2019 National League

[Poloforever]

What does USAWP hope to accomplish with this league? It is completely useless, a waste of time. Boring games by out of shape and over the hill players played in front of what, 25 people. The only decent teams are the few college teams and O Club and NYAC; but the games mean nothing. Gee, we won the National League. Who cares?
Is it supposed to help the National team players? Not by playing blow-out games. They need to play European teams, not City of Commerce.

[2plyBathingSuit]

What does USAWP hope to accomplish with this league? It is completely useless, a waste of time. Boring games by out of shape and over the hill players played in front of what, 25 people. The only decent teams are the few college teams and O Club and NYAC; but the games mean nothing. Gee, we won the National League. Who cares?
Is it supposed to help the National team players? Not by playing blow-out games. They need to play European teams, not City of Commerce.

Yea, I know what you mean. I went to a couple of games just to check it out,...it was like watching a train wreck in slow motion, only over and over again. However, I did think there were a few bright spots...I thought Stanford and the Academy team (young pre-college boys with something to play for) brought their "A" game. Everyone else were going through the motions with individualism running rampant, especially Collegiate. Oh, I almost forgot, there is one more bright spot, I had forgotten how entertaining and what a great coach Robert Lynn is.

[ExpandTheSport]

I‘ve seen a number of these NL games over the last several years and I’ve enjoyed many of them.

NL provides an opportunity for players to compete after graduating and gives them games and tournaments to train for. Many of these players work full time and train several evenings per week. Training/Traveling/Competing/Celebrating keeps some outstanding water polo graduates involved in our sport. NYAC and Olympic Club take these games seriously and they celebrate their wins in their club newsletters. I’m less familiar with LAAC but I suspect they and the other clubs are playing these games to win. NL provides an important venue for these players to stay involved.

In addition (and somewhat obviously), NL provides games for our pipeline players. They get opportunities to compete together and separately on different teams. These games give them a chance to develop their skills with and against mature experienced players.

Clearly our national teams would benefit from extensive travel and competition internationally. But we absolutely need domestic options to grow the sport. NL is not the only thing we need to do, but I am glad we have it.

[wpviewer]

I caught a few games streamed online. The camera work was much much improved. The replays were good. The quality of video much better than Woollett. And the commentary was good too. Mescal was steady and good and Craig had some keen insights. Long day I am sure so thank you.

I wish there was more diversity of sponsors because the ad repetition was a little much. But small steps. Keep it up!

[wplover]

I totally agree with Expandthesport and WPViewer.

NL provides one more opportunity to play after high school and outside of your college team.

We seem to always have a conflict and cant watch the NL games in person. However, we did watch several of the game videos and enjoyed them. The filming was great and the commentary was professional. Wish the ODP games had been done the same way!

[rebelpolo]

Fisher Cup Schedule

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

[wplover]

What/who is the "Power Squad" listed on the Fisher Cup schedule? Curious if this is the 2019 Polo Pals/Cozy Boys.

[lovethisgame]

What/who is the "Power Squad" listed on the Fisher Cup schedule? Curious if this is the 2019 Polo Pals/Cozy Boys.

I would guess that too many of those guys are occupied with their obligations to their respective "real" teams now, but it is interesting how that name popped up out of nowhere.

Should be a fun weekend of polo!

[wplover]

Well, I'll be watching for the rosters to be published for this team. It's got me real curious!

[wp12]

Well, I'll be watching for the rosters to be published for this team. It's got me real curious!

rosters are out. https://usawaterpolo.org/news/2019/5/14 ... r-cup.aspx
No idea about these players on Power Squad

[DinsdalePiranha]

Pretty hard to figure out the difference between Alexander and Alex...

[wplover]

Power squad looks like freshman from several different colleges. Guessing they are young freshman with a year left of JOs in them. But just a guess, a little more research is needed. Anyone in the know on this?

[EdgarAllanPolo]

Power Squad was a collection of mostly D3 college guys. Pomona-Pitzer, Whittier, etc. Because of D3 off-season practice rules, most of these guys haven't been in the water for weeks.

[PoloX2]

The Power Squad was put together from D3 players 6 days before the tournament. A team pulled out and the organizers needed a 16th team. I sat next to some of the parents and they were very excited their son's got to play in this tournament with all of the D1 and MSNT players.