Please Place Your Swim Suit Orders

An email was sent out from the MWPA a while ago regarding team suits. We are still waiting to hear from a few athletes regarding sizes and quantity.

Boys will be getting Turbo suits. For sizing please see here. Cost is ~$45-50 each.

Girls will be getting Agon suits. For sizing please talk to your teammates since many of them wear Agon suits already. Cost is ~$80 each.

Everyone is required to have a team suit for competitions. If you do not have one you will not be able to compete at Nationals and possibly even Alberta Open and other future tournaments.

Athletes can order more than one suit, please make Bruce at the MWPA aware of how many you would like.

– Coach Reid

No Practices This Weekend Feb 17 & 19

Unfortunately, we have no training this weekend. It’s hard to believe but all the other pools in the City that are suitable for Water Polo are rented on Fri night and Sunday morning.

– Coach Reid

No Practice Sunday, Feb 12

Practice is canceled this Sunday Feb 12, 2012 due to an event booking (e.g. swim meet) at the pool.

An update on the following weekends practices will come out early next week. Currently they are canceled at Pan Am and I am in the process of finding other arrangements for training.

– Coach Reid

16U Boys & 18U Girls National Championships

Registration for National Championships is quickly approaching so it is now time to confirm your attendance.

DEADLINE TO CONFIRM: Mon, Feb 13 at 1pm

You will need to contact Bruce Rose, Executive Director of the Manitoba Water Polo Association to confirm your attendance by making a deposit of $50 towards this event.

The following athletes have been invited to attend these events.

16U Boys National Championships
Victoria, BC May 18-21, 2012
(Born in 96, 97, 98)
Bachus, Scott	Karasinski-Borgstram, Logan
Chyzzy, Andrea	McCallum, Christopher
Gray, Aidan	Nakagawa, Tyrone
Grocholski, Jared	Robinson, Zev
Haight, Sam	Walker, Lee

18U Girls National Championships
Kamloops, BC May 3-6, 2012
(Born in 94, 95, 96, 97)
Badger, Kate	Armstrong, Annika
Bredin, Claire	Blouin, Natalie
Cheasley, Cailyn	Jensen, Shelia
Fournier, Bree	McIntyre, Amy
MacDougall, Sydney	Nakagawa, Hanika
Pierce, Jaelyn	Wickett, Gio

Estimated cost of attending National Championships is around  $1100-1200/athlete.

We have a firm deadline of Monday, Feb 13 at 1pm to confirm your attendance.

– Coach Reid

6 Girls going to National Development Centre

Six girls from the Manitoba Provincial Team will be attending a National Development Centre training Camp in Calgary, AB on the weekend of Feb 25-26, 2012. I have been in discussion with Water Polo Canada and National Team coaches about getting Manitoba athletes involved in these valuable training experiences since this past fall (2011).

“The National Development Centres (NDC) targets youth aged athletes in the high-performance stream.  The objective of the NDC is to increase the amount of training opportunities for these athletes.”

https://www.waterpolo.ca/ndc.aspx

The athletes involved from Manitoba are:

• Annika Armstrong
• Kate Badger
• Claire Bredin
• Syndey MacDougall
• Hanika Nakagawa
• Jaelyn Pierce

This is an extremely important step in these young athletes careers as they pursue playing at a higher level like the National Team, NCAA or University.

The benefit of attending a camp like this will not only benefit the six girls going but everyone who trains with them on a regular basis. One of the ways you get better is by training with better players so this is a very exciting step in the development of all Water Polo athletes in Manitoba.

– Coach Reid

Clarification: Alberta Open

I have been receiving many of the same questions from athletes and parents regarding the Alberta Open. To help bring some clarity please read below.

All Provincial Team athletes will be on the 18U team at Alberta Open BUT since around 1/2 of them will also be playing 16U with their club team I need to make sure I have at a minimum of 7 players who are only playing on the 18U team.

The reason being is that several games are running at the same time and all teams must be able to start each match with a minimum 7 players. Although 7 players is the minimum required from the tournament it is far from optimal.

16U provincial team athletes who are also playing with their club in the 16U division will play all the 18U games that do not conflict with their club games.

If your are not playing with your club in the 16U division then you are on the 18U Provincial Team and need to confirm your attendance to this event by Monday, Jan 30.

– Coach Reid

Alberta Open – please RSVP

An email was sent out from the MWPA office last week to all the families of athletes who have been selected to the 18U boys and girls Provincial Team that will be attending the Alberta Open, March 15-18 in Calgary, AB.

It is critical that we confirm who is going so appropriate arrangements can be made with respect to travel, hotel and tournament registration.

Please RSVP to Bruce Rose, Executive Director of the Manitoba Water Polo Association.

The original deadline of Jan 27 has been extended to Monday, Jan 30.

To confirm your child’s attendance to this event you need to contact the MWPA and make a deposit of $50.

You can make the deposit by sending a cheque to the MWPA office or by calling the office on Monday between 9am-1pm with your credit card information. All money must go directly to the MWPA office, please do not bring it to the pool.

If you have any questions regarding your child’s involvement in this or other tournaments please contact me, the Head Coach directly.

Thank you for your time.

– Coach Reid

michaelreid.ca@gmail.com

NO PRACTICE: Fri, Jan 27 & Sun, Jan 29

NO PRACTICE: Fri, Jan 27 & Sun, Jan 29 2012.

Due to the Bushido Invitational Water Polo Competition at Pan Am Pool. Most of the Provincial Team athletes should be involved with their club teams in this event.

– Coach Reid

Sun Jan 22 @ Sport Manitoba 10-1230

A reminder that this Sundays (Jan 22) practice is moved to the Sport Manitoba building at 145 Pacific Ave.

Time: 10am – 1230pm

We will be watching some International Water Polo matches one of them being CAN vs HUN (women) from the 2009 World Championships held in Rome, Italy. In addition both the girls and boys teams will be doing a sport psychology session.

Please bring a water bottle and a snack.

– Coach Reid

Good Defensive Positioning

Good Defense starts with:

1. Hips Up
2. Don’t Get Grabbed

– Coach Reid