Nobody started a thread so may as well have it here. Lots of roster shuffling and lots of competitive games as the last major tourney before JOs. How does this affect teams as they get one last look at each other?
Diablo is 3rd. 11 - 8 over chawp. (14u)
Patriot up 6 -1 at the half over stanford (14u)
12 - 7 Patriot over Stanford for 1st place (14u)
14U girls Top 10 Updated after US Club Championships
Tier 1 Practically Unbeatable
Tier 1 only one team.
Newport: No surprise here. Undefeated A team and blowing out 908, Patriot, San Clemente, Santa Cruz. Depth. Lost their top player to worlds just like 908 and Patriot, but they have tremendous depth. Anything except gold would be shocking. Pressure is on them to follow through and stay motivated with no competition. Heck, they can regularly defeat 16U teams with ease. Projected JO Finish: 1st and it’s not close
Major Tourney Podium Finishes
SD Cup Gold, 
Futures League Play Undefeated
Did not appear at Superfinals or US Club Championships
Tier 1A Excellent
Tied is Patriot and 908 for this spot who have nice battles. Patriot currently has the upper hand having eliminated them in two major tourneys and 908 having the one win. They each lost a top attacker, but it seems to have affected 908 more.
1A: 908 is winning and scoring! Superfinals gold (though no Newport), but a surprising 5th place a week later. Seems destined for a deep run medal game regardless if they can figure out what to do next. Should make it to the end, but too reliant on one dominant set which isn’t really interesting water polo to watch. The player they lost to Worlds makes their offense too one dimensional. A dominant center will score a ton doing this and have an easier path with good seeding. Lots of feeds to center which works at this developmental level but any one team can simply shut down that one aspect and that’s how they have been beaten this year. Case in point: Patriot who just came to play and pulled off an incredibly impressive win at US Club championships eliminating them from medal contention with a 5 goal win. It looks like they struggled in every game at US Championships. Not the same team without their star player.
Major Tourney Results:
3rd at San Diego Cup
1st at Superfinals
Lost their top shooter to worlds team then took…
5th at US Club Championships. Projected JO Finish: 2nd-5th
Patriot: Impressive gold at US Championships despite losing their top attacker. Plus, 2-1 in major tourneys vs 908 and coming off a decisive win at US Club Championships. Still can’t beat Newport, but nobody can right now:
Newport and Patriot are the only two teams so far to know how to stop 908s center and have good team chemistry. They def want to avoid each other. But they also just lost a top player to worlds and it could drop them as low as 7th. Why so low? Bad seed at JO will make for a far tougher pathway than 908. Probably the best all around “team challenger” to the top and unlike 908, they are not reliant on one player controlling things. Coming off a US Club Championships gold in their first tourney after losing their star. Impressive resilience and depth. They are all well coached and anyone can score, fun offense at times as a result, can beat you many ways. Some holes in defense at times. Short bench. Bracket Seeding issue is going to affect their final placement feast or famine, will be a tough road for them.
Major Tourney Results:
2nd at San Diego Cup
2nd at Superfinals
1st at US Club Championships
Projected JO Finish: 2nd-7th.
Diablo: Due to them not playing many of the big tourneys, we haven’t seen much, but maybe some can chime in. Great depth. They seem to hold down the top Northern California spot beating Lamo and Stanford, but a recent loss to Stanford at US Club championships shows certain matchups are bad for them and are no longer kings of the Bay Area.
Major Tourney Results
US Club Championships
Did not play Superfinals, San Diego Cup
Projected: 3rd-7th
Tier 2A teams, very good
Stanford: Defense defense defense. Wins the close games. Defensive minded approach. Doesn’t have the attack needed at times. Good all around team. Struggles with fast teams. Struggles with offense at times against good D. Aggressive teams and strong teams give them fits.
Major Tourney Podium Finishes
2nd at US Club Championships
Projected JO Finish: 4th-8th
San Clemente: Struggling majorly as of late, and the opposite of peaking at the right time, fading in the majors. No podiums. But when they are on, they are a solid team that plays well together. Their seed is going to help a lot. Only top team not losing any to worlds so that will also help. Their big win is a 2 point W over Patriot once in JO qualifications and that seed is why they will still finish higher than average, but also the inconsistent play and defense is their downfall. A few matchups are really bad for them and they can get upset at any point day 3 forward as we have seen at all the majors. No podium finishes at SD Cup (4th), Superfinals (9th), US Club Championships (7th) might be a tier 2B, but their JO bracket seeding will help them.
Major Podium Finishes: None
But they took advantage and scored a #2 seed at JQuals.
Projected JO Finish: 3rd-8th.
Tier 2B Talented and could surprise
This next group of teams are all pretty close and can beat each other and emerge barely over the other.
Shores Black: Another fun team if you like water polo with movement/team play. I actually think this is my dark horse pick to breakthrough. Have consistently been in tight games and can score from anywhere. Projected Finish: 6th-10th
Santa Barbara: I can’t figure this one out. Not as strong as in previous years, but definitely in the mix when they have their team together. Projected Finish: 6th-10th
Chawp: Will compete in top 10 and with matchup luck, get to top 5. This doesn’t look like the team that has shown up all season and could sneak into the top with a few close wins and coin flips. Not sure if there are new players who arrived for summer or what, but they look different than the girls we saw earlier in the year and with this new team, we hey should contend for top 8 especially with the right bracket luck. Struggles mightily against the fast teams still, and too reliant on two players. Once teams see that nobody else wants to shoot, the game turns on them. No podium finishes this season at the majors.
Projected Finish: 6th-10th
Santa Cruz: Have not seen a lot, so not a great opinion other than feisty attackers when I did see them. Had a good tourney at Superfinals.
Projected Finish: 6th-10th
Lamorinda: Really needs close games to go their way and they are good at them. Balanced offense and defensively. Losing your top goalie for JO is going to impact their final placement likely.
Major Tourney Results:
Finished 3rd at Superfinals over Santa Cruz.
Projected JO Finish: 8th-12th
Honorable Mention to SD Dons who play tough and can compete. They are close and will play with heart. Hope they can sneak in and make a run.
I could be way wrong about any of these at this level and I just hope they all have fun and I’m really proud to watch them play when I can. The parents of the girls are way more supportive and well-behaved compared to the boys side when I watch my sons.
That is why they play the games!
1 Like
Great analysis! I can attest that no new girls with CHAWP. Just development. They are young. They really played well and surprised a lot of people out there. They played Patriot to one goal(honestly that game could have gone either way) and had to go against Diablo without much rest. No excuses though. That’s growth. Great games all in all. Diablo athletes and families were a class act.
It’s OK. I’m not offended. He does get a little wild at times
1 Like
A very good analysis. If I understand correctly, Lamo’s #1 goalie will be at the worlds. If this is the case, they might struggle a bit.
1 Like
I heard they had a good goalie. She must be really good
Updated it with this info. Good catch
I think we need to reconsider the impact on the 16s compared to the 14s here. Yes, the 14s are affected too, but they have time to grow into their teams and build chemistry, they’re still developing. The 16s are in a completely different position. These are the girls actively being scouted for college right now.
Sure, you could argue that missing Worlds players opens the door for others to step up and get exposure and that’s true in theory. But let’s be honest: the scouts aren’t equally distributed across all pools and games.
They show up to the high-stakes pools, the top brackets, the competitive games. If your team is weakened and drops out of that tier, those replacement players aren’t getting seen by the people who matter. The opportunity only exists if the team is still in the right games.
The 14s have a runway to recover and adjust. The 16s don’t have that same luxury when recruiting decisions are happening right now.
1 Like
This hurts to read and I think you’re right.
Why can’t USA water polo get out of their own way!!!
1 Like
What an incredible weekend for girls’ water polo 14s! So many competitive games, exciting finishes, and great performances all around. It was a reminder of just how much talent is coming up through the age groups.
What were everyone’s favorite moments or most memorable games from the weekend? Any standout players, teams, or plays that really caught your attention? I’d love to hear what everyone enjoyed most.
1 Like
I was driving all over due to the boys games being elsewhere far away from Corona
I saw some on stream and some in person
I think it was really fun to see some of the new rosters which is certainly going to level the playing field especially from fourth place on down.
I think my favorite was watching the Dons play and Stanford finally getting a win over Diablo.
3 Likes
Just be careful and keep an eye out. I’ve been in youth sports for nearly two decades and I have a high tolerance for every style. This is bad for this age group. But some love it.
Gotta be extra careful as a parent exposing them to this long term. You will find dissent here on this topic, but that doesn’t make you wrong.
1 Like
tempted to release the video. At one point I stopped filming the game and panned back to the coach given the outburst.
3 Likes
So you always have the option to file a report with safe sport. The entire reason safe sport exist is for people to be able to file these sorts of complaints to protect the kids and allow them to do their investigation and interview people and find the facts. Video is one of the most important components of how safe sport makes their determination, and it can lead to at least a file in case things escalated from here or depending on what your evidence says, it can lead to the removal and protection of the kids.
I don’t know what it shows on your video or what happened, but I encourage you to make the best decision possible and live with no regrets by simply following your heart and gut. If this were a public school, for example, it would fall under mandated reporter rules, depending on the action and in general, allowing the system to work as intended is a smart thing.
Heck for all you know, there is already active files and you will just be adding onto it with your video. I do think that process is better than posting it publicly here and I’m sure the mods would agree.
I applaud you for bringing it up. If you see something, say something, but do so with SafeSport. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of support here for this approach because nobody wants people to feel silenced when it comes to the kids we entrust. These are 12 and 13yo girls not D1 college athletes for goodness sakes
Here is the official procedure copy and pasted
“To file a SafeSport report for water polo, call 833-5US-SAFE (587-7233) or submit an electronic report via the U.S. Center for SafeSport. For misconduct or rules violations, email the national governing body directly at report@usawaterpolo.org. If a minor is at risk, notify local law enforcement immediately.”
3 Likes
No offense, but I don’t think anyone needs to be going after any coaches in this type of setting. There is nothing factual in any of these statements. Only opinion. I know of the man you are referring to and I’m not surprised. I am surprised you’ve been in the water polo community for 2 decades and haven’t seen or heard of him before. There is a reputation and a style for sure, but make no doubt about it, he produces D1 athletes. I won’t use his name out of respect. I don’t know the coach on a personal level but he is well known amongst many clubs and coaches. His style is not for everyone I agree, but to state something based on opinion in this forum and platform is wrong. If you want to file a grievance take it up with Safe Sport, not Waterpolo Exchange
Opinion? No, sir. These are facts. His words crossed the line and that’s why he was carded multiple times. That is why people are talking. Because common sense says otherwise.
Sharing the correct process in an abundance of caution is the only correct reply here. Full stop. No exceptions.
The original poster said they were about to share video, and I simply directed them to the appropriate reporting process. Not only fair, bur correct here and the correct forum.
The only thing offensive is the way he spoke on the pool deck to players and especially to refs. He doesn’t deserve respect. The Chawp coach deserves a lesson in manners, sportsmanship, and class.
There are facts about what was said and the poster who has video certainly has facts not opinion. It just depends on what was said to the refs, to the kids, etc.
Out of respect? Interesting choice of words. Would I report him for the lack of respect he showed the refs and the players? No. I’ve seen the toddler dance of coaches for far too long to be bothered by the clown show. Half the time he was wrong and the half he was right, he handled it poorly and without class. Poorly, but not worthy of anything other than a yellow or red card (which he deserved), but maybe a parent reading this can remind him the age of these girls and that he needs to treat refs with respect if he wants respect in the community
I am well aware of these coaches and their so called styles. I am glad he’s not my kids coach. But there’s not enough “there” because childish behavior can be ignored if he wants to embarrass himself. Now, if he talked that way about my own kids, then I would care. This coach is irrelevant to us same as all the toddler tantrum ones who haven’t figured it out in life yet.
My reply was to help a parent with this specific situation where she has video. Whether I know the person well or not has no bearing on how allegations should be handled. There are established SafeSport protocols specifically designed to investigate these matters that the crazycatlady wrote about fairly and determine what, if anything, occurred.
That is the process I encourage people to follow. Seems logical and the right thing to do. Certainly do not go posting videos imho. Waterpolo exchange is the perfect place to share the proper Safesport process I agree.
The good news is thanks to the people who follow these issues, there will be tons of eyeballs on them and video, and if any coach does cross any lines at a sanctioned event, then at least those people will know exactly what to do with it and can call out the behavior. Perhaps the refs can send a message by ensuring that any talking like that to the rest will get more than just a yellow card next time. Ejections control people like this for the future and he needs to be corrected for his own development as a coach and person. If anyone disagrees with that, I have a bridge for sale. Take the antics back to D1 with adults.
2 Likes
You probably did not mean this sentence to sound the way it is but producing D1 athletes is not relevant to the abuse discussion. I would not want it to sound as a devil’s bargain.
1 Like