{"id":239467,"date":"2017-02-07T17:00:46","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T00:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=239467"},"modified":"2017-02-07T13:03:54","modified_gmt":"2017-02-07T20:03:54","slug":"snowball-showdown-kicks-off-eastern-youth-polo-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/snowball-showdown-kicks-off-eastern-youth-polo-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowball Showdown Kicks Off Eastern Youth Polo Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Last weekend&#8217;s <strong>Snowball Showdown<\/strong> tournament at Chelsea Piers Connecticut proved an exclamation point to what USA Water Polo (USAWP) and the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/water-polo-one-of-fastest-growing-sports-in-u-s-according-to-nfhs\/\" target=\"_blank\">recently reported<\/a>: youth water polo is one of America\u2019s fastest growing sports<strong>. <\/strong>Featuring seven clubs playing 46 matches in U12, U14 and U18 brackets, in just two years the Showdown has become the largest youth tournament for teams in the Northeast, the country\u2019s most populous region.<\/p>\n<p>The brainchild of <strong>Paul Ramaley<\/strong>, Water Polo Director\/Head Coach at Chelsea Piers Connecticut, the Showdown is ideal for Eastern clubs looking to start strong in a season that culminates with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usawaterpolo.org\/juniorolympics\/\" target=\"_blank\">Junior Olympics<\/a> (JOs) qualification in May.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe tournament works well because it\u2019s a dead time in water polo on the East Coast,\u201d said Ramaley. \u201cA lot of players are preparing for the spring and welcome the chance to play.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alex Milojkovic<\/strong>, coach of a Navy Aquatics U18 squad that traveled from Annapolis, MD, agreed with both the tournament\u2019s timeliness as well as the quality of competition at the Showdown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis time of the year we don\u2019t have that many games, so any competition is good for our kids,\u201d said Milojkovic. \u201cWe love coming here because there\u2019s lots of quality water polo, especially playing against Greenwich Aquatics and Chelsea Piers.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_239578\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-239578\" data-attachment-id=\"239578\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/snowball-showdown-kicks-off-eastern-youth-polo-season\/chelsea_capitals\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Chelsea_Capitals.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,1200\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Chelsea_Capitals\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;02\/03\/17&lt;br \/&gt;\nSnowball Showdown&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Photo Courtesy: D.C.Capitals Water Polo&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Chelsea_Capitals-700x500.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Chelsea_Capitals-768x1024.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-239578 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Chelsea_Capitals-700x500.jpg\" alt=\"Chelsea_Capitals\" width=\"700\" height=\"500\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-239578\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Courtesy: D.C.Capitals Water Polo<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Besides <a href=\"http:\/\/www.navyacwaterpolo.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Navy AC<\/a>, the competing clubs included: <a href=\"http:\/\/bhsfwaterpolo.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Brooklyn Heights St. Francis<\/a> of New York City; the <a href=\"http:\/\/capitalwaterpolo.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">D.C. Capitals<\/a> of Washington, D.C.; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenwichaquatics.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Greenwich Aquatics<\/a> of Greenwich, CT; Boys and Girls <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usawaterpolo.org\/odp\/\" target=\"_blank\">Olympic Development Program<\/a> (ODP) teams sponsored by USAWP; and host <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chelseapiersct.com\/aquatics\/splash-zone\/\" target=\"_blank\">Chelsea Piers Connecticut<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Momir Ivetic<\/strong>, an ODP coach for the 2000, 2001 age groups, singled out benefits gained by his squads. Drawn from as far north as Boston and as far south as Virginia, his teams won&#8217;t play together again before ODP National Championships, to be held in February and March in California.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis [tournament] is the only thing we can do to get games for ODP kids,\u201d he said during a break in the action. \u201cIt\u2019s very beneficial for them to play together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ivetic \u2014 familiar with Chelsea Piers Connecticut from coaching with <a href=\"http:\/\/tigerswaterpolo.aquanite.com\/home\/\" target=\"_blank\">Princeton Tigers Water Polo<\/a>\u00a0 \u2014 said that the Showdown supports his primary goal: making girls\u2019 water polo more popular in the East.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All I want to do is help these girls play,\u201d he said<\/p>\n<p><strong>Julia Sheahan<\/strong>, 15, who traveled almost 300 miles to play for a 2002 ODP girls team as well as for her hometown Capitals, got to do just that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was definitely worth traveling to CT for the Showdown,\u201d Sheahan said by email after the tournament. \u201cI played 7 games this weekend! That&#8217;s what I love&#8230; games!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Falls Church, VA native added: \u201cThese games are important because we play challenging teams, which allows me to develop my skills as a player and gives me the opportunity to bond with teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also traveling from the D.C. area was <strong>Patrick Fry<\/strong>, a U14 coach for the Capitals, and his sons Ryan (16) and Ian (14).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTournaments like these are useful to see where the kids fit in and to teach them what they need to know,\u201d in preparation for JOs, he said.<\/p>\n<p>A swimmer in high school who played polo at Notre Dame, Fry believes there is a strong base of swimming in the nation\u2019s capital for polo to build on.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The D.C. area is huge for swimming,&#8221; he said, and populated with kids \u2014 like his \u2014 that quit when they discover they\u2019re not fast enough for serious competition. When the Capitals began play six years ago Ryan and Ian made the switch and haven\u2019t looked back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur USA Water Polo zone membership has grown significantly,&#8221; Fry said. &#8220;There\u2019s no reason why that won\u2019t continue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Navy coach Milojkovic was complimentary of the Capitals, his team\u2019s main rival.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Capitals have made a huge effort growing their club, which benefits everyone on the East Coast.\u201d he said. \u201cWe need more clubs that can play at their level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In one of the Showdown\u2019s featured matches, Navy AC&#8217;s U18 squad squeaked out an 11-9 win over the Capitals.<\/p>\n<p>According to Chelsea Pier\u2019s Ramaley, the weekend\u2019s best game was a shootout between the Boys ODP Youth Team (2000\/2001) and Chelsea Piers U18, ultimately won 11-10 by the ODP team. The match was watched by local college coaches, including <a href=\"http:\/\/www.icgaels.com\/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=821903\" target=\"_blank\">Brian Kelly,<\/a> Iona College men\u2019s and women\u2019s coach.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Irakli Sanadze<\/strong>, who refereed both years, cited the improved level of play at this year&#8217;s Showdown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe kids are more mature and their play is smarter,\u201d he said between matches. \u201cThey better understand what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sanadze, also a U12 coach for the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yprowaterpolo.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Y Pro Water Polo Club<\/a> in Brooklyn, lamented that his club was unable to attend \u2014 but promised they will be in Stamford next year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a great experience to get involved with,\u201d he said. \u201cUnfortunately, my team is not here and it\u2019s a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor.\u00a0 Last weekend&#8217;s Snowball Showdown tournament at Chelsea Piers Connecticut proved an exclamation point to what USA Water Polo (USAWP) and the National Federation of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4875,"featured_media":239579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[60195,60190,60186,60187,60189,50272,60192,60188,60193,60194,60191,3613,60185],"class_list":["post-239467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-water-polo","tag-alex-milojkovic","tag-brian-kelly","tag-chelsea-piers-connecticut","tag-greenwich-aquatics","tag-iona-mens-water-polo","tag-junior-olympics","tag-michael-randazzo","tag-national-federation-of-high-school-associations","tag-navy-aquatics","tag-olympic-development-program","tag-paul-ramaley","tag-usa-water-polo","tag-youth-water-polo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - 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