boys swimming

SJA - REGISTER FOR USA WATER POLO, 2010, ON LINE. THE SJA FEE FOR THE YEAR IS $450. THIS INCLUDES: WINTER (16-U, 18-U), SPRING (16-U, 18-U) AND SUMMER (18-U, 16-U, 14-U) (SUMMER ONLY $250).

SPRING PRACTICES RE-START MAY 24, MONDAY THRU THURSDAY, AT 2:45 PM. NO PRACTICE, FINALS WEEK, JUNE 1-3. SUMMER PRACTICES START JUNE 7, AT 8 AM-9:30 (18-U), 9:30-11 (16-U), AND 11-12:30 (14-U), THOUGH THE END OF JULY.

JUNE 11-13 16-U NJO QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT, NOR. CA. - JUNE 26-27 CLOVIS NORTH TOURNAMENT 18-U AND 16-U, CLOVIS, CA. - JULY 10-11 WEST VALLEY COLLEGE TOURNAMENT 18-U AND 16-U, SARATOGA, CA. - JULY 17 NAPA VALLEY COLLEGE, 18-U AND 16-U, NAPA, CA. - JULY 31-AUG. 3 NATIONAL JUNIOR OLYMPICS 16-U, LOS ANGELES, CA.

THE WASHINGTON EASTER INVITATIONAL IN FEDERAL WAY, WAS A GREAT EXPERIENCE. WE HAD 19 PLAYERS AND 8 ADULTS TO ENJOY THE TRIP, APR 2- APR. 4. EACH TEAM PLAYED 5 GAMES. THE 19-U HAD A TOUGH OUTING WITH ONLY 4 SENIORS ON THE ROSTER, LOOSING ALL 5 GAMES. THE 16-U TEAM WON 3 IN A ROW AND THEN LOST TO THE HOST TEAM, UNITED, IN THE PRELIMINARY ROUND. THE FINAL CAME DOWN TO US AND UNITED, FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP. SJA PLAYED AND EXCELLENT FINAL GAME, TO WIN 4-2.

LIVERMORE COMMUNITY CENTER - SATURDAY - 16-U, 8:50 AM LaMorinda win, 680 win, Stanford win.

REDWOOD HS, LARKSPUR - SUNDAY - 18-U, SV Outlaws (Valley Christian) win, Granite Bay (win), Golden State (Serra, Woodside HS) win. The perfect weekend, 6-0. GREAT JOB BY ALL PLAYERS.

PALO ALTO - The 16-u, played Stanford "A", Stanford "B", and a large Brentwood "A" team. We ended all games with strong victories. Everyone got good playing time. Good experience for everyone.

VALLEY CHRISTIAN - Sunday's schedule looked to be extremely tough. We started the day with Soquel (Wax'm), where we were able to stop one of the "strongest" holemen in CCS. The second game, always fun to play "Valley" (Outlaws), started by giving them a 1-6 lead at half-time. With a couple of adjustments, we dominated the third and fourth quarters (5-0 each), winning 11-6. The final game, Atherton (SHP), was close except for their one outside shooter who put 5 into the upper corner as they won by 5. Great weekend.

JAN. 8-9 WINTER BALL
Great experience this first weekend of "winter ball".
SACRED HEART - The 16-u, started the day against a well coached, young team from La Morinda. We needed to play more as a team to control their offense. They had a couple holeman who could turn and shoot if we didn't drop. The final score was 6-8, loss. Game 2 was against Atherton "A" (Sacred Heart Prep). The officials did not blow their whistles much, allowing the defense to keep the score down. We played well, as a team, and won 4-3. The final game of the day was against South Penninsula (Menlo School). Their group was a young group. We had everyone get playing time, as we pulled ahead by 3 in the first quarter and subbed freely for the rest of the game.

SODA CENTER - The 18-u, got a supprise with the opener being against the Sacred Heart team from New Zealand. The game was close, as we tied it up at 6-6 in the 4th quarter. With a couple of turnover errors, we gave away 2 and ended the game 6-8. Everyone got some playing time. The second game was against a tough American River team. They've got good size and speed. Whenever there was a turnover (their ball) they took advantage from anyone who was not ready to go the other way. They're fast breaks accounted for a number of their goals. We had trouble shooting when a guard was applying hard pressure. We have to move out from under that pressure. Final score 12-3. We finished the day with the LaMorinda team. This was another team that could apply hard pressure of defense. In the 3rd quarter, they began taking advantage of our defenders swimming back with their heads down. Their action was to step in front of our player and try to draw the foul by taking a hard egg-beater kick. Their pressure and offensive play gave them the 16-4 victory.

Practices at 2:45 Monday thru Thursday, EXCEPT THIS WEDNESDAY (1/13), AT PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL, AT 5:30 PM. They've invited us to share their large pool for the evening.

AFTER WINTER BALL, PRACTICES WILL BE TUES AND THURS EVENINGS AT 7:45 PM TO PREPARE FOR THE WASHINGTON INVITATIONAL IN FEDERAL WAY, APR. 2-4, 2010. WE WILL ENTER A 16-U AND 19-U TEAM.

SUMMER PRACTICES WILL START JUNE 7 AT 8 AM, MON THRU THURS, THRU THE JUNIOR OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT, JULY 31 THRU AUG. 3.

THE TEAM BANQUET WAS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, IN THE ITC, AT LELAND. THANKS TO ALL THAT CONTRIBUTED TO A WONDERFUL EVENING AND A SUCCESSFUL SEASON.

CCS FIRST ROUND PLAY STARTED, 11/10 AT PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL, LELAND VS LOS GATOS . THE GAME WAS CLOSE THROUGHOUT BUT IN THE END, LOS GATOS WON, 7-6.

CONGRATULATION ON THE 2009 BVAL CHAMPIONSHIP GOING UNDEFEATED DURING THE SEASON AND WITH WINS OVER LIVE OAK AND PIONEER, IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT, NOV. 6 AND 7.

GREAT WINS IN THE POLOFEST TOURNAMENT BEATING TWO WEST CATHOLIC TEAMS AND GOING UNDEFEATED. WE WENT 2-1 IN THE APTOS TOURNAMENT, NOT BEING PREPARED TO A GOOD APTOS SQUAD.

THE ST. FRANCIS TOURNAMENT REVISED IT'S FORMAT TO INCLUDE 16 TEAMS FROM THE NCS. THE NEW NAME BEING, THE NCS / CCS CHALLENGE. WE FINISHED 5TH IN THE "B" DIVISION, WITH A SINGLE LOSS TO GUNN.

GREAT TRIP TO THOUSAND OAKS. THE TEAM LEARNED A LOT ABOUT PLAYING MANY DIFFERENT STYLES OF OPPONENTS AND A LOT ABOUT WHAT WE NEED TO WORK ON.

SCHOOL PRACTICES : MON, WED, FRI - 6 AM (WEIGHTROOM AND POOL). NO PRACTICES AM, ON GAME DAYS. PM PRACTICES START AFTER 6TH PERIOD, (M,W,TH,F - 2:45 PM, T - 3 PM).

BOYS WATER POLO SCHEDULE 2009

9/5 MONTEREY BAY TOURN. SAN BENITO HS ALL DAY 3 VAR. win San Benito HS 17-7, win Pioneer HS 6-2, win Salinas 14-8. record 3-0

9/11,12 CONEJO VALLEY THOUSAND OAKS HS ALL DAY 5 VAR. win Moorpark HS 13-5, loss Dana Hills HS 6-11, loss Westlake HS 5-8, win Great Oaks 15-9, win Hanford West 13-9. record 6-2

9/25, 26 ST. FRANCIS TOURNA. ST. FRANCIS HS ALL DAY 3 VAR. win Ygnacio Valley 14-8, loss Gunn 6-11, win St. Ignatius 12-9, win Northgate 11-10. record 9-3

10/9, 10 POLOFEST TOURNA. LIVE OAK HS ALL DAY 3 VAR. win Carmel 7-4, win Saint Ignatius 12-7, win Valley Christian 8-5.

11/5, 6, 7 **BVAL CHAMPIONSHIP Live Oak HS 11/6 - Live Oak win 11/7 - Pioneer win CONGRATULATIONS - BVAL MT HAMILTON DIVISION CHAMPIONS

11/21 CCS FINAL TBA TBA VAR.

** Indicates BVAL, Mt. Hamilton Division, League matches

SJA (club #1224) members must be registered with USWP to participate (register on line) for 2010. An "official roster" has to be electronically submitted before competitions, so make sure you are registered (USWP, 2010) and SJA, club #1224.

Club membership for the year 2010, is $450. Summer only (June 7 thru July 30) $250.

At the Spring Siesta, Washington, Mar. 20 - 22, 2009, the 16-u team finished in 4th place while the 18-u finished in 7th place.

Summer practice went thru June to the end of July. We started at the Fresno, Clovis North tournament, finishing 6th of 24 teams. We won three and lost two, both by one point. We continued to play through the summer, at Bellarmine, West Valley and ending with another West Valley tournament, July 18,19. Playing games is the best experience to improve water polo skills.

AT THE 2008, WASHINGTON SPRING SIESTA 18-U BOYS DIVISIONS PLACED THIRD. 16-U BOYS PLAYED WELL.

2008 summer tournaments included: Conta Costa College, 20 under (3-0), Rio Americano, 16 under and 18 under (1-2 and 2-1, respectively), West Valley College, 16 under and 18 under (two touraments), (2-4 and 4-2, respectively). The season went from mid-June to the end of July. The schedule for 2009 will include a similar summer of competitions.

The season goals were hefty. The target being BVAL, Mt Hamilton Division Champions and success in CCS Tournament play. We succeeded at both.

We started the season at the Hollister tournament with wins over Carmel, Salinas and home team, Hollister to take the championship. The mighty "Chargers" start with an impressive 3 - 0 record.

Our second round of games was the Conejo Valley Classic in Thousand Oaks, CA. We crushed San Luis Obispo. and lost the Pacific in overtime, 8-9, Friday, after our arrival. Saturday we started tough with a 6-9 loss to El Modena and a 5-6 loss against, host pool, Westlake. Our 3rd game of the day was Paso Robles where we rolled through with a 9-3 win. We were left with a 5-3 record.

We next jumped in with the tough nor-cal tournament, Roche at Menlo School. We started we #1 CCS ranked St. Francis and played well, finally going down 6-11. The next morning, a bit tired from the big battle the night before, we lost to the Sacramento powerhouse, Rio Americano, 11-8. The second game of the day was against Valley Christian where we had a sweet 9-8 win. We had to play one more and the opponent was Live Oak. We gave away an easy game 5-7. Our record now 6-6.

Our final early season tournament was the St. Francis Varsity Tournament. We again opened with St. Francis who gave us a sound beating (3-16) after we played them so tightly at Menlo School. We then played Palo Alto, the team that beat us in CCS Semi's, last year. Their best player scored 5 and Kyle Meggs of Leland scored 5 but they had four other players assist with scores while we only had Masahiro Obuchi help Kyle (7-10). Our last game at St. Francis left us with a physical brawl against Soquel, where we lost 9-11. Our record at 7-9.

Our next game was BVAL play at Live Oak HS against Santa Teresa HS, at 8 PM. The Chrgers managed to come out hard and control the match throughout, with an easy victory of 16-2. Nine different players scored with the leader being Masahiro Obuchi with 3 goals. Record 8-9.

Wednesday, Oct. 8, we played BVAL opponent, Pioneer at Willow Glen, in a dark pool at night. We started with a slow first quarter but finished the game with an 11- 4 victory, led by senior Masahiro Obuchi, with 5 goals. Record 9-9.

We played in the Live Oak Polofest Tournament. The team started with another easy win over Carmel, Friday at 3:15 PM at Valley Christian HS, with the water freezing and the wind blowing hard. Saturday morning , we again met Valley Christian only with a 1 point loss, this time. Our last game was against the physical, Burlingame team. We went down by two points after giving them a four point lead at the half. Record 10-11.

We next played what appears to be the reound-robin championship game for the BVAL league against Live Oak, at Live Oak, Oct. 15 at 3 PM. We played to a 9 - 8 win after trailing 8 - 6 at the end of the third quarter. Kyle meggs again came through with four goals, Masa Obuchi with two and one each from Jonathan Kane and Jonathan Lie. Record 11-11

Our final BVAL round-robin match was with Willow Glen, Oct. 25 at 4 PM at Willow Glen. The game started slowly but the second quarter, Kyle Meggs tossed in a quick 5 goals to give Leland a decisive lead. The next two periods, the game was slowed to a crawl as Leland held on to an 8 - 3 victory. The puts Leland as 1st seat in the BVAL Championship Tournament.

The BVAL Championship Tournament is Nov. 6, 7 ,8. We will have a bye on Thursday the 6th. We will enter the tournament with a 12-11 record but we are 5-0 in BVAL league play. The plan is to advance 1st in our league into the CCS Tournament.

Leland Men's Water Polo Team has been seeded 5th in Division I, CCS tournament play. We won our 1st game, Nov. 11, at Monte Vista High School, vs Fremont High School of Mtn. View, 17-6. Our next match was against 4th ranked Serra HS of San Mateo at St. Francis HS, November 15. We finished the season with a 10-6 loss for 5th place in Division I, CCS.

11/7,8 BVAL Championships TBA All Day Var , win over Willow Glen and Live Oak for 1st place.

11/11 Tues Central Coast Section Championship Quarters Monte Vista Var, win over Fremont HS.

11/15 Sat Central Coast Section Championships Semis St Francis Var, loss to Serra HS, 5th place

2008 - Season Record 15 - 12, BVAL 8-0, BVAL CHAMPIONS, JV 1ST place, 5TH Division I, CCS.