Tournaments

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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.

2023 (Fall) Texas Age Group Championships (TAGS)

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Sign Up

Click here, find the corresponding event, then log in to your GoMotion account to register your athlete for it. You will not be able to sign up for this event if you are not currently registered with AquaTex.

Current Working Rosters

Based on age-as-of 8/1/2023
10um12um14um18um
Tristan MillerNeel RamanathanWilliam PembertonEthan Clark
Andrew MorrisseyMargaret MorrisseyIsabelle MorrisonMaxwell Tsukerman
Oliver WittenJonas GardnerElliot BronstheynAdlee Colegrove
Oliver MorrisseyIlay LevAnnika LeeRachel Delk
Emeric ColegroveClayton WaterburyAustin LewisJacob Gerakos
Graham GardnerPreston BernardJoshua DelkGavin Hantelman
Helen MorrisseyKnox EdmondsColton NealisAaron Gordon
Delton ChenParker NealisCorina Nunziata
Yong-Jia LeeJackson PlaceElvis Lee
Remy LievensWilliam Lunsford
Kenneth Brown
Jordan Baek
Chase Wadley

From the Hosts

The TAGS Water Polo Champs will be on Saturday – Sunday, November 4-5, 2023 in North Texas at the Southlake-Carroll ISD Aquatics Center and the Keller ISD Natatorium. This tournament is the “State Championship” for the 14U/12U/10U athletes played during the same season as the high school season. The event will be a two-day event with five all deep courses running simultaneously (including a dedicated 10U course). Games will begin on Saturday morning, run all day on Saturday/Sunday morning, and then end around 4:00 pm on Sunday afternoon. The tournament will be hosted by the Southwest Zone with the local hosts being Cowtown at Keller and Thunder at Southlake. All teams are guaranteed to play 4-5 games in a “Championship” style format with placing games/awards for all divisions. Below is all the information on the tournament. Online Team Registration: TAGS Water Polo Champs – 2023 (must be logged in at USAWP website to register).

There will be five divisions for the TAGS Water Polo Champs – 2023: 8th Grade & Younger Boys/Mixed, 8th Grade & Younger Girls, 12U Boys/Mixed, 12U Girls, and 10U Mixed (Age as of Date is Saturday, November 4th). The older division’s criteria is 8th Grade & Younger ONLY (no age group criteria). The 12U and 10U Divisions will be based on an athlete’s age as of the first day of the tournament with no grade criteria (this is new for this event in 2023). As needed, we will create A/B Divisions based on the number of teams that enter the event (have awards for all divisions, including B Divisions). This will be a USA Water Polo sanctioned event using USA Water Polo rules & regulations. The TAGS Water Polo Champs will be a great event for all involved.

TAGS Water Polo Champs – 2023:
Dates: November 4-5, 2023. Games will begin on Saturday morning, run all day on Saturday/Sunday morning, and then end around 4:00 pm on Sunday afternoon.
Locations:
12U & 10U Divisions: Keller ISD Natatorium, 1000 Bear Creek Pkwy, Keller, TX 76248. Three all deep courses running simultaneously including a dedicated 10U Course.
8th Grade & Younger Divisions: Southlake-Carroll ISD Aquatics Center, 1501 W Southlake Blvd, Southlake, TX 76092. Two all deep courses running simultaneously.
Divisions: 8th Grade & Younger Boys/Mixed, 8th Grade & Younger Girls, 12U Boys/Mixed, 12U Girls, and 10U Mixed (Age as of Date is Saturday, November 4th).
Entry Fee: $650 per team. Payments will be collected when completing the online registration.
Registration Deadline: Sunday, October 22, 2023 at 11 pm (CT)
Online Team Registration: TAGS Water Polo Champs – 2023 (must be logged in at USAWP website to register)
Roster Deadline: Wednesday, November 1, 2023 at 11 pm (CT)
Schedule: An online schedule will be sent to everyone on Friday, October 27, 2023

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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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Pre-JOs Session 3 Update, Summer Break, Fall Scheduling

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AquaTexans, we have arrived at the end of our training year. A few things regarding Session 3 of Junior Olympics and about resuming activities in August. Please give it a read whether you’re heading to Session 3 or not. Plus…

JOs Session 1

Our 14u boys ended an historic Junior Olympic tournament in Southern California with 3 wins an 4 losses, plus a ton of interesting stories, probably sunburn, and some great memories. Check out these great photos from their time in SoCal. Congratulations to them, Coaches Babs and Savvy, and our great families who went to support them.

JOs Session 3

The schedule is out. Our 18u boys play at 7:30 AM on Thursday, July 27 at Keller ISD Natatorium. Find its exact location, along with all other sites, on our Location Map. For those playing for AAAA and Longhorn make sure you are checking in with those coaches regarding when you’re supposed to meet prior to your games.

We will attempt to keep everyone informed during the tournament via our GroupMe’s and on the Event Page.

Good luck to everyone participating and make sure to share any photos or game film with us. We’ll use it for Instagram and we’ll create a shared folder on the interweb where all of them will be kept for posterity.

IDs

USA Water Polo will be checking the identity of each athlete prior to games and requires a physical photo ID of everyone. The ID can be your USAWP ID card, a drivers license, official state ID card, school ID card, passport. You can also download a photo ID with your USAWP membership. This only takes 1-2 minutes and can be done from a phone. Login to your account at the USAWP website and then click the blank profile picture to download a photo ID. Step by Step Instructions on How to Update USAWP Membership Photo.

Team Dinner

All our athletes and families are expected to attend a team dinner at Black Walnut Cafein Coppell at 6:00 7:00 PM [we pushed the time back to allow more people to show up] on Wednesday, July 26. We’ve reserved a large room and plan on a couple announcements there, including a farewell to Coach Alon. For those new to it, it is a seated restaurant but each person orders at a counter.

Fall Training Schedule

Our practice on Tuesday, July 25 is the last one of the summer and marks the end of the 2022-23 club water polo season. We will take a well-deserved break after JOs Session 3 and then resume training on Sunday, August 13. That includes all training: Swim2Score, age group, high school, and novice. The detailed fall schedule will be out soon. We’ll see you again in August.

Re-registration

All AquaTex members are “terminated/suspended” at the end of July each year, and are then required to re-register via the Team Unify site on or after August 1. Many of you are quite familiar with this but we also have some newcomers who may not be aware of it. Given our post-JOs break you will have until the weekend of August 12 do so but make sure you’re properly registered prior to attending training on the 13th.

Contract

Note that we now require each family that (re-)registers with the club to agree to a Player/Team/Parent contract. Take the time to review the draft of it now. 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.

It’s been a great year. Thank you everyone for making it the best we’ve ever had at AquaTex Waterpolo. And the future is bright. We’ll see you at JOs and then in August.

James

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Pre-JOs Competition, Longhorn Scrimmages, JOs

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Let’s catch up.

Roster Calls

We are not sending any teams to the Endless Summer Classic but will instead shift our focus to the Sun’s out Guns out Tournament in Pearland and Cypress, July 8-9. It is the last chance for us to compete prior to JOs so our 14u and 18u boys teams in particular are expected to play. As usual, our athletes can play on select Longhorn rosters if there is no AquaTex team for them this tournament. Read more details on SOGO here.

Longhorn Friday Scrimmages

Longhorn has invited our teams to scrimmage them at UT on the next two Fridays, June 23 and June 30. On the 23rd it’ll be for our 14u athletes. On the 30th it’ll be a high school-age scrimmage. Again, we’re doing what we can to get as much competitive experience before we head off to JOs. All athletes are required to have this form signed, printed, and presented to the people working the front desk on the day of the scrimmage. Don’t forget!

Junior Olympics

It’s just a couple weeks away, unbelievably. Some reminders and some new info:

14u Boys

Coaches Babs and Savvy will be traveling with the 14u boys team to California. The unofficial team hotel is the Delta Hotels Anaheim Garden Grove. Coach Babs may expect athletes to meet some time the afternoon/evening of Friday, July 14 to distribute bag tags and discuss expectations for the tournament. She’ll make that call via GroupMe. Regardless, athletes are expected to be at the first game of the day one hour prior. Expect games to begin early on Saturday, July 15 and will run all the way through Tuesday, July 18, so be sure to plan on it.

There is a JOs expo on the 14th where there will be a lot of booths, probably some colleges recruiting, and speakers. You can find the general agenda on USA Water Polo’s JOs site.

We’re also looking for a family or families who might be interested in opening up their home for a final carb-loading session (really an excuse to eat spaghetti) prior to both teams heading to JOs. Contact Coach James or Babs if you’d be willing (date TBD).

18u Boys

Coaches Alon and Matt are leading the charge with our 18s in Dallas. There will be a team dinner on Wednesday, July 26 at the Black Walnut Cafe in Coppell. All athletes and families should plan on attending as we prepare for the tournament and say so-long to Alon.

Gear

A reminder that our special 2023 JOs tee-shirt is available in our shop, including a youth size version. Order one of those and lots of other great stuff (those Arena backpacks look fantastic) to show off at competitions this summer.

New and Returning Athletes

Miriam, who’s 11, gave us a try last Sunday and plans to join us soon – very exciting. And Kyle has joined us permanently as well while Alex has returned after a hiatus. Welcome (back) to all of them!

Speaking of Alex, Happy Birthday! She’s our only athlete born in June.

May POM

Elliot Bronshteyn is the choice of AquaTex Waterpolo coaches for May Player of the Month. If you haven’t already check it out. Well done, Elliot.

CenTex Consolidated High School Team

A reminder that 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.

See you on the deck (soon).

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WTTS, Junior Olympics, Summer Training Schedule

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There’s a lot to cover. First, big thanks to all our coaches who are taking care of business while I’m overseas with the family. I’ll return on June 3 and am (obviously) still in communication with y’all.

WTTS

The schedule is out. Coaches Matt and Savvy will be updating all our participants via GroupMe. Good luck and have a great weekend in San Antonio.

Summer Schedule

May 27-28 Weekend

Keep an eye on GroupMe for announcements from Coach Alon about practice this weekend. It’s entirely possible we’ll cancel since most will be in San Antonio or out of town for the holiday.

Summer Schedule

The summer training schedule is here:

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

Regarding our Tuesday practices, we may consolidate them on occasion and start only at 7PM to accommodate coaches’ schedules. A reminder that our goofy summer schedule is meant to maximize the amount of deep-water training we get during the pool’s busiest time of year.

Junior Olympics Update

By Junior Olympics I mean the JOs Qualifier Tournament, The Southwest Zone Festival, and then Sessions 1-3 of Junior Olympics themselves. Here’s an update, and some task items for those of you participating.

First, if you haven’t done so already all participants must have Gold USAWP membership and have submitted valid Date of Birth verification.

If you are playing for a non-AquaTex Team (Longhorn, Alamo Area) you need to change your club affiliation. If you are not in communication with Longhorn or Alamo Area let me know.

14u boys

14u boys are paid and registered for the JOs Qualifier/JOs Session 1. A couple reminders:

Qualifier games will begin on Friday, June 9 itself so prepare for early Friday morning games (I’ll be checking in on Thursday afternoon). The location in Cypress again with our games likely to all be at the CFISD Natatorium next to Pridgeon Stadium.

Our aim is to place top six in the category which would earn us a trip to California! If we don’t achieve that we will most definitely play at Session 3 JOs in North Texas at the end of July instead of at Session 1. I personally won’t be making California travel plans until after the Qualifer tournament but advise our families to at least begin looking for or even booking refundable flights and hotels near Irvine, CA for for Session 1.

18u boys

18u boys are registered and paid for Session 3 of JOs and will be registered and paid for the SWZ Festival on or before May 31. Remember that these two tournaments are basically separate: one does not affect the other. There is no qualifier for Session 3. The Festival is a great warmup tournament for our team and we will enter it, but athletes are not required to be on the SWZ Festival roster to play at Session 3.

Plans are already afoot among parents for traveling to Session 3. Keep an eye on GroupMe for hotel suggestions, etc.

Also, we’re very pleased to have Kaden from Longhorn joining our roster as a goalie. Thanks to him and his family! We’ll make introductions very soon.

10u mixed, 12u mixed, 14u girls, 18u girls

  • 10u mixed: Ryan, Grey, and Emeric are all on Longhorn’s 10u roster and will attempt to qualify for Session 2
  • 12u mixed: Ilay and Neel are on Longhorn’s 12u mixed team attempting to qualify for Session 2
  • 14u girls: Izzy is on board with Alamo Area, which will play at Session 3
  • 18u girls: We have until May 31 to assemble an AquaTex 18u girls team. If that doesn’t work out then any AquaTex 18u girl who wants to play at JOs will be placed on Longhorn’s Session 3 roster. Let Coach James know what your plans are as soon as possible.

Session 3 Team Dinner

For those headed to Session 3 plan on a team dinner on July 26 tentatively set for 6:30 PM at the Black Walnut Cafe in Coppell. We’ll both celebrate our participation at JOs and (unfortunately) say farewell to Coach Alon.

Gear

I see that some have ordered our new backpack and it looks great. For JOs in particular it would be great to see our athletes donning that gear. You can see our Arena collection here.

A JOs t-shirt is coming. Promise!

CenTex Consolidated High School Team

A reminder that 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.

See you on the deck (soon).

 

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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.

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Welcome Coach Savvy, SWZ Spring Champs, CenTex Consolidated Team

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Welcome Coach Savvy

We had to jump through some interesting administrative hoops but the deal is done now. Savannah “Savvy” Ruiz joins our coaching staff and has already begun working with our younger athletes and, in particular, our goalkeepers. She’s currently a player at Texas A&M after having been a standout goalie for Jersey Village High School in Cypress. She learned her skills as an athlete with CFWPC and now brings them to AquaTex, especially during her summers off from school. Welcome Savvy!

SWZ Spring Champs

Our 14u boys team is registered for the SWZ Spring Champs in Cypress on May 6-7. There’s a little bit of time remaining to get on that roster if you haven’t already. We’ll also have 10u players and Izzy (maybe) playing for Longhorn rosters. For those going to the tournament we suggest, as always, you assume we’ll have early Saturday games.

CenTex Consolidated HS Team

This fall AquaTex will sponsor a consolidated high school team. It will welcome any high school-registered athlete attending a school that does not offer UIL water polo. We already have several athletes whose schools do not (or no longer!) offer water polo. We hope to add many others from our area.

Our aim will be to play any local team that will put us on our schedule, and the other consolidated teams that compete in the fall (Dallas Consolidated is itching for more games). Athletes will need to join AquaTex at least temporarily (two months), and be registered members of USA Water Polo in order to play.

If you or anyone you know is interested in playing please send them the link to this form, where we’re collecting information about what this fall effort may look like for us as a club and as a team.

Playing in College

Reiterating a point I made several months ago, if you’re in high school and interested in playing water polo in college (varsity or club) 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 recruiting process than anyone. Please watch it as soon as possible because there may be some misunderstanding about how the process works, scholarships, etc.

See you on the deck.

2023BeachPoloBlitz-1

Beach Blitz, New Arena Gear, JOs Update

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Time to catch up everyone.

Lake Creek

Amazing news, especially for our families who are familiar with Lake Creek: we’re not moving! For the first time since the water polo program was created we will not have to relocate in April. All our practices will be at Micki. There will be some shuffling of scheduling because the Round Rock Dolphins Swim Team will start practicing there soon. So stay tuned. But… no Lake Creek!

Roster Call(s)

SWZ Spring Champs

A very brief update on SWZ Spring Champs, which is really two separate tournaments.

We still have until April 19 to assemble a roster and register but as of today, based on parent/athlete feedback, AquaTex is not sending teams to the 18u/16u tourney on April 29-30. Any athlete who wants to play (there are three currently signed up) will play for Longhorn. We’ll make the final decision on the 18th. (Have a good time at the prom!)

The weekend of May 6-7 AquaTex will send a 14u team while our 12u and 10u athletes will play for Longhorn. Make sure to sign up.

Junior Olympics Update

I asked for your feedback and you’ve given it. Based on that feedback here are our plans (still open for discussion) for Junior Olympics:

  • 18u boys will not try to qualify for California and will play at Session 3 in Dallas
  • 18u girls will do the same
  • 14u boys will try to qualify to play at Session 1 in California and play at Session 3 if we don’t qualify.
  • 10u & 12u athletes will play for Longhorn, which plans on attempting to qualify for Sessions 1 and 2 in California.

Please review the dates for each tournament and share your feedback with Coach James if you haven’t already, or feel free to update your interests via the Google Form we sent to our families. For those planing on a California trip we strongly advise you to book FULLY REFUNDABLE hotels and/or flights as soon as possible. Only after the qualifier tournament in June can we commit to actually traveling.

Longhorn Beach Polo Blitz

Our teams did well, we had a good time, and Coach Alon looks annoyed. Success! Thanks to everyone who made the trek to UT.

Here are the final results. And we’ll share a link in GroupMe if you have photos from the event you’d like to share.

Arena Gear

Based on your demand there are a few more items in our AquaTex Gear inventory. AquaTex Swim Team is a partner with Arena so we now have a big aquatics backpack in our store, and a very classic warmup jacket. (So classic that my 1984 Beach Swim Club version is hanging in my daughter’s closet right now. Nostalgic!). We chose SwimOutlet as the most convenient partner, and with the lowest prices we could find for the items we needed. We’ve partnered with them in the past with good results (back when AQTX was a Speedo user). There’s a parka in the works too so keep an eye open.

USAWP Academic All-American Nominations

Repeating an email sent to our High School families, applications for Academic All-American honors will open this Friday. Last season Jacob Gerakos applied for and earned the honor and, given the academic excellence of our athletes, we hope more AquaTexans will apply this year. Good luck! Details below.

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The 2022-2023 Academic All-American Program is set to begin soon! Please spread the word to all High School members within your club organization. This is a great way for our members to be recognized for their academic excellence!

2023 AAA Dates
– Friday, April 14th AAA Application Opens
– Friday, August 4th AAA Application Deadline
– Friday, September 29th Transcript Submission Deadline
– Friday, October 20th Announcement of AAA Recipients

Please find all information regarding the AAA program, transcript submission, guides on how to apply, and qualifications in the following links. (NOTE: Transcripts should not be submitted until the FULL school year is over and final grade are submitted. Early/unfinished transcripts will not be accepted.)

CLICK HERE for all USAWP AAA website information on Eligibility, Enter to Win info, Official Transcript info, and more in depth AAA links!
CLICK HERE for a downloadable PDF regarding qualifications, how transcripts are graded, and acceptable courses.
CLICK HERE for an updated guide on how to pay the application fee.
CLICK HERE on how to upgrade your membership to qualify for AAA.

If you have any questions that have not been answered by any of our links, then please email us at and we will connect with you as soon as we can!

For members to receive more important reminders and information regarding the Academic All American Program. Please click “YES” to “USAWP Communications” under the ‘Communications Preferences’ Tab at the bottom of your personal profile. Members may not receive this opportunity if their communications are off, so spread the word!

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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.

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