We need Dan Campbell.
not trying to put you on the spot but would love to read the opinions you reference hereâŚ.may be just the type of constructive feedback that @wp2024 started this thread for. lol
I agree, and while theyâre at it, can they please introduce public stats, at least for JOâs, for each player. My kids have it for swim team going back years but nothing for WP until they hit high school.
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Water polo is a physical sport however Iâm sure we all have witnessed elbows and punches thrown, behavior that would get a player kicked out of a football game, yet often goes unpunished in water polo. Futures has an interesting approach, acknowledging refs donât always get violent calls right in the moment and providing a path to allow video review after the game to ensure the punishment was appropriate for the offense. Perhaps a model USA WP can use as inspiration to limit the extracurriculars.
Brutalities
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The call will result in a penalty throw and a 4-minute exclusion. Further, if a player is called for a brutality, he will be out for the remainder of that game and five more games. If a player is called for a 2nd brutality in the same season, he will be removed from the league.
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However, either team can appeal the call with video evidence. Video can be submitted to the FWPL committee. The committee can determine if A) the act of brutality was not called correctly by the official and the punishment can be removed or lessened; B) the act of brutality was so violent that the punishment will be upped with the possibility of being removed from the league at the playerâs first offense; or C) the 5-game suspension is appropriate for the act of brutality committed.
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JO All-American list finally came out 3 weeks late.
2025 USA Water Polo Junior Olympics All-Americans Announced - USA Water Polo
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Interesting coincidenceâŚ.
It does not seem like coaches take this seriously or donât want to select for various reasons. Many teams missing, e.g., Newport/Socal/SFWC/LA Premier on the boysâ side
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There are going to be a ton of Karenâs with their cellphones screaming âHe hit my baby!'â videos submitted to FWPL for review.
On a serious note, I like this. It is also a great tool for refs to see the call and figure out how they missed it the first time.
My suggestion regarding ODP is to eliminate the Youth age group. By the time players reach that level, most of the top talent has already been identified. The top 30+ players are typically already participating in Academy programs, so it would make more sense for Youth teams to be selected directly through the Academy training and evaluation process rather than through the traditional ODP method.
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That is weird. Newport typically does submit their nominees. I recall Kai Kaneko being on both 16u and 18u for Newport last year.
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Thatâs likely the right approach from an efficiency perspective. In reality, many players with a low probability of selection still choose to participate in ODP, especially in the National Championship. The reason is that the National Championship offers excellent exposure to college coaches and provides the chance to compete against high-level athletes.
The only two other events later in the year that offer similar visibility are Futures and JOs. The format, however, could be improved, perhaps by randomizing or âdraftingâ teams rather than forming rosters with such large disparities in skill level.
At the Youth level, many of the top athletes who are already recruited (typically seniors) tend not to participate in ODP. This is especially true in even years when there is no tournament for team selection. In odd years, participation tends to include mostly younger players (juniors) and those who believe they have a chance to be selected for Worlds. The result is a bifurcated talent pool, the top 20 players and the rest, with a gap of roughly 70 high-level athletes who prioritize other commitments during their senior year.
My son has participated in ODP from the Development to the Youth and Academy levels. Some college coaches are directly involved in the Academy, and others attend training sessions if they are nearby. However, for any player aspiring to compete in collegiate water polo, I strongly recommend not skipping ODP, as most coaches do attend the National Championship to scout players.
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That is correct. I am not sure what happened this year.
Itâs also a comment on the difference between an entrepreneurial for-profit start-up and a large and established non-profit. (USA WP is a private non-profit, not a public institution.) USA WP is more like the PGA and other non-profit sports leagues and NGBâs, and I donât think you will find many of them responding to comments on the internet. GOLS probably has a large fraction of is potential customers on this forum. USAWP not so much. Not saying they shouldnât be looking everywhere for input, but they have a governance structure and need to filter any changes through it. If you want to complain about lack of accountability in USA WP governance, your putting comments in to staff, board members, or delegates might be more effective. Iâve got no insight into USA WP inner workings, but have worked for non-profits most of my career, and have sat on the boards of several small ones.
Lots of good feedback here. I really like your ideas on officiating. But the infrastructure you are suggesting will require staff and money, and assumes that the supply of available officials is large enough that tournament officials can afford to be choosy about who gets assigned. To make it work, officials will need to get better pay and to recruit more and higher quality officials, and there will need to be staff to organize the evaluation and training you suggest. Iâd love to see that, and it would make a big difference to the sport, but Iâm not sure players and parents of players will be willing or able to pay for it.
Does USA Water Polo still produce an annual report? It would helpful to hear their strategic priorities. It does not feel like weâve heard much from the new CEO? Would love to hear if anyone feels differently and has intel to share.
You can already see this replicated in the class of 2026; most of the NTSC players are already committed.
I would add another data point: the improvement in the USA Cadet, Youth, and Junior teams in world rankings.
Like any process, ODP is imperfect. Yes, the funnel is likely too broad, some very good players fall through the cracks (I have seen players who did not pass the first stage one year and made the National Team the next), and it is too expensive. But it does yield results. It consistently brings many athletes into the system, where they receive development, exposure to coaches, and, yes, it helps increase the USAWP budget.
When evaluating anything in life, it is always relative to the benchmark you choose to measure against
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This is the location of USAWP public presentations: Public Documents - USA Water Polo
The last one I see is from 2023.
This is the last strategic plan I found: https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/usawaterpolo.org/documents/2022/4/28/USAWP_2022_2024_Strategic_Plan_April_2022_Final7.pdf
And, this is a post with some links about their recent general assembly. There was a livestream and maybe a taping of it can still be found in their Youtube page:
If you were CEO of USA Water Polo - #47 by wp2024
Generally, I would not rank their public outreach that high and there is a lot of room for improvement.
hereâs a survey I just received by email:
Not suggesting this is sufficient, but itâs a data point in how we can offer feedback to USAWP.
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Just filled it out. It take less than 2min. Only focused on the annual USAwp membership and the accompanying benefits like it was a coupon book or an Amex card.
I was under the impression that USA underperformed? Cadet losing to Canada for example seems absurd for example.
This was the US u15 team playing in a u17 PanAms and playing against Canadas u17 team. I wouldnât say that is underperforming.
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