September 2, 2009
Baked Goods Fundraiser Postponed
Unfortunately, our club will not be able to have a baked goods fundraiser at our Open House and Registration Day, but may run it at a later date.
Titans Water Polo is seeking to add to our current coaching complement an assistant coach for our men's and women's competitive programs for the upcoming season, from September, 2009 to May, 2010. This position involves being available to provide coaching for one to four practices per week, during evenings and weekends. The successful candidate preferably should have at a minimum a Level I Coaching designation and it would be useful to have NLS/CPR although this is not mandatory and be willing to work within the Long-Term Athlete Development training model. Compensation is available and will be discussed. Interested candidates should forward a cover letter and resume to Celso Rojas, Titans Head Coach at celsowaterpolo@hotmail.com
Upcoming Events ...
Ottawa Titans 25th Anniversary Gala, Sept 26th: Tickets are available on a first-come first-serve basis through the event website: http://sites.google.com/site/titanswaterpolo25/
Titans Open House and Registration Day, Sunday Sept 13th, 1-3pm: Location: Hilton Garden Airport Inn, 2400 Alert Road.
Summer Events
Canadian Junior Women's National Team at the World Championships in Russia, Aug 9-16, 2009
This summer I had the opportunity to play on Canada’s Junior Women’s National Team that participated in the 8th FINA World Women’s Junior Water Polo Championships held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from August 9th to 16th.
After two months of training in Montreal, the team headed off to Hungary early August to get some pre-world experience playing some of the top teams in the world including Hungary and Australia.
On August 5th we made our way to Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. After a few days of practicing, the 16-team Junior Worlds tournament began with Canada being slotted in Division A with Germany, Greece and Mexico.
Our first game and win was against Germany 15 to 6. The next day, we got a bye because Mexico decided to pull out of the tournament. To keep busy we participated in an interesting scavenger hunt that encouraged us to interact with the local people, including getting proposed to and teaching a Russian lady to break dance. The third day we won our game against Greece 6 to 5 to advance to the quarterfinals (top 8 teams).
Next we faced the Dutch team to get an opportunity to advance to the semifinals (top 4 teams). We played the Dutch a number of times in March in Holland and knew that if we played well, we could win against them. It was an intense game, finishing 6 to 6 in regular time. No goals were scored in the first quarter of overtime, however the Dutch team managed to score two goals in the second overtime quarter resulting in a final score of 8 to 6 for the Dutch. The team was upset about our loss and had to find the courage to move on and focus on our next game against the Australians. We knew we had to win against the Australians to place either 5th or 6th. This was a defensive game with Canada winning 4 to 3 in overtime.
The last day of competition had us playing Italy for 5th place. The Italian team had previously won the European qualifications. After a back and forth game and some missed opportunities, we lost 7 to 5 against Italy resulting in a sixth place finish for Canada.
Junior Worlds finished with the Russians winning gold, the Netherlands silver, the USA bronze and Hungary fourth. The water polo skill level at Junior Worlds was amazing. With the help of my coaches and teammates, I learned a lot and have some great memories.
At the opening ceremonies
At the pool
At the airport prior to departure
Newsletter Submissions
If you would like to contribute an item to the newsletter, please send your submission to Sue Sidebottom at news@titanswaterpolo.ca
. I depend on the readers to submit articles to keep club members up
to date with water polo news! Photos from tournaments or other club
events are always welcome. Any submissions received before noon on
Wednesday will go out with that week's news.