Southwest Zone Champs and NJO Qualifications

The Southwest Zone Championship tournament information will be located at the UT Swim Center on June 7-8, 2014. The Southwest Zone Championships will be the qualification/seeding tournament for the National Junior Olympics for the Southwest Zone. Teams do not need to be attempting to qualify for NJO’s in order to participate in the Southwest Zone Champs. Some of the highlights for the Southwest Zone Champs and National Junior Olympics are:

USA Water Polo NJO Website: http://www.usawaterpolo.org/juniorolympics/index-2014.html

NJO Allocated Spots: http://www.usawaterpolo.org/juniorolympics/allocations-seeding.html

Entry Fee: The entry fee will be $250 per team. Make checks payable to Southwest Water Polo. Please send entry fee payments to Southwest Water Polo (for Southwest Zone Champs ONLY), 7750 North Macarthur Blvd, #120-275, Irving, TX 75063. Payments will not be accepted online for Southwest Zone Champs (mailed or brought to the tournament).

Athlete Eligibility: An athlete’s age for the Southwest Zone Champs and NJO’s is determined by their age on August 1st for both boys & girls (*see exception below). Athletes MUST be Gold Members of USA Water Polo in order to be entered into the Southwest Zone Championships and 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. *The one exception to this rule will be for those graduating senior athletes who turn 19 before August 1st. These athletes can now play in the 18U Division as long as they graduate High School in May/June 2013. TEAMS NOT TRYING TO QUALIFY for NJO’s: Age Eligility will remain the same. Athletes on these teams will need to be Silver OR Gold members of USA Water Polo.

Club Affiliation/Age Verification Deadline (NO EXCEPTIONS): Athletes and Coaches MUST be registered with the Club they intend to play with by Friday, May 23rd at 9:00 pm. Athletes will also need to have their Age Verification completed by this date. Athletes who turn 19 before August 1st AND graduated from high school in May/June must turn in their official transcript with USA Water Polo by this date. This deadline is for both Southwest Zone Championships and the National Junior Olympics. TEAMS NOT TRYING TO QUALIFY for NJO’s: All athletes need to have their ages verified. Club Affiliation will not be an issue with these teams

Deadline for Southwest Zone Champs Team Entries: The deadline for the Southwest Zone Champs team entries is Friday, May 23rd at 9:00 pm. For those teams trying to qualify for NJO’s, teams will need to enter the Southwest Zone Champs at https://webpoint.usawaterpolo.com/wp15/Events2/ViewEvt.wp?EventID=9749. These teams will also need to enter NJO’s when registering for Southwest Zone Champs. Payments will not be accepted online for Southwest Zone Champs (mailed or brought to the tournament). TEAMS NOT TRYING TO QUALIFY for NJO’s: For those teams which do not intend to qualify for NJO’s, clubs must email southwestwaterpolo@earthlink.net their team entries by Friday, May 23rd. Please be specific on team names, divisions, gender, etc.

Deadline for NJO Team Entries: The deadline for entry in National Junior Olympics for teams from the Southwest Zone is Friday, May 23rd at 9:00 pm. Only online entry is available for NJO’s. In order to qualify for NJO’s, clubs/teams must enter the Southwest Zone Champs (see process above). Failure to enter the Southwest Zone Championships will disqualify any NJO entry for the respective club’s team in a specific age/gender division. To enter the National Junior Olympics, please complete the online entry process at https://webpoint.usawaterpolo.com/wp15/Events2/ViewEvt.wp?EventID=9288 (Session #1) and/or https://webpoint.usawaterpolo.com/wp15/Events2/ViewEvt.wp?EventID=9294 (Session #2). NJO’s Session #1 is for All Boys Divisions, 22U Girls, and 10U Girls. NJO’s Session #2 is for All Girls Division (except 10U Girls) and 10U Mixed.

Rosters for Southwest Zone Champs: Rosters for Southwest Zone Champs will be due Friday, May 23rd at 9:00 pm. Rosters for Southwest Zone Champs will only be accepted via the USA Water Polo roster verification system. More entry information is on the attached documents. There will be a roster “Lockdown Deadline” on Friday, May 30, 2014 at 9:00 pm. Any roster changes made between May 23rd and May 30th will incur a $100 late roster fee. No changes will be made to rosters after May 30th (no exceptions). TEAMS NOT TRYING TO QUALIFY for NJO’s: For those teams which do not intend to qualify for NJO’s, clubs must email southwestwaterpolo@earthlink.net their team entries by Friday, May 30th. Please be specific on team names, divisions, gender, etc.

Contact info:
Joe Linehan
Southwest Zone Chair
713-705-0945
southwestwaterpolo@earthlink.net
www.SouthwestWaterPolo.org