Friday morning again. This time Joe get in the weeds with the way UIL playoffs will actually happen. It might surprise you.

We also do our coaches rankings and players of the week.

Finally, Joe talks with Round Rock HS Head Coach Tom Arredondo about the (positive) switch from full-time swim coach to water polo AND swim coach.

Austin College hosted four noisy matches on campus last weekend coming away from it with a 3-1 record, including a surprising loss to Augustana that James brings up and Joe evades…

Meanwhile, MaxPreps has put Texas water polo on the map with Foster atop its national girls’ prep rankings this week. The Highland Park boys get some love too, and both teams are the top-ranked in this week’s TXWP Coaches’ Poll.

Plus Jonathan Landero has been hard at work growing water polo down in the Valley since 2013. He’s the Aquatics Director for the PSJA ISD and also a coach for the Southwest Zone’s ODP. Joe caught up with him as the first ODP camp of the 2022-23 season has arrived.

Donzie Lilly has dived knee deep in to the water polo coaching world in the past few years. Now Head Coach at Texas Mavericks, Hebron High School, and with the Olympic Development Program, he speaks with Joe about the first UIL season and the first ODP camps that are just a couple weeks away.

Plus, Austin College will host four NCAA men’s games in Sherman this weekend where it is highly likely to be very, very loud.

And both Joe and James coached at the past weekend’s Armadillo Classic in The Colony. That and high school rankings and players of the week.

Look, we could spend all day placing blame on someone for not posting this podcast right after it was recorded but what, really, will that accomplish? Mistakes were made, right? Who's to say? Let's not dwell on the past. Let's move forward. Water under the bridge. Tomorrow's another day, and so on.

On this "classic" podcast we talk to Mark Lawrence about their upcoming tournament at Brown (already completed), changes to USA Water Polo's Olympic Development Program (discussed last week too), and more and more prep water polo, including players of the week (past tense).

Great. Now that we have that all cleared up all is forgiven, right?

[recorded 31 August 2022]

The nest is empty at James' house and it shows in this maudlin edition of the TXWaterpolo Podcast.

We recap the new-look Kangaroos as Austin College returns from their season-opening tournament in the Northeast where they defeated DIII opponents Connecticut College but fell to the pesky Engineers of MIT.

Plus Joe talks with Kari Brothers, Water Polo Coordinator for the Northside ISD, about San Antonio's re-emergence on the high school water polo scene.

And both Joe and James head up to North Texas for the first fall USA Water Polo tournament. How much shouting will take place if their two teams meet again?

More players of the week and high school rankings as the UIL season plugs along with games all over the state of Texas.

Plus, the ODP program is changed for the 2022-23 season with some big news about where regional and national championships are headed.

And Austin College is wrapping up its pre-season training and getting ready to both travel back east for its opening games but will then host four matches in Sherman later in September.

Keep those nominations coming, and coaches be sure to vote.

Here we go. We've been waiting and now it's fully underway. We celebrate the high school season with our Players of the Week, our coaches' rankings, and a conversation with the highly successful head coach at Cy Creek HS, Jeff Chandler.

Plus, upcoming events for those not playing the high school season. Several tournaments dot the schedule this fall punctuated by TAGS in November for Texas' younger athletes.

High school water polo fans, make sure to nominate your players of the week too!

The biggest youth tournament in the world wrapped up with another successful foray in to the Lone Star State. Will there be a third Texas JOs in 2023? We talk about that an many other observations from the tournament.

Which leads immediately to the first ever UIL water polo season (finally!). It's here. Not in theory. For real. Can you believe it? It's going to be an exciting, chaotic, educational, and ultimately important season for the sport in Texas and we're just getting started.

Oh, and Joe wants you to become a referee.

(And very quietly, we've started season four of the pod. Amazing.)

You might have thought we were gone but no such luck.

We recap the Spring high school season, look very much forward to the fall prep season, honor the Austin College women for their 3rd place finish at DIII Championiships, and talk about Junior Olympics, which are soon to swamp North Texas in water polo.

Let's get ready for some UIL ball!

It's the 50th and final TISCA High School Water Polo Championship this weekend. We give a bit of a tribute to just how impressive that run has been especially in comparison to prep water polo elsewhere in the USA.

Plus, Austin College will vie for a national championship after just four years in existence. The Kangaroo women travel to SoCal to take on Whittier in their opening match of USA Water Polo's Division III Championship.

And it's been a busy spring for age-group polo, which will get even busier this summer as North Texas readies itself to host Session 3 of Junior Olympics again after a successful 2021.

That and we share some news about TXWaterpolo and the podcast as its hosts and writers "mature." Times, they change.