2026 Junior Olympics - Session 1 - Girls + Coed

Did you attend these games?

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Really think I am attending 10U coed, 14U, and 16U games in same day? I don’t need to. We disagree and it will remain that way, that is clear. I will stand behind sportsmanship and hope these very young kids continue loving this great sport. Peace out and good luck.

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I was just asking because the way you worded it sounded like you saw what happened. I only saw one of these games on the list. When I see someone use a phrase like throttling, And describing the games as you did, it sounded like it was coming from a first person which led me to believe that you watched it

We actually agree a lot and I think what these clubs did today from the top eight seeds all deserve scrutiny

Institute of mercy rule and clean it up. Get rid of goal differential. Yes we get it. Diablo is awesome. Newport is awesome. Yes we get it. Patriot is awesome. Yes we get it 908 can dunk 25 goals.

I think we’ve all made our points. We agree more than we disagree. Perhaps you can start a new thread about instituting a USA mercy rule for the 14 youngers and I would support that.

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Playing with off hand is a great way that both teams can get value out of a blowout. Stronger team gets valuable reps and weaker team effectively plays a much weaker version of the strong team. Not sure how anyone could see that as more disrespectful than countering, running up score, or just dumping the ball.

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I strongly disagree. This shows up the team. This is highly disrespectful and worse.

They all have bad elements.

Holding and dumping the ball gives zero reps to either side to try but this is preferable. Everyone feels the silence and stops swimming. This doesn’t feel good on the losing end either. Lots of athletes would rather keep working to keep the game flow and try to keep working

Playing off handed is the worst version of showing up and rubbing their noses in it that we are so good we will play you one hand tied behind our backs mentality. SMH just no, full stop and I can’t see how anyone thinks is a good idea

Countering fast is next worst.

A team cycling normal and pushing the action forward a bit gives opportunities for the losing side to feel successful after a tough stop. This CAN be ok depending on speed.

All are a bad look. That’s why the best solution would be to institute mercy rules for such games or stop bracketing seeds this way.

I guess sometimes we need a reminder that this in fact is National Championships and there are options. Surprise, the best are REALLY GOOD. Nobody should be surprised, I dont throw my waterpolo player on the soccer field with the very best and expect him to do anything other than get crushed to smithereens unless he is playing with kids 3 or more years younger than him!

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12u parents are in fact wild. Everyone made their point and nobody is changing their mind. Move on.

My 11 year old kid just played 4 EFFING games in 1 day. Thats almost 5-6 hours of water time on a little body! (Warm up/game/warm down) That’s crazy!

On day one at JOS, point differentials are not a tie breaker in a 48 team bracket. It’s actually very simple. You need to win two games on day 1, to ge to the championchip, Platinum division. You win your two games, you are in P,atinum. You win one and lose one, you then have to play a third game, later that day. You win that game, which would be your second win for Day 1, you are in platinum. You instead lose that game, and you are in Gold division, which will become a second set of medals. Point differentials don’t come into effect until day 2, in a 48 team bracket, the way JOs runs them. Those blowouts pretty much end on day two, as the teams are split in the divisions that they belong

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wopodad, it’s probably a little early to write off the San Diego zone girls’ clubs (let alone the boys’ clubs) for the next two years. In the 12u age group, La Jolla United and Del Mar easily won both of their games yesterday. In the 14u and 18u age groups, San Diego Shores Black is one of 12 clubs to go undefeated yesterday and move on to Group “M,” “N,” “O,” or “P” play today. Although a lot can happen in a year, the San Diego Shores 18u team should be a medal contender next year as all but two of their players are eligible to play next year, including youth national team goalie and Stanford recruit Gianna Adams. If you’re a fan of great goaltending, make it a point to watch her play.

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@Jeff, I’ve always been a fan of the SD Shores organization. Unfortunately for the 18U girls this year, they have pretty much landed in the 'Group of Death" and Miss Adams will need to play out of her mind to keep them in the running :confused:

You’re right, the schedule did the San Diego Shores 18u team no favors. Although it won’t be easy, I still see a way for them to finish in the top 12.

THat’s not right. No kid should have to play 4 games in a day. I did not even think that was possible. I thought the most you had to play in a day was having that third ‘back door’ game to get back into a certain bracket the next day. Four games is too much

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The max distribution of games in any 48 team bracket is 4-4-4-2. That includes backdoor games.

Not sure how 12U is a factor. Or even waterpolo specifically. National Championships at any age level in any sport is the top level one can compete in (same for individual sports). Throw a mediocre kid into the mix at Loretta Lynn’s and they just might actually die (not just lose by some awful margin). Some kids/families come out of those terrible matches and decide they love their sport and go find the opportunity to compete at the top. :slight_smile:

For the 48 team bracket, the maximum number of games is 3+3+3+2, no?

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In the 48-team bracket, 4 games in a days isn’t possible, but in other brackets…

I was fortunate enough to get a glimpse inside the process a few years ago when USAWP allowed more than 48 teams into a division. In that instance, the coaches of the two top teams received a proposed bracket to accommodate the extra teams. The bracket was awful, far worse than the 12uG Champ bracket this year. It was constructed in a way that only one team from a particular branch could advance to the top group.

The two coaches, one of whom is being trashed in this thread for coaching games with lopsided scoring, refused the bracket. Both of their teams would have been fine, but it was unfair to many other teams. They worked for days with the bracket maker to hammer out something that worked for teams they had no association with, something that worked for the entire field. The bashing of that coach doesn’t sit well with me.

I don’t know what happened this year with 12uG Championship. Maybe the top coaches blessed the bracket or maybe they never got a copy, but I know what the directive coming down from USAWP looks like and that is who I blame.

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You and Marco are right. It’s the weird number of brackets that are the issue.

I went and did a spot check on some divisions and 3-3-3-2 is correct, but then spot checked something like 12u Boys classic and 4-4-4-1 is possible there.

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You’re right. Let them make them cry. 10U coeds can grow up and take it. Win 50-0, parents cheer, call that timeout with 10 seconds to go to get to 51. No mercy. Life lessons. Go find a better team. You win. Move on.

It sits with me wrong when people bash coaches without evidence or even attending the game.

People are going to bash coaches that they don’t know because they have strong hurt feelings and biases as we have seen already. What else is new, water is wet.

Anything else someone says on here I take with the grain of salt. The bias is palpable just like politics

Maybe we can just enjoy water polo?