Info on Southwest Zone NJO Qualifier and National Junior Olympics

admin Age Group, Announcements

Below is the Southwest Zone NJO Qualifier tournament information.  For 2019, the SWZ NJO Quals has been divided up into two separate tournaments:  14U/12U/10U Divisions on June 7-9, 2019 at the Pearland ISD Natatorium and the 18U/16U Divisions on June 14-16 at the CFISD Natatorium in Northwest Houston.  The Southwest Zone NJO Qualifier Tournaments will be the qualification/seeding events for the USA Water Polo National Junior Olympics for the Southwest Zone.  Only teams attempting to qualify for NJO’s will be allowed to enter the tournaments.

Below are all the information, dates, links, deadlines, etc. specific for the Southwest Zone NJO Quals events.  Please pay close attention to the deadlines listed for each weekend.  For 2019, there are two sets of team entry deadlines, roster deadlines, and club affiliation/age verification/membership deadlines (deadlines based on specific event dates).  Additionally,  the USA Water Polo changes to the Conduct of Championships for 2019 are listed at the bottom of this post.

Entry Fee:  The entry fee will be $500 per team.  All teams will play 4-5 games for the tournament.   Make checks payable to Southwest Water Polo.  Please send entry fee payments to Southwest Water Polo (for the Southwest Zone NJO Quals ONLY), c/o Joe Linehan, 2932 Chris Lane, Grapevine, Irving, TX 76051.  Payments will not be accepted online for the Southwest Zone NJO Qualifier (mailed or brought to the tournament).  Payment will be required for NJO Registration when completing your online entry process (pay later for Southwest Zone NJO Qualifier).

Athlete Eligibility:  An athlete’s age for the Southwest Zone NJO Qualifier and NJO’s is determined by their age on August 1, 2019 for both boys & girls (*see exception below).  Athletes MUST be Gold Members of USA Water Polo and have the proper Club Affiliation in order to be rostered for the Southwest Zone NJO Qualifier and the National Junior Olympics.  Athletes also must complete the Age Verification online at the USA Water Polo website in order to be eligible to compete in either event (one time only process).  *The one exception to this rule will be for those graduating senior athletes who turn 19 before August 1st.  These athletes can play in the 18U Division as long as they graduate High School in May/June 2019 (must turn in transcript to USA Water Polo and have them approve the exception).

USA Water Polo NJO’s Website:  https://usawaterpolo.org/sports/2018/12/19/junior-olympics.aspx 

NJO’s Preliminary Zone Allocations:  https://usawaterpolo.org/documents/2019/2/19/2019_Preliminary_Allocations.pdf 

NJO Qualifier/NJO Registration Process:  https://usawaterpolo.org/documents/2016/8/25/_uswp_genrel_2016_17_misc_non_event__JO_Registration_Instructions.pdf 

14U/12U/10U SWZ NJO Qualifier Information:  June 7-9, 2019 at the Pearland ISD Natatorium, 4141 Bailey Road, Pearland, TX 77584.  There will be two all deep 25 yard courses with warm-up space between the two courses.

  • Event Information:  https://webpoint.usawaterpolo.com/wp15/Events2/ViewEvt.wp?EventID=25372 
  • Team Registration:  https://webpoint.usawaterpolo.com/wp15/Events2/Registrations/TeamRgs.wp?rgs_EventID=25372 
  • Team Registration Deadline for NJO Quals/NJO’s:  Thursday, May 23, 2019 at 9:00 pm (PT).  Teams/Clubs will need to enter both NJO Quals & NJO’s.  This will include payment for the National Junior Olympics.
  • Roster Deadline:  Thursday, May 30, 2019 at 9:00 pm (PT).  Rosters will only be accepted via the USA Water Polo roster verification system.
  • Final Roster Deadline:  Monday, June 3, 2019 at 9:00 pm (PT).  Any roster changes made between May 31st and June 3rd will incur a $100 late roster fee.  No roster changes after June 3rd, no exceptions.
  • Club Affiliation/Age Verification/Gold Membership Deadline:  Monday, June 3, 2019 at 9:00 pm (PT).  Any ineligible athletes or coaches will be removed from the roster June 3rd at 9:01 PM (PT).

18U/16U SWZ NJO Qualifier Information:  June 14-16, 2019 at the CFISD Natatorium, 12550 Windfern Rd, Houston, TX 77064.  There will be two all deep 25 yard courses with warm-up space between the two courses.

  • Event Information:  https://webpoint.usawaterpolo.com/wp15/Events2/ViewEvt.wp?EventID=25385 
  • Team Registration:  https://webpoint.usawaterpolo.com/wp15/Events2/Registrations/TeamRgs.wp?rgs_EventID=25385 
  • Team Registration Deadline for NJO Quals/NJO’s:  Thursday, May 30, 2019 at 9:00 pm (PT).  Teams/Clubs will need to enter both NJO Quals & NJO’s.  This will include payment for the National Junior Olympics.
  • Roster Deadline:  Thursday, June 6, 2019 at 9:00 pm (PT).  Rosters will only be accepted via the USA Water Polo roster verification system.
  • Final Roster Deadline:  Monday, June 10, 2019 at 9:00 pm (PT).  Any roster changes made between June 6th and June 10th will incur a $100 late roster fee.  No roster changes after June 10th, no exceptions.
  • Club Affiliation/Age Verification/Gold Membership Deadline:  Monday, June 10, 2019 at 9:00 pm (PT).  Any ineligible athletes or coaches will be removed from the roster June 3rd at 9:01 PM (PT).

USA Water Polo Changes to the Conduct of Championships for 2019:

  1. Initial Roster Deadline is changed from 15 days to 8 days prior to the start of JO Quals*.
  2. Roster Lockdown and Club Affiliation Requirement changed from 8 days to 4 days prior to the start of JO Quals*.
  3. 12U Mixed Division added to Session 2. Athletes who participate in 12u Boys or 12u Girls will not be allowed to participate in the 12u Mixed division or vice versa, including JO Quals.
  4. Zones will be permitted to request a swap of a Championship Allocations (1-48th place) for a Classic Division Allocations (49-96th place) with approval from the Championship Finals Management Committee (CFMC).  Requests must be specific to age group and gender and must be submitted within 10 days following the conclusion of the qualifier or July 1st, whichever comes first, to events@usawaterpolo.org. Zone Chairs are the only people allowed to make the requests on behalf of their zone, requests made by individual clubs will not be reviewed.