July 20 - San Jose, CA July

Every year USA Water Polo hosts the Junior Olympics (JOs), a youth water polo tournament featuring the best age group teams from around the county competing for the title of national champion.  Northwest Water Polo Club sent five boys team to this year's tournament including the clubs 18u, 16u, 14u A, 14u B and 12u boys teams. Over the course of the four day tournament NWPC teams fought hard, representing the program well against the top water polo teams from around the USA. 

18u boys got off to a great start on Saturday morning with a solid 10-5 win over Carlsbad (Carlsbad, C). Game two was a different story as the team dropped a tough match to 680 Drivers (San Jose, CA) 5-15. In their last match of the day the team played great against a tested Pride (Thousand Oaks, CA) team and after four quarters of play the score stood tied at 10-10. In the shootout the team came up short by one, ending the game 10.3-10.4, moving on to the gold bracket for Sunday games. Sunday morning the boys started off slow, losing a tough game to Arroyo Grande 9-15. Up next was a match vs Patriot and the while the boys played really well they came up short 9-10. In their third game of the day the boys fell short against Utah United 7-11. Monday had the team earn solid wins against Miami Riptides (Miami, FL) and Pegasus (Dallas, TX) to earn a birth in the 13th place game in the gold bracket on Tuesday afternoon. Against Wolverines the boys came out and hot and never let up, winning the game 10-7. For the tournament the boys went 4-5 to finish 13th in the gold bracket.

NWPC 16u boys had a tough start to their JO tournament, dropping their first game against San Diego power house La Jolla United 1-15. In their second match the boys put forth a good effort but once again came up short 2-16. Sunday saw 16s rebound with a solid 14-2 win over Moose Blue. Against ORWP the boys came out flat dropping the game 5-11. Monday morning the 16s matched up against Southside and while they kept it close for a half the team came up short 6-13. In the afternoon the boys were back in the pool against Pegasus and once again came up short 6-9. In their final tilt on Tuesday afternoon the 16s were ready to roll, posting a 9-6 win against Cal Republic to close out the tournament with a 2-6 record and 19th place finish in the gold bracket.

Northwest 14u A team started their tournament off with a rough 3-22 loss to Diablo A. The boys rebounded with a solid team effort against Pegasus (Dallas, TX) but came up short 7-10 to move into the gold bracket. Sunday saw the boys earn their first victory of the tournament with a great 15-5 win over Rocky Mountain Neptunes. Game two featured a match up vs Diablo B and the team put together a great game but came up short in a shoot out 7.2-7.3. Monday morning the squad came up against Lamorinda B and once again a shootout decided the game as the 14s ended the game with 10.0-10.2 score. Game two on Monday was a solid contest against SOVA as the boys locked down on defense to earn a 12-4 win. In their last game of the tournament the boys came up with a big 11-9 win. Over the tournament the 14s went 3-4 and finished 17th in the gold bracket.

Northwest B boys had a slow start in the their first match, dropping a 0-28 decision to Sand Canyon Redlands, CA). In their second game the squad much better but came up short against Praetorian (Fresno, CA) 5-11. The teams 0-2 record moved them into the bronze bracket, going up against CVU Sunday morning. The boys played hard but couldn’t quite keep up, dropping the game 2-12. Game two against Ripon told a similar story as the squads defense let down, ending the game 1-12. Monday the boys had another slow start against Trojan Gold going down early to finish the game 6-12. In their last game of the tournament the 14s came up against San Francisco Marin but couldn’t finish things out, ending the game 6-11.

The 12u boys team came up against a tested Shore Aquatics team in their first match and dropped the game 1-12. Game two saw the 12u team play really well, pushing Trojan (Los Angeles) for four quarters to end the game in a 6-6 tie. In the shootout the boys came up just short, 6.1-6.3, to move into the gold bracket. In their first game on Sunday the boys came ready to play putting up a 9-5 win against the Rocky Mountain Neptunes. Against Santa Cruz Waxem the boys put forth a great effort but came up short 7-11. Monday had the team facing off against 680 White, unfortunately a slow start left the squad with a 3-9 loss. The boys came back with a a great effort against Lamorinda B but once against came up short 6-7. In their last game of the tournament the 12s were ready to roll, putting up a fantastic 7-4 win against Royal Black to finish the tournament with a 2-5 record and a 19th place finish in the gold bracket.

Congratulations to all five Northwest boys teams on a great week of games at the 2022 Junior Olympics. Northwest will take a break for August and get back to training Sep 6 after Labor Day weekend.

Official tournament results/scores here