Can we have a special WPEX table at the bar at the Pleasanton Marriott where members can mingle? Kind of our own elitist society within the elitist society…
Cheers and good luck to all!
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If you plan to attend some of the games at this weekend’s ODP national championship tournament, be prepared for cool temperatures and some rain. Good luck to all of the teams.
Here are my predictions for the cadet tournament:
- SPA Red. SPA Red has six players from Mission, including Dylan Park (JSerra Class of 2028) and Christopher Koo (Class of 2029). Park is one of the best players from the Class of 2028; Koo is one of the best players from the Class of 2029. Five of the six Mission players on the SPA Red roster attend JSerra. Koo will make it six if that’s where he decides to go. A seventh Mission 16u player, Sean Anderson (JSerra Class of 2028), plays for SPA Red’s youth team. I don’t know whether Anderson will play for Mission’s 16u team in the Futures League Super Finals and Junior Olympics. If he does, Mission, CCU, Stanford, and Del Mar (if Kenly Axline, Jett Taylor, and Eamon Bruhn play for the 16u team) will be the four teams to beat in those events. SPA Red has two very good goalies: Oliver Aguero (Newport Harbor Class of 2028 and Newport) and Stefan Vukojevic (JSerra Class of 2028 and Mission). SPA Red doesn’t list a single center on its roster. If SPA Red faces PAC Red in the cadet finals, PAC Red will have a significant advantage at center.
- PAC Red. Four of the Pacific Zone’s top sophomores are playing for the PAC Red youth team: Will Maguy (Campolindo and CCU), Ellis Culleton (Campolindo and CCU), Brady Hassett (Miramonte and CCU), and center defender Nathan Greenberg (Archie Williams and SHAQ). Even without these players, the PAC Red cadet team is formidable. Their roster includes four Miramonte players, four CCU players, three Lamorinda players, and three Stanford players. For his age, Hunter Coleman (Menlo Class of 2028 and Stanford) is probably the most advanced American center since Ben Hallock. Coleman was a 5th team California/Hawaii All-American in his freshman year in 2024, scoring 141 goals. Goalie Ethan Wallace (Tamalpais Class of 2028 and San Francisco Water Polo Club) has “Big 4” potential.
- CST Red. CST Red has four players from LA Premier and three from Pride. Center defender/center Harry Siafaris (Harvard-Westlake Class of 2027 and LA Premier) is one of the best sophomores in the country. Christian Yonker (San Marcos Class of 2028 and Channel Islands United) is one of the best freshmen in the country. Ryder Bork (Oaks Christian Class of 2027 and Pride) will be the starting goalie for Oaks Christian in the fall. Jack Lansing (Oaks Christian Class of 2027 and Pride) is a promising LH center.
- PSW Red. As noted above, Del Mar’s (and Cathedral Catholic’s) top three Class of 2027 players (Kenly Axline, Jett Taylor, and Eamon Bruhn) are not playing in the cadet tournament. Nevertheless, nine of the 14 players on the PSW Red roster are from Del Mar, including center Grayson Taylor (Cathedral Catholic Class of 2028) and Aden Shin (Bishop’s Class of 2028). Taylor and Shin are two of the top players from the Class of 2028. Liam Zarcu (Class of 2029 and San Diego Shores) is a promising attacker/center.
Make it happen by occupying a strategically significant piece of real estate and you may just get your wish. I’ll be right over.
If I can offer some future help for y’all to identify each other:
https://waterpoloexchange.printful.me/product/cbwp-logo-ballcap
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6-8 app being used at boys ODP, which is great but - tracking “steals” but not exclusions drawn? That’s a big miss.
It is a recurring issue with 6-8 scorers missing exclusions drawn. 60% of the centers’ job is getting those….they work hard. Seems to be an easy stat to collect. They also missed exclusions in the Youth showcases today. Hopefully, it will improve in the next couple of days.
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Questionable pool locations for NorCal. Seems odd when you have so many other pools with stands and facilities that are more robust all over NorCal.
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In case anyone from USAWP reads this. At this level of tournament, it should be expected to have:
- right scores on excel sheet: youth game last night spa vs cst ended 16:9 not 10:7
- Excel file updated close to real time after games end
- 6-8 to cover both Yourh pools. It seems they only cover one youth pool and not Livermore .
- Have an email or other mode of communication to get real time feedback
Thank You
Ideas:
- 6-8 and gols track every game in real-time. It would be useful if they create a tournament site with live scores for all game as opposed to an excel sheet that updates very slowly.
- how hard is to put together an AI tool that tracks stat based on transcribed gols broadcast rather than a human that needs to follow the game and punch 6 different stats . Cheaper , more scalable, and less errors. 6-8 tools gas so many errors . It is not the tool but the user and I can see that it is hard to track so many stats in real-time.
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Agree…clearly No one checked that there was a huge band and flags competition at Granada this weekend leading to no parking and a mile walk from the streets and neighborhoods.
Absolutely insane that USAWP and vendors cant figure the easy stuff out…just need a little fore planning and not showing up the day of and saying “oh well…we tried.”
Remember that this is a development program and a chance for national team coaches to see the players.
Results and spectator experiences are a far secondary concern I would assume.
ODP is about excellence including the small details. In particular, after a long journey to get to this point, the $ the traveling, revenue to USAWP, and many of us are big supporters of USAWP. It is not that hard to have good stat, 6-8 and gols experience during this tourney is 5/10 at best. Also on the technical side, some of the pools are too warm. The most frustrating aspect is that this feedback is going tot he ether instead of helping USAWP to continuously improve.
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That’s one way to look at it, wpfan1. Another way is to recognize that it’s not difficult to achieve both objectives. That is, provide national team coaches an opportunity to evaluate players and provide timely results and a better spectator experience. The better high school tournaments do both every year.
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Parents spend a ton of money on qualifiers, regionals, then this national weekend, and then NTSC. It is more than reasonable to expect things to be well run.
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Any feedback on the games or the kids? Anyone really doing well or maybe disappointing?
Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on the weekend, and how they thought it went?
USAWP Instagram post of the medalists
Youth:
1st SPA Red
2nd PAC Red
3rd CST Red
Cadet:
1st PSW Red
2nd CST Red
3rd SPA Red
Development:
1st CST Red
2nd SPA Red
3rd PAC Red
Jeff’s top 4 in youth finished as predicted
What a weekend of polo! Really appreciate the MVP of this site - Jeff! - and how he helps contextualize what we are seeing and hearing.
Also, props to NEZ Youth for finishing 5th. Jeff was spot on in his breakdown but they outperformed his predictions 
- a goal away from being top four:
“8. NEZ. One of the two youngest teams in my top 8, with no Class of 2025 players, four Class of 2027 players, and one Class of 2028 player. Seven of NEZ’s top 9 or 10 players play for Greenwich Aquatics and will play for Brunswick in the fall, including goalie Jack Lindberg, attacker/center defender Callum Walker, LH center Peter Saunders (Class of 2027), utility player Neveh Yechiely, and Jackson Shaw (Class of 2028). Shaw is one of the best freshmen in the country. James Faulhaber (Phillips Exeter Class of 2026 and LA Premier) is a solid center. NEZ could finish anywhere from 6th through 8th.”
Of course, some things could’ve been better with this tournament, but don’t want to focus on that. At the end of the day, a great celebration of the sport at the age group level in the US.
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I would add NEZ Development, who did finish top-4, to the props list. Their game versus PSW Red might have been the best game I watched this weekend.
In recent years, I’ve seen Greenwich slipping down the JO final placements list in the lower age groups and wondered if water polo was burning out in NEZ. This weekend proved water polo is alive and well. They have rebuilt. NEZ Dev came in seeded 8th and left with the four slot, above PSW.
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