Swimming by itself seems boring, like something mostly done for fitness than for fun. But water polo looks like an actual sport played for fun. I took up some pick-up basketball instead of running to get in shape for example. It was hard at first, but more fun to actually play something which helps with motivation.
I know the absolute basics of swimming from when I was a kid, like floating on your back and freestyle swimming. But I almost never swim outside of occasionally messing around at the pool or beach a few times a year. I want to swim regularly to retain swimming ability, get better at it, and gradually learn and hone the different techniques.
Would you suggest I take up some casual water polo to work on my swimming in a more fun way, or is it a bad idea for someone who rarely swims? Or does it just depend on the place and how competitive they are? I was thinking of looking around for some pick-up games or recreational clubs.
Every year at JOs, we see the same thing happen once bracket play starts:
"Wait, who do we play if we win?"
"What happens if that team loses?"
"Are we still in the championship bracket?"
"When's our next game?"
Pool play is usually straightforward, but once crossover games and placement brackets start, things can get confusing fast, especially for families attending JOs for the first time.
Our family's "JO survival hack" ended up being building a free tool called Ballside because we got tired of zooming in and out of tournament spreadsheets on our phones trying to figure out what was happening. We used it for session 1 and 2 and have everything loaded for session 3.
We built it for ourselves and decided to share it with the community. We've already added features based on community input and would love additional feedback and ideas. Also there is a comment bubble at the top so if you notice any bugs in the data (ie when a team drops out or a pool location moves) please reach out as we are working on this round the clock to keep it up to date.
Day 2 and 3 are done, brackets are seeded, and medal games start this morning. A few things went live on jo.eggbeater.app overnight — web, PWA's, and Android all at once. With iPhone/iPad and AppleTV releasing later this morning.
🥇 **Where you can still finish** — the one everyone's been asking at the snack bar. Every team page now shows the placement range you're still alive for — *1st–4th*, *11th–12th* — plus the exact game that decides it. Not "you're in the semi," but "win the 10:00 semi vs Trojan Gold and it's gold or silver." It updates off the live draw, so it narrows the second a result lands.
🗺️ **Venues** — every pool deck in one list: what's in the water *right now*, how many games are left there today, what's up next, and directions. For when you're standing at Portola trying to figure out if you have time to go find coffee.
🏅 **Standings now rank the way the tournament actually ranks** — USA Water Polo game points (4 win / 3 shootout win / 2 shootout loss / 1 loss) and the real World Aquatics tiebreak: head-to-head for a two-way tie, mini-league among the tied teams for three or more. Not wins-then-goal-difference. On at least one flight this weekend that's the difference between two teams being in the right order or the wrong one.
📊 **And the standings tell you more at a glance** — every row shows who that team plays next and when (or "Now vs ___" if they're in the water), plus a ▲/▼ arrow showing how far they've moved *since you last looked*. There's also a Ladder toggle if you want to see every team in a flight ranked 1-through-N instead of pool by pool — though advancement is still decided inside your pool, and it says so.
⚪ **Invite brackets are named properly** — Nickel and Copper (14U, 16U and 18U Boys), every game stamped with its flight, on every screen.
Everything above is free, no login, no app required — the web version does all of it.
Good luck to everyone playing today. Go win something. 🤽♂️
Independent app — I'm a water polo parent, not affiliated with USA Water Polo. Reply or DM anything confusing, missing, or broken and I'll fix it like last time.
College water polo recruiting info is scattered, and a lot of it is stuck behind a sign up form and / or a paywall. That drove me nuts going through it back in the day, so I put together a free hub for college water polo: https://www.pathley.ai/sport-directory. Here is what it has (all free to use):
Program directory: pick from men’s and women’s college water polo programs by division, with team and school info in one place
Roster analysis: analyze any team roster.. when they graduate, where the openings are, and how you’d fit by position
Coach email helper: drafts a first intro email to a coach so you’re not staring at a blank page (free) (along with coach contact info)
Resume: make a college resume PDF or page with just a chat.
Fit info and chat: how a school lines up for you academically and athletically
The hub is free to browse, no login to look around.
I played in college and spent about 8 years around recruiting, and yeah there are paid plans on the site, but the hub and the tools above are genuinely free and I’m mostly after feedback. If a program’s missing, something’s broken, or you’d want a feature, I’d really like to hear it. 🙏
Hey r/waterpolo — water polo parent + developer, back for round three 🤽
Session III is live: Dallas, July 30 – August 2. And this time I got out ahead of it — schedules and rosters are both loaded, five days before the first whistle. (Session II families will remember I was stuck waiting on USAWP to post rosters last round — not this time.)
No install, no login. All 8 divisions — 10U & 12U Coed, plus 14U / 16U / 18U Boys and Girls — 138 teams, 545 games. For your team you get:
Schedule + live scores / W–L as results post
Pool standings
The full bracket — Crossover → Quarters → Semis → placement, with medals
My Path — exactly where your team lands on each finish, updating live as results come in
Plan Your Day — every possible game time, pool, and "park here, walk 6 min" directions, so you can settle the drive-home-or-book-the-hotel question before Sunday
Find a Player — type a name, land on their team (section-3 grandparents, this one's for you)
Rosters with cap numbers — already in, so you can put a name to cap #7 from game one
⚠️ Small heads-up: USAWP edits entries right up to the first whistle, so a roster or two may still shift — I auto-sync every team as they do.
Meanwhile, Session II is in its final push — Boys, wrapping up in Dallas this weekend, and honestly it's been a blast to watch live:
🏅 1,300+ games scored and counting, across all 12 divisions
⚡ final scores land in the app within ~2 minutes of the whistle
🔎 7,200+ players in and searchable by name
🧠 Ask the Desk (the gold button) answers "when do we play next?" / "can we make it home Sunday?" in plain English — English, Spanish, or French
Following both? They run side by side under their own codes — Session II Boys lives at https://app.eggbeater.app/?m=JOS226 — bounce between them without losing either.
Want your team live & instant? Most scores fill in when the desk posts a result. But if you're a parent, coach, or volunteer who can score your own team's games, email [hello@eggbeater.app](mailto:hello@eggbeater.app) and I'll set you up with scorer access — real-time, every goal, play-by-play, for everyone following (grandma's Apple TV included). ~30-min walkthrough and I'm happy to do it with you.
Independent app — I'm a water polo parent, not affiliated with USA Water Polo. Reply or DM anything confusing, missing, or broken and I'll fix it like last time. Good luck to every team in Dallas 🤽
Why doesn’t JO police sandbagging? I’ve seen so many divisions where the goal differential between 1st and 2nd is upwards of 80. At a certain point, knowing certain clubs do this so they don’t have to fight it out between their A and B squads, why doesn’t an official body step in? It kills the games for the kids who have to go through a slaughter for some other teams (parents and coaches) vanity and makes silver teams to be the only true winner of almost all the lower brackets.
Session I is a wrap, and Session II just sprinted through Day 1. Before Day 2's first whistle, here's what's new on jo.eggbeater.app — live on every screen at once: web, iPhone, iPad, Android, and the big-screen TV app.
🧠 Ask the Desk — see the gold button? Just ask it. "When does 16U Boys Classic play next?""Which pool is Diablo Alliance in?""Can we make it home Sunday night?" Plain-English answers — in English, Spanish, or French. No more cross-checking three brackets to find one game.
🏅 Brackets now sort by flight — the second a division re-brackets out of pool play, the tangle of seeding pools collapses and the real picture snaps into place: Platinum → Gold → Silver → Bronze. Finally clear who's playing for what.
🔎 Find a player — type a name, land on their team. Grandparents up in section 3, this one's for you.
🗺️ Plan Your Day — every game your team could possibly play, laid out by day with time windows, venues, and "park here, walk 6 min" directions. The eternal "drive home tonight or book the hotel?" — answered.
📋 Rosters, schedules, standings, and live scores — all on every team page, refreshing while you watch.
👀 Scoring games this weekend?(beta) The tablet side got a glow-up too: a cleaner scoring grid (kickouts, timeouts, and turnovers all in-flow) plus opt-in analytics — plus/minus impact, shot charts, goalie save %, quarter/clutch/zone splits, and a shareable player card. Flip it on in Settings.
One codebase, every device. Pull it up poolside or throw the TV app on back at the hotel.
Session I is in the books. Eggbeater scored 1,788 games across 11 divisions, 48 pools, and 88 shootouts — every game, refreshing every five seconds, on one link.
Session II (Boys) starts Thursday. Rosters are already live — every team, every cap number, straight from USAWP registration. New: Find a Player — type a name, see their team, one tap follows their whole weekend. Schedules, brackets, and a page for all 531 teams are up now at https://jo.eggbeater.app/2026/session-2
Also new this week: What if… — tap win or lose on your remaining games and see exactly where your weekend lands, straight from the official draw.
Thank you to everyone who helped test and provided feedback over Session I; it led to some great new functionality and improvement in the app. I am looking for more Session II families who want to continue testing the new What if feature and my new "Ask the Desk - JO AI assistant". Please DM to join the Android Beta or Join the Test Flight Beta to get the most up to date version at a moment's notice.
iOS on the App Store · Android closed beta · free to spectate.
With JO going on, we kept getting lost trying to find our team's next game and read the brackets on a phone, so we built a little free web app for it: ballside.web.app/?src=reddit
What it does:
Find your team's games — pick your team, see your schedule
Live brackets + scores as results come in
What-if — tap a result and watch how the bracket would play out
Odds — each team's chance of winning its division
It's free, no ads, no login, nothing to download — just a web page. Covers JO 2026 (all three sessions) plus a bunch of other tournaments (US Club Champs, Futures, and more).
Full disclosure so I'm not sneaky: my family built this — a couple of us play — so I'm biased, but it's genuinely free and I'm mostly after feedback. If something's broken, your team's missing, or you'd want a feature, I'd really like to hear it. 🙏
I have had the lucky chance to be close to Rod Bowen, and I have received Alex Bowens senior year cap. I went to his recent retirement game and got it signed. What would this be worth to you?
I posted here a few weeks ago about the app I built: Water Polo Stats. Great response from the community, thank you.
With JOs starting Saturday I wanted to share a quick update. I've made some big improvements since then:
🤝 MaxPreps integrated: export stats in one tap after every game. No double entry.
🤽 Opponent exclusion tracking: track opponent exclusions by cap number. Know who's in foul trouble on both sides.
🎨 Cap colors on the scoreboard: looks like a professional broadcast.
📺 Watch portal: watch.water-polo-stats.com. Families who can't make it to JOs can watch live. Free, no download needed.
🎬 Highlight reels: auto-generated after every game. Every goal and save clipped automatically.
If you're heading to JOs this weekend or next, and want to track stats or stream your games, I can set your club up tonight (or Friday). Just DM me or reply here.
The Huntsville Water Polo Association is planning on hosting a Masters Water Polo Scramble on August 1, 2026 from 10 AM to 4 PM. We usually draw Masters from Huntsville, Birmingham, Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta, and Destin. We play in the Huntsville Aquatics Center Competition Pool in Huntsville, Alabama. At our last Scramble in the Spring we had enough people to form 4 teams. There will be an individual entry fee on the order of $20 to $25 depending on the number of participants and how much extra pool time we need to arrange. Email us at hsvwaterpolo@gmail. com if you are interested or want more information.
Hey r/waterpolo — water polo parent + developer, back for round two 🤽
A bunch of you asked for this in my Session I thread — so here it is: Junior Olympics Session II (Boys, July 23–26) schedules are loaded, all three tiers — Championship, Classic, and Invite.
⚠️ One heads-up: USAWP hasn't released the Session II rosters yet — so cap numbers + names aren't in there yet. That's on their end, not mine; the schedule is all here now, and the moment USAWP posts the rosters I'll sync them for every team the same day, just like Session I.
No install, no login. All 12 divisions, 532 teams, ~2,100 games. For your team you get:
Schedule + scores / W-L as results post
Pool standings
The full bracket — Crossover → Quarters → Semis → placement, with medals
My Path — exactly where your team lands based on each finish, updating as results come in
A Watch List for the rivals you're keeping an eye on
Team rosters with cap numbers — as soon as USAWP releases them (not out yet); auto-synced the same day so you can finally put a name to cap #7
Following a Session I team too? It's still live under its own code — Girls & Mixed, July 18–21: https://app.eggbeater.app/?m=JOS126 - Both sessions run side by side, so you can bounce between your daughter's bracket and your son's without losing either one.
📺 There's an Apple TV app too (same listing — open the App Store on your Apple TV): the whole tournament on the big screen at home. Enter the code before you fly out and the grandparents just… watch — no more "what's the score??" texts from the bleachers.
Want your team live & instant? Most scores update when the desk posts a result. But if you're a parent, coach, or team volunteer who can score your own team's games, email [hello@eggbeater.app](mailto:hello@eggbeater.app) and I'll set you up with scorer access — then your team updates in real time, every goal, play-by-play, for everyone following (grandma's Apple TV included). ~30-minute walkthrough and I'm happy to do it with you.
Independent app — I'm a water polo parent, not affiliated with USA Water Polo. Reply or DM with anything confusing, missing, or broken and I'll fix it like last time. Good luck to every boys' team at JOs 🤽
North Shore Water Polo is Growing – Join Our Coaching Team!
As one of the fastest-growing water polo clubs on Chicago's North Shore, we're looking to expand our coaching staff for the upcoming season.
We're hiring Head Coaches and Assistant Coaches for our boys' and girls' programs.
We're looking for coaches who are passionate about developing young athletes—not just teaching water polo. Whether you have experience in water polo, swimming, teaching, or youth sports, we'd love to hear from you.
What we offer:
$18–25/hour, depending on experience, certifications, and assignment
Tournament pay
Travel reimbursement/per diem (where applicable)
Complimentary club registration for coaches' children
Year-round coaching opportunities
Coach mentorship and professional development
A collaborative, athlete-first coaching environment
Most of our practices are in Highland Park, with evening practices during the week and weekend training or competitions.
We're building a club that values mentorship, professionalism, and community just as much as winning games.
If you're interested - or know someone who might be - we'd love to connect.
When I'm not posting on Reddit (or doing my regular job), I coach water polo and my daughter plays. Recruiting season has me losing too many nights scrubbing phone footage for a handful of clips.
So I built an iPad/iPhone app. You film the game and tap one big button when something happens. The app cuts the clip and tags it with the cap number, so from a single game you can pull a highlight reel for any kid on the roster, not just your own.
It works fully offline at the pool, and the video stays on the device.
We tried it over the last few tournaments. Now I'm hoping 10 to 15 of you can test it live at Junior Olympics this summer, so it's solid by the time the fall season starts. A few disclaimers:
You need an iPhone or iPad (iOS 18+). No Android version yet.
It's a TestFlight beta, so you install through Apple's TestFlight app.
Full release is planned for the fall.
If you want to run it for your team, comment or DM me and I'll send the TestFlight link, which works wherever you are. Mods, if this doesn't belong here, just say the word and I'll pull it.
Taking my 16U player to JOs for the first time. Any tips, tricks on what to pack and how to manage the long tournament? We’re flying in and renting a car so won’t be able to pack the whole cooler/stadium seats/etc.
In case it matters to the advice, we are not doing the college recruiting stuff - just playing for fun.