to focus. One of our masters players, Dan, took 500 photos of the game day, which you can find here. Thank you, Dan!

Alamo Fall Classic

I’ve updated details for this weekend’s Alamo Fall Classic in San Antonio including our 8th grade (14u) roster, info on when athletes are expected to meet, uniform requirements, etc. If you are attending the tournament this weekend then take a moment to read the update, and share with any teammates, friends, families who should know.

Player of the Month

In case you missed it, Chase Wadley is our September Player of the Month! Congratulations to him. Read more about it here.

UIL Season & AQTX

The first ever UIL season’s playoffs are here. Congratulations to all our athletes for taking part in this historic season. We wish every one of them luck in the coming weeks as the championship approaches. #BeYourBest

A couple thoughts about the high school season. First, many high school athletes have suspended their AquaTex membership until the UIL season is over. We want all of you to know that we have ZERO problem with that (from my own experience, high school athletes were not allowed to participate in club water polo during the high school season so it’s completely normal to me, Alon, Babs, etc.). To those who have continued to train with us during the UIL season we are very grateful and feel confident we’ve helped you at least somewhat improve while you play for your high school. It’s been a very exciting couple of months.

And, once the UIL season is over for your team then we expect to see you back training with us immediately. We have plans to send improved (and larger) teams to Junior Olympics next summer and that training begins in November. The Alamo Fall Classic for 18u and 16u athletes in San Antonio is in 30 days! So let’s get ready for our best season ever. We’ll see you back in the pool on a couple weeks.

Recruiting

I’m delighted to have spoken to several athletes and parents who are interested in the varsity collegiate recruiting process. High school-age athletes and their families who are even slightly interested in varsity collegiate water polo, it is CRUCIAL that you start planning for that now, even Freshmen. And I cannot urge you more strongly to watch this Zoom video featuring my podcast colleague Joe Linehan, who knows more about the collegiate process than anyone. Please watch it as soon as possible because there may be some misunderstanding about how the process works, scholarships, etc.

Welcome Coach Matt

We’re really excited to have Matt Braun join the AquaTex Waterpolo coaching staff. Matt is originally from Oregon and then played at NCAA Division I Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles where he earned second team All-Western Water Polo Association honors in 2017. He went on to play professionally in the United Kingdom where he also coached youth athletes. He moved to Austin a few months ago and works in (shock!) the technology sector. Welcome, Coach Matt!

Olympic Development Program

I’m delighted to have been asked many times about the Olympic Development Program. And my answer to those who are asking, “should I try it?” is unequivocally: yes. There is only one more camp this season so if you haven’t signed up already please do so as soon as possible because there is a limit to the number of athletes allowed. One important note: Camp #2 for Youth athletes will not be at the RRAC. The site is still to be determined but it’s likely to be in San Antonio. For anyone who has more questions just let me know. I may have a separate post about ODP, why I like it, what it does for you, etc.

Parent Meeting

I’ve checked the calendar and am planning on NOT having a weather-related make-up practice on Thursday, October 13. So let’s plan for an online Parent Meeting that evening at 7:00 PM. As always, if there’s a subject you’d like covered just let me know.

See you on the deck.

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UPDATED: Alamo HS Tourney on Calendar, Masters & S2S Updates, ODP is Here

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Updated 20 September 2022

Practice Cancelled This Weekend

AquaTex Swim Team is hosting its biggest swim meet of the season this weekend so there will be no water polo training (age group, high school, masters, Swim2Score) on Saturday, September 24 or Sunday, September 25. We will have a makeup practice on Thursday, September 22 from 7-9 PM. That training session will be almost exclusively for our Age Group and Novice athletes since there is high school water polo taking place that evening.

The parent meeting for Thursday, September 22, is still on the calendar. We can shift the start time to 7:30 to accommodate those taking kids to practice but let me know how this works, or doesn’t, for you.

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It’s been a while and a whirlwind of activity so let’s get straight in to the update.

First, well done to all our athletes at all our different levels of experience for going 2-2 at the Armadillo Classic up in The Colony. It’s very gratifying that we’re in the position where we can now regularly expect to send teams from AquaTex to these tournaments. And thank you to all the parents, friends, and family who came to support our athletes.

Roster Calls

We have several signed up for the Alamo Fall Classic for our 14u, 12u, 10u athletes but want more! This tournament is in San Antonio so easier to manage than those in North Texas. Make sure to go to your TeamUnify account to commit to the tournament. This applies to our awesome Swim2Score athletes as well! We want a huge 10u team and this is the perfect opportunity for newcomers. Just a reminder that Swim2Score families who want to play in a tourney must be currently registered with AquaTex AND are required to have a Bronze membership with USA Water Polo.

Then, very good news: another San Antonio tournament is on the calendar for our 18u/16u athletes the first weekend of November. Several families have asked when the first chance of the fall would come for high school athletes to compete and now we have that opportunity. So sign up!

Parent Meeting

We had to postpone a parent meeting a couple weeks ago but we’ll re-convene via jit.si on Thursday, September 22 at 7:00 PM. Team members will be sent a link to join the meeting via GroupMe and TeamUnify email. jit.si works on any browser but requires the app to use on your device.

Masters Update

Several updates regarding our masters programming:

  • Beginning this Sunday the hours for masters water polo will change by 30 minutes. It will start at 10:30 AM and go until noon – 30 minutes of warmup in the South pool followed by one hour of all-deep scrimmaging.
  • Some clarification about high school and younger athletes
    • No middle school or younger athletes are allowed at masters scrimmages
    • High school athletes must be approved by AquaTex coaches to play at masters
    • Those select high school athletes who are NOT currently active, registered, paying members of AquaTex must pay the $10.00 drop in fee. AquaTex-registered high schoolers can play masters at no additional cost but must be approved by AQTX coaches.
  • All masters athletes who drop in owe AquaTex $10 per session. We strongly recommend you join AquaTex ($35/month is a bargain) rather than dealing with Venmo payments. But please be sure to pay so we can continue offering masters.

Swim2Score Update

We’ve never had more interest in our Swim2Score program than we do now, so thank you to everyone who has registered and given us a trial run, and to our awesome coaches, led by Babs.

Speaking of registration: a reminder: after your athlete’s two-session trial you must register with AquaTex in order to continue with the program.

Also, we are now requiring all our Swim2Score athletes to join USA Water Polo. There are several options:

  • If you think your athlete will only be participating at our training sessions at Micki and not competing at USA Water Polo tournaments then you can sign up for a “Splashball” membership
  • If you want your athlete to compete at USA Water Polo tournaments (the Alamo Classic, for example) then he or she must be a “Bronze” member of USA Water Polo.
    • (Swim2Score athletes who graduate to the “Novice Waterpolo” group will be required to have a Bronze membership as do all of our high school and age group athletes)

Team Suits

The Turbo Store should be closed for the season now. Given that we are a small club we will continue to work with Turbo as a courtesy to those who choose their product over RYTE. But Turbo is simply not set up to deliver as quickly to our families as RYTE.

A reminder that I’ll have a RYTE fitting kit for boys for the next couple weeks. Come try one on cuz team suits are required for all our (non Swim2Score) athletes. Then order one here.

ODP

USA Water Polos’ Olympic Development Program is around the corner. We encourage our athletes to give the program a try. We’ve been fortunate to have many AQTX athletes take part in the clinics and also selected to travel teams (Regional Championships and boys’ National Championships will both be in San Antonio!). More info here and feel free to ask if you have questions about the program.

See you on the deck,

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Fall Season Update, Training Gear

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Fall Schedule

As we emailed to our membership and trial families a couple days ago, the fall schedule is now complete, subject as always to weather cancellations and re-scheduling when other events are hosted at Micki.

Beginning on Wednesday the 17th, with exceptions for weather and other event conflicts, the schedule will be:

  • Age Group (14u, 12u, 10u) and High School groups
    • Monday, Wednesday from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
    • Saturday from 10:00 AM to noon
    • Sunday from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
  • Swim2Score
    • Saturday from 11:00 AM to noon
  • Masters Waterpolo
    • Sunday from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
  • Novice (a new group starting the first week of September)
    • Monday, Wednesday from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
    • Saturday from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM
    • Sunday from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM

Notes on Training

  • For all weeknight practices we ask our athletes to always bring shoes and be prepared for 20-30 minutes of dryland work (core, legs, fitness, strength).
  • For ALL practices it would be a good idea to bring goggles. We will be doing some specific swim training, especially now at the beginning of the season.
  • Every season we need to revise our training calendar. We select the days/times we practice based on when the swim team is training, and on how we can maximize the amount of time we get the entire deep pool. On weeknights the swim team uses the deep pool until 8pm so we do dryland work and swim in the shallow pool until then.
  • If there’s sufficient demand this fall, which is possible, we have the option to add more weeknight training sessions. For example, we could have an Age Group-only practice on Thursday if it gets too crowded on Monday or Wednesday. Stay tuned. It would be a good “problem” to have.

Tournaments

The Armadillo Classic is updated. It will be hosted at Lewisville Eastside by Mavericks, not by Thunder. Also, OctoPoloFest is no more. It will be replaced by the Alamo Classic in San Antonio. You should plan on all Age Group teams attending that tournament.

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Masters Waterpolo to Return with Full Contact, New Registration

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Masters waterpolo is on a brief hiatus as we make a few changes largely due to our return to full-contact training, which we announced earlier this week, and to better track and communicate with our masters athletes. So there will be a couple things our masters athletes, present and future, need to know and do before we proceed.

First, all masters athletes must register with AquaTex Waterpolo. This is in order to better track attendance, communicate with our participants, and verify current USA Water Polo membership status. There is no cost or obligation for registering. Fees are still $10/scrimmage session in cash or Venmo.

Participants will be asked to sign in at each session. Those who have already registered will simply verify attendance while new participants will provide their names, email addresses, USA Water Polo membership ID numbers, and agree to having read our new Covid-19 Practice and Training Guidelines.

Our estimated date of return for masters waterpolo is Saturday, January 30. We look forward to seeing everyone there ready for some real waterpolo… and registered!