South Bay United News:

Practice Updates

Saturday 2/6 -- 18U and 16UA Round Robin at PV, times TBA
16UB 4:30-7:10pm
14UA 3:10-5:50pm
14UB 2:30-5:10pm
12U 1:50-4:10pm
Development Team 1:30-3:30pm.
Saturday 2/13 -- Development Team 12:00-2:00pm.
Sunday 2/14 -- Development Team 10:00am-12:00pm.
Tuesday 2/23 -- "New Player" Development Clinic at Hawthorne 7:30-9:00pm.
Saturday 2/27 -- "New Player" Development Clinic at MCHS 2:00-3:30pm.
Please check the calendar and your email for the most current schedule.

"New Player" Development Clinics

Check the Clinic Flyer for more information about South Bay United’s Developmental Clinics, which offer girls and boys with swimming experience, ages 8-14, with an introduction to water polo. The Clinics will be held on Tuesday February 23 from 7:30-9:00PM at Hawthorne Pool and Saturday February 27 from 2:00-3:30PM at MCHS.

Join Today! Winter Session Registration:

(December 5, 2009 - February 28, 2010)

Because player interest in our program has grown dramatically, SBU held tryouts to assign players to appropriate competition teams. The number of competition teams that SBU fields is dependent on the quantity and quality of the players who are selected. Competition teams will be capped at 15 players per team. If a player is not selected for a competition team, they may still participate as a Developmental player at a reduced fee.

Contact the team parent for the level you will play in for more information about joining South Bay United.

President’s Message from Scott Thornton:

I am thrilled to be the new president of South Bay United Water Polo Club. After “retiring” from the game almost exactly 20 years ago I forgot about water polo as I became busy with my career and then my boys (Matt – 15 and Christian – 11). It wasn’t until last year when Matt told me that he wanted to play water polo that I found myself excited about the sport again. I started picking him up early every day just so I could watch the team and it wasn’t long until I was trying to get involved again as a player or a coach.

Water polo is an incredible sport. It requires superb conditioning, great strength, and intelligence. The physical conditioning that is required to compete necessitates that players spend hours in the pool, and the special bonds that players form are lifelong and strong. A water polo player learns the value of discipline, hard work and team play.

South Bay United has been around for quite a few years and I have watched as it has lived through many incarnations. But as I look around the pool deck today, I am encouraged by what I see: enthusiastic coaches, devoted parents, and talented kids. The club is well positioned to rapidly improve, and has recently made important changes that will payoff off over the long term. Those changes focus on our desire to require more commitment from our players, and in turn offer much more in terms of coaching and success.

For each age group we hope to qualify a team for the J.O. National Championships in July of 2010. But it’s important to remember that a failure to qualify is NOT failure. Our primary goals are to develop our players and our teams, and our success is to be measured by how much we improve throughout the year.

While our focus is on player development, it is my belief that players improve fastest in a competitive environment. Better players will play more and developing players will work harder to earn playing time. We intend to field the best teams for each age group that our talent will allow.

I will be on the pool deck (or in the pool) on most weekends; feel free to introduce yourself.

Thanks for your support,
Scott

South Bay United 12U Team Excels at Junior Olympics

At the 2009 Junior Olympics South Bay United was originally seeded 25th out of the 36 teams in the Boys 12U Division. In its first game of the tournament, and first ever appearance at the JO’s, South Bay United went on to upset Lamorinda “A” with a 12-9 victory at Stanford University. With that victory, South Bay United would become the only team seeded 25th or lower to qualify for the Top-24 Team Platinum Bracket. With their next game, South Bay United faced top-seeded SET. South Bay United fought hard and never gave up, but SET, who ended the tournament in 2nd place proved too strong as they went on to win 13-4.

Sunday brought two more fierce competitors to South Bay United. First, SBU faced off with Laguna Beach who was seeded 9th in the tournament. With a 7:50am start time, South Bay United seemed sluggish in the first half and Laguna Beach took advantage. By the second half, South Bay United had lost too much ground to make up, and fell to Laguna Beach 12-6. Still, South Bay United pushed forward and many of the players took time to watch and learn from some of the 18 & Under games that were also being played at Stanford University. Scouting these high caliber teams would prove beneficial to South Bay United.

After watching some of the best water-polo in the country, South Bay United entered their next game against Orange County (11th Seed) with more focus and intensity. South Bay United was never concerned about facing such a successful program as Orange County as they went blow-for-blow and goal-for-goal with their opponent. Tied through 3 quarters of play, South Bay United would not go down without a fight. Although, Orange County was able to outscore South Bay 4-2 in the final quarter which proved to be the difference maker as South Bay United lost 10-8. South Bay United then shut down the 14th seeded Titans with great defense and beat their rivals 8-5.

Finally firing on all cylinders, South Bay United was matched up against 12th seeded Greenwich who traveled cross-country to play in the Junior Olympics. The game went down to the last possession and South Bay United was able to stop the opposing threat and capture a 12-11 victory in which South Bay United had four different goal scorers.

The last day of the tournament South Bay United played to its fullest potential. Coach Alex Heck knew, from an early date, that South Bay United was a team that possessed all the keys to success and when facing Santa Barbara, the 20th seed, South Bay United finally “put themselves on the map”. With suffocating defense, South Bay United did not allow a single goal in the second half. South Bay United defeated Santa Barbara 10-3 and finished 4-3 overall and claimed 17th Place at the 2009 Junior Olympics.

“Improvement is the measure of success.” said Coach Alex Heck. And no other team improved as much as South Bay United did. “We were never favored in a single game.” Alex Heck reminded the players after their final win, “You knew, and I knew what we could achieve--and now…now THEY know.” Originally seeded 25th and finishing in 17th Place, nobody matched the “8-spot jump” of South Bay United.

Coach Alex and all the players would like to thank all the family support we received at the Junior Olympics. Not just for cheering for us when we succeeded, but for supporting us through it all, you parents and family members are what make these trips so much fun. South Bay United will continue to improve and impress. Please invite your friends to come out and play for South Bay United-- new players are always welcome.

Congratulations to the 12Us for Qualifying for JOs!

Another successful weekend:

The 12U Coed team continued to improve under Coaches Alex and Jen with a 3-1 record in the Easter Invitational hosted by Commerce.

• Most Improved Player: Ryan Winkler
• Team MVP: Jake Tolt

Also at Commerce's Easter Invitational, Coach Jeff and the 14U Boys team went 2-2 finishing with a nail biting victory!

• Most Improved Player: Mattie Giglio
• Team MVP: Jonathon Paz

The 16U Girls team and Coach Alison finished in 3rd place at the Mikasa Cup in Irvine!

• Most Improved Player: Sarah Crist
• Team MVP: Natalie Lavinsky

Coach Dave and the 17U Boys team, also at the Mikasa Cup tournament in Irvine, went 3-1 finishing in 2nd place!

• Most Improved Player: Dylan Colbert
• Team MVP: Devon Ram

TruWest Orange County Cup

Congratulations to the South Bay United 14U, 12U, and 11U teams for a great weekend of water polo at the 2009 TruWest Orange County Cup!

The rain couldn't dampen the spirit of our players and it showed as all 3 teams came out ahead on the final day of the tournament.

Special recognition goes out to the 12U team for finishing on top winning 1st place in their division!

Keep up the hard work everyone!

Four Players Selected to All-Tournament Team

Four South Bay United players were recently selected to the All-Tournament teams for their hard work and amazing effort shown at the Commerce Invitational tournament on December 13-14.

• Mag Rigler, 12U - Honorable Mention
• Duncan Rowland, 12U - Honorable Mention
• Nick Paz, 10U - 1st Team
• Kyle Crist. 10U - 2nd Team

The 10U team also finished in 3rd place at the tournament with many players playing in their first water polo competition. Way to go guys! Keep up the hard work!

South Bay United wins GOLD 2008 California State Games

Congratulations to the 14U Boys team for their 1st place finish at the20th Anniversary of the California State Games held July 11-13 in San Diego.

Finishing 5-0, the team was undefeated against some of California's toughest competition. All-out effort, gutsy determination, and an endless barrage of shots on goal resulted in South Bay United wins against Sunset(6 - 4), San Diego Shores A (12 - 5), Eagle (12 - 3), San Diego Shores Bin the semi-final (11 - 8), and Lodi in the gold medal game (12 - 8).

Weekend highlights included walking in the athlete parade at the Opening Ceremonies, watching the USA Men's Olympic team play an exhibition game before heading off to Beijing, and of course winning the gold!