A flurry of activity as the year winds down, we return from a jam-packed weekend of games in North Texas, find ourselves a new coach, and get pumped for the final two tournaments of 2020. Plus, Tony Azevedo is coming our way.
Texas Challenge Cup
Our 14u coed team went (almost) ironman for its four-game schedule at last weekend’s Texas Challenge. With eight total athletes, a 2-2 record felt about right and earned the team a fourth-place finish after a tough game against Thunder Black, their “A” team. The weekend also featured AquaTex’s first ever shootout, which it won over the very feisty Pegasus team. History! All the live streams of every game are online, linked on our TCC event page. Well done in particular to James for playing in his first ever travel tournament and Riley for becoming the deadly ninja goalie Coach Matthew has been hoping for. Congratulations to them, Jacob, Morgan (7 games!), Kelly, Cruz, Austin, and Luca. Go check out their game highlights linked above.
Meanwhile, despite never having played in a USAWP travel tournament, Kendall, Cammi, and Morgan turned out to be among the most productive and reliable members of the Lonestar/Mavericks 18u girls team that ended the tournament with a well-rested Sunday afternoon win over Cowtown. Kendall is starting to show off that shooting skill she displays at practice, Cammi ended the tournament with a two-goal outing vs. Cowtown after showing off her speed on defense all weekend, and Morgan continues to be one of the most aggressive attackers on the entire club and showed some real progress in becoming a killer driver/post-up player. Very proud of all three of them
Welcome Coach Alon
Meanwhile, as we continue to improve and grow we have another new coach helping us out. Coach Alon Yoeli is from Carmel, CA and played his collegiate water polo at Fordham University in New York City (the Bronx to be precise). He also played for one of Italy’s best clubs. He recently moved to Austin, contacted AquaTex about masters water polo and ended up getting roped in to coaching! Welcome aboard, Alon.
Thanksgiving Week Schedule
The practice schedule is updated for Thanksgiving week. Check it out on the calendar. Coaches Kendall and Shannon will be back along with Matthew and Alon to keep us moving forward. That includes Scorpion Ball with Coach Shannon on the 21st!
Upcoming Events
Tournament Roster Calls
TAGS and the Cowtown Stampede are the last competitions of the year. And aside from the obvious reasons we might want to turn the calendar page, it’s also the last chance for many of our athletes to play in age groups they were supposed to occupy for JOs and Southwest Zone Championships. Beginning in 2021 we can expect that tournaments will set their “age as of” date to August 1, 2021. We want to end the year on a competitive high note and expect our athletes to take part in these final two tournaments.
TAGS
The Texas Age Group Championships are for athletes in 9th grade and under. We have already registered our 9th grade u (coed) team and may combine with Longhorn for 7th and under and/or 5th and under. Edit your commitment to TAGS here.
Cowtown Stampede
The same weekend as TAGS, the Cowtown Stampede is for 18u athletes only (boys/coed and girls). AquaTex has already signed up one 18u girls’ and one 18u boys’ teams. So sign up for the chance to play.
Tony Azevedo Clinic
The Legendary Tony Azevedo is headed to Texas to host three days of water polo training in North Texas. Three days for high schoolers, two for those age 14 and under. Plus, goalie training. Find out more and register here and let me know if you sign up. I may be able to make it up there to watch (and interview Tony for the podcast…)
Attendance Records
We have some really excellent attendance records for the months of October and November (shout out to Cammi, Declan and Austin!). The link has probably been wrong for several weeks so here’s the updated link to the document. #BeYourBest
Performance Training Course
Coach Marcy shared this via email on the 13th. The program is open to water polo athletes.
Aquatex is collaborating with Performance Course to offer an 8-week Dryland Training schedule.
Performance Course is an unrivaled approach to progressively improving athletic ability. This unique course combines sound, proven strength and conditioning principles with the latest methodologies to give the participant the top athletic performance program in the nation.
Senior/PreSeniors swimmers [and water polo athletes] that 13 & up are eligible to participate. The program will start November 30th, the Monday following Thanksgiving. Sessions will be held at our pool, on deck. The training will take place on Mondays and Wednesdays:
Girls – 5:45-6:30pm
Boys – 6:30-7:15pm
The cost is $180. To participate, please go to this site and signup: Performance Course
That’s all for this week. Have a great and safe Thanksgiving week.
See you in the parking lot…
James
