with club season starting up, who are the top teams, who do you think my surprise the club world?
14u North Irvine a lot kids transfer
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12U
Dons A team go undefeated all year (except when playing 14U)
Dons B team might make top 5 which is the bigger surprise of the two.
14U
Will be interesting, I do think North Irvine has great potential with talent and very good coaching.
Need to get a look at the teams though. I bet Greenwich is one of the top few.
Can’t wait to see @Marco rankings myself. 
Where did the kids come from? Socal patriots should have a big pull right?
From Vanguard I think like 5 kids, probably they want to play at MD their freshman year.
First rankings should be out the week following Rocktober.
With all of the off-season movement, I’m looking forward to getting a look at where everyone landed.
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Having seen the practice, I think it is actually 2 kids from Vanguard, one of which has a dad who coaches at MD so your ultimate destination theory is correct.
Which tournaments you think we should see the best match up’s at, to be able to get a decent look on how the teams are looking? Wonder if any of the assumed top teams would match up at any these early tournaments? Guessing the travel for Roktober fest might keep some teams from going? I’m assuming alot of top teams last year, doesn’t hold same weight this year though, with all the movement I would assume that happened.
In the fall season, the top tournaments are Back to School, Evan Cousineau, Rocktober (12u), SPA League Championship, and Champion’s Cup (14u).
In mid-November, the landscape shifts slightly with High School season ending for boys. Some 14u teams will lose athletes to 16u teams, and other 14u teams will gain athletes who were playing on High School teams.
The first weekend in December has Bob Nealy, but Holiday Cup the following week will be better for match-ups. It isn’t really until mid-January with the start of Futures league and Kap7 International where we have a solid grasp on who has what.
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SPA League Championships was a good preview of the 12U JO final, even though the rosters changed slightly it had the same result.
Evan Cousinou was missing SD Dons but the final was good and showed the top couple teams early.
Early season is tough though. If you look at point differential between Stanford and Mission, and then see how Stanford derailed Mission twice late in the season you can clearly see what happens what a good coach can do with a bit of talent through the course of the year.
I feel like all the major teams do common trainings, the first tournament that I think carries any value is ECA cup. I’m wondering about spa league and also the zone league CCA does.
Top 14U returning goalie was at SoCal, if being the only 13 goalie (I know of) making the ODP 70 cutoff means much. He should now have SOCAL Patriots in front of him.
Based on the 10U results from 2025, here are my early-season thoughts on the top teams in 12U this year:
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SD Dons – This team went unbeaten two years ago. Assuming most of the players from the Del Mar team transitioned to the Dons, they should be the team to beat.
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Patriot SoCal – They finished second two years ago, and with the two clubs now combined, they should be even stronger.
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Newport – Finished third in 10U two years ago and won last year. This team has depth in the squad and good coaching and should remain one of the top contenders.
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Mission – They do not have a 10U program, so most of their players likely come from San Clemente and the surrounding areas. Interesting to see how the changes in coaching affect them this year.
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Commerce – I haven’t seen many people mention Commerce, but they finished fourth in 10U in each of the last two years. The kids may be smaller in size, but they play smart, are very quick, and compete well. Their biggest weakness is a lack of depth on the roster.
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Greenwich – They have good size and are very well coached. We likely won’t see them until late December or early January, but they should be a strong team.
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North Irvine – They did not make the top eight in 10U two years ago, but with recent coaching changes and several incoming transfers, they could be a legitimate contender this year.
These are just my early-season rankings based primarily on the 10U results from two years ago, and I’m sure there will be a few surprises as the season develops.
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I think mission half of the team is coming back also Dons B finish top 8 last year and I think there were also first year 12u, I think the top 3 teams would be a battler between Dons, Mission and Newport.
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Regarding 12U this year: I think it is hard to parse out, but some key players for this year likely played on coed 10U in 2025 JOs and do not show up in your 10U analysis.
I agree with your number 1 pick but think that the greater factor is their returning players from the 2nd place JOs team of 2026. I think they are returning at least 3 field players (including starters) and 1 goalie from that team. To add to that lineup they have players coming from their top 10 Pt finishing B team including a goalie that might be over 6’ before 2027 JOs. To complete their lineup they also added a phenomenal lefty attacker from the 2026 JO winning Mission team. 100% they will need to play 14U all year to find competition and should not have a problem taking gold in 2027.
I would move Mission up from where you have them. They are returning 4 players from the 2026 JO winning team (1 starter in that group). Much of the rest of the team is likely to include players from their B team that got 1st in Classic division at 2026 JOs. Surely one player from San Clemente 12U will be on the A squad, could be others. Goalie is a bit of a question mark for them though as both of their goalies from last year aged up.
If Greenwich fields a team as good as their 2026 team, they will surely be top 3 and perhaps be fighting with Dons in the final. As far as I know none of their 5th place squad is returning.
Socal Patriots is a big question mark for me. I think they should be returning some players from their 12U last year given they had only one 12U team, but they also could have lost some to other clubs. Hopeful to see them at an early SPA game.
I don’t understand the depth comment on Commerce. They have big numbers compared to most programs (I think they have at least 5 10U squads). Either way I dont think they are changing any of their algorithm this year so likely to stay around the same.
North Irvine has good staff and will overachieve what some might say. They placed 6th the past 2 years in 12U so it would not surprise me if they stay top 10. They for sure are returning their sprinter from last year’s 12U who will be formidable.
Newport should definitely be top 10. Having their 12U finish outside the top 10 in 2026 was an anomaly. Not sure if their JO winning 10U in 2026 will be a factor or not, but you can bet a parking lot full of G wagons they will be putting up a fight and making noise in the stands.
Tsunami had a good year in 2026. For sure most if not all of that team is aging up so they are more likely to fall just outside the top ten in 2027.
Does anyone know if Vanguard or Invictus have 12U squads? Down south SD Shores could have a better year (their 10U coed took top spot in 2025 and MVP was a boy), or LJU?
Norcal should have a team or maybe 2 in the top 10. From Marko’s analysis of returning players maybe CCU? Hard to say about Stanford, not sure if the same coach has 12U there.
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The 12U Newport this year finished outside top 10 was not a surprise as they finished 11th in 10U 2 years ago.
Socal Patriots lost quite a few players to Mission (4 starters from SOCAL moved there last year I believed) and this year they may lose players to North Irvine.
Vanguard last year had a very good center that really made a difference.
Another team to watch for this year is 908.
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In my experience programs can fall apart quickly and dynamics change…coaches leave, players leave…you think a program is strong and then bam it can quickly dismantle…it happens everywhere. Been part of clubs up north and same thing…I believe SOCAL lost their 3 starters…trust me it was heard all around. Again it’s too soon to tell…JOs is in 10 months so much can happen. It will be very interesting for sure.
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I hope Socal losing players is just a rumor. The best thing for waterpolo is to have multiple clubs that have high level talent and coaching. Strong competition builds strong players. In theory Socal Patriots should be strong(er) than before.
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NI is going to be a surprise for 14u just wait until October or later, having the Mater dei coach there coaching 14u, have bring some good talent. I think the best player from SoCal 14u move to NI. Invictus didn’t pull any kids either. We just need to wait.
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So NI feeds into MD now? That is a a big shake up! I figure mission and CCU have great teams since their 14u B teams were all young. Does anyone have info on how lamo, Diablo, Southcoast or San Clemente.
Is CIU going to form another team or is that done?