2026 dates:
Session I (Girls/Mixed): July 18-21
Session II (Boys): July 23-26
Session III (ALL): July 30-August 2
also, I’ve heard 2026 location (sess 1&2) will be Orange County / SoCal
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Is this a one-off doubling up of JOs in OC or is NorCal JOs no more?
The only other theory I could think of is changing the rotation so an even year falls on socal (just in time for 2028)
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The word is that Stanford has decided to no longer host JOs and thus USAWP will centralize permanently in SoCal.
I was hearing that as well. All future JOs (1 & 2) will now be in SoCal. Will be interesting to see if they try and get more colleges and Mt. Sac as sites for their games.
I am surprised that Mt SAC wasn’t incorporated this year’s Junior Olympics. The MOU has convinced me that would be the case!
It’s a chance though if that’s true. I’m sure Stanford charges a pretty penny, but I always loved how great they put on championship games
I heard Stanford tripled their fees and also that the attendance is much better in So Cal.
Woollett is such a great venue with multiple courses, right & left, large capacity stadium seating for a great spectator experience, centrally located, close to freeway, lots of nearby food & hotel - checks all the boxes.
Mt Sac is far from everything & won’t get the crowds/spectators. CIF finals are there & it’s empty - should bring them back to Woollett.
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As much as I hated driving home - playing at Stanford made NorCal JOs feel unique.
Sadly this years JOs felt like a giant Kap7 tournament for me. Multiple teams didn’t get to see Woollett in the Platnium division.
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If JO’s will move to Socal each summer, hopefully the Futures Finals will remain in Norcal each summer to balance it out. Being a Norcal club I am in favor of running JO’s in Socal each summer as I believe it is better suited for that size of a tournament. Maybe Stanford could agree to just host the Futures Finals day and Futures will be a Norcal tourney.
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“Irvine is much better of a host location than Stanford - but if they insist on flip/flopping sites every year, I wish the Invite and/or Classic divisions would move away from the Champs when it’s in NorCal - for example:
Champs in San Jose, Classic in East Bay, Invite in Santa Cruz - do something to simplify the hotels when games are in NorCal”
Pulled this from Rational’s post in another thread. I hope this is the case and they can make it more centralized for each division. Irvine area for Champs. You can use Fullerton or even the Pomona colleges and surrounding area for Classic and then BVAC area for Invitational?
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Wow. This is definitely not growing the sport.
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I agree. This sounds like the right solution for the players and families from NorCal. However, I do think that SoCal provides the better overall experience for JOs.
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Other than the extra travel costs, I’ve always loved going up to Bay Area for the JOs every other year. When it’s in Nor Cal it feels like a mini vacation to me. Checking out new places to eat or have a beer between games. Hanging out at the hotel with other parents after all the age groups come back to our team hotel.
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It was a great bonding experience for all teams and parents, so I agree. However, it’s difficult to argue with the long distances between the pools for the lower-aged group teams.
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Agree. Having to drive to drive an hour to Liberty High School in West Stockton for a JO game isn’t optimal.
This past year was great with ODP in the east bay and super finals in the southwest bay, then JOs in Orange County. I’d take that every year.
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Super finals would’ve been optimal had it actually been in SW Bay. It was far more spread out than that on the boys side. There were games in the east bay/tri valley area while others in the southwest. That is far too spread out.
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Parking at Wollett is a bit lacking
I think the idea of creating hubs is an amazing idea.
Dedicated area for championships, another hub for Classic, and one for invite.
We need to get you guys hired on at usawp.
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