Moose Water Polo: Welcome

Moose Water Polo is a competive and devlopmental club water polo team in Cincinnati, Ohio. There are teams designed for elite, novice and youth level players. The team is committed to help athletes develop a strong work ethic, sportsman ship and the ability to play at their highetst potential by providing players with leadership and technical development. Moose Water Polo seeks to enable each player the ability to excel by creating camaraderie amongst its players and providing a platform for growth.

The team is coached by local high school coaches, former players. Moose encourages participants from all Cincinnati teams as well as those players with out high school teams to join, learn, enhance, and perfect their polo skills.

The team competes with other local teams as well tournaments across the Midwest and in the Junior Olympics. Moose hosts the Jose Cerda Memorial Tournament in July. 

Follow us on Twitter  @MooseWP

or on facebook at www.facebook.com/moosewaterpolo.

Hope to See you in the Pool  

Welcome to the 3nd Annual
Cincinnati Shoot-Out Jose Cerda Memorial Tournament
July 13th- 14th 2013

Hosted By: Moose Water Polo 

 
Supported By:
Jose Cerda Aquatic Foundation
Hilton Gardens

The Moose Water Polo Club is proud to host the 3nd Annual Cincinnati Shoot-Out Jose Cerda Memorial Tournament in the Queen City of Ohio. THIS YEARS TOURNAMENT FEATURES BOTH A GIRLS AND BOYS TOURNAMENT at two all deep facilities: The University of Cincinnati and our outdoor home at Montgomery Swim and Tennis

This tournament is in honor of former Moose and Sycamore Water Polo player Jose Cerda who passed away on October 26th 2010, just after his senior year of water polo.

Contact the Coach Hellwig at moosewaterpolo@gmail.com to get your team registered today! Spots are limited. See the attached flyer for more details. 

Previous Participants

Moose WP (Cincinnati) Windy City (Chicago)
AMDG (Cincinnati) St. Pious (Atlanta) 
Columbus Area Polo St. Louis Area Polo 
Chicago Park District 

Tournament Championships 
2011 Chicago Park District (10) vs Moose Water Polo (9)
2012 Columbus Area Polo (17) vs Moose Water Polo (8) 

In April, the Moose water polo teams will set out for two early season tournaments. The girl’s team, lead by Coach Splitt and Coach Tameris, will be heading to Michigan to take on some tough teams. Players from multiple different schools will be making up this team. It will be their first time competiting together as the Moose team since the summer. “Michigan girls teams are in the midst of their high school season and we are going to be only into week 2 of our practices” says Coach Splitt. “This should be a good indication of where our girls have progressed in their practices over the past few years, but also show us where we need to grow.”

Heading out east, Coach Hellwig and Coach Keefe will be taking a coalition of Mason and Sycamore players to take on teams at the Tiger Invite in North Allegheny. This is the second time a Moose team has travelled to Pittsburgh. Lined up at this tournament are some tough teams like Navy and Ball Under (DC team). “This should be some great competition for our boys” says Coach Hellwig. “Some of our boys, and a few girls, got a chance to compete at the Nutty Invite back in February so they are itching to get back into competition. This is a very senior strong team so we should compete very well against these teams.”

One of the main goals this season for Moose is to compete at high level tournaments. The Team has continued to get its name out into the National Spot light as the years pass. 3 Years ago, the Moose team started hosting the Jose Cerda Memorial Tournament which has brought in teams from multiple states and this year it looks to have teams from 4 states already signed up. They have has competed in the Junior Olympic Qualifying Game (Chicago, IL), the Spartan Invite (MI) and the Tiger Challenge (Pittsburgh, PA) in 2012. They have already competed against 4 collegiate teams at the Nutty invite are planning on taking both a girls and boys team back to the JOQ as well as the Tiger Challenge and hopefully a few other tournaments this summer.

Keep checking back to the website to see updates on scores and schedules for upcoming tournaments. Scores will be quickly posted on twitter #MooseScores and facebook as well.

Girls Opponnents: Huron, Groves, Saline and Seaholm
Boys Opponnnents: North Allegheny, Navy, Greenwhich and Sky

In an empty classroom in the spring of 2009, two high school coaches sat discussing how to get more of their players involved in polo in the off season. “I had a feeling we were on the verge of a wave. It just felt like there was an energy for water polo that was building up with our players” said Coach Paul Splitt. At the time Coach Splitt was the assistant coach at Milford High School. In that same room sat Coach Nicholas Hellwig from Sycamore. “I had come from a background where water polo wasn’t just one season. In St. Louis, you played 3 seasons out of the year. I saw what it did for players back when I played and knew it was something that would catch on here.”

In a span of two meetings, they created the Moose Water Polo program.” Our biggest worry, besides finding a pool, was getting enough players to actually play. That is still our biggest worry prior to each session, but each time the players amaze us by their enthusiasm to come play.” The Moose program started out small, roughly 20 players, coed but from almost every school in the city. From there it began to explode. “Boom, there is your explosion.” Coach Splitt exclaimed to Coach Hellwig after receiving their 35th girls registration in the Spring of 2013. As the Spring season continued the total for the boys and girls teams moved towards 80 players. “That may not seem like a lot compared to east coast or west coast programs or even Chicago or Michigan programs, but for us and this being only our second spring, that is huge” says Coach Hellwig. By now, the Moose Program has expanded into 5 distinct teams. 2 girls 18 and under teams, two boys 18 and under team, and a Youth 14 and Under coed team. It was this year that the Boys and Girls teams had two split into two teams due to their size. “It is a great problem to have” Coach Splitt says referring to the more girls and boys than pool space problem.

Besides numbers, the Moose Program has expanded its activities from scrimmaging itself and the local Masters Program (the Ohio Squirrels) to hosting a national tournament- The Cincinnati Shoot-Out, Jose Cerda Memorial Tournament- along with competing in the Junior National Qualification games and tournaments in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Why now? Why this growth all of a sudden? “Twitter” says Referee and Ohio Squirrels Coach Mike Jones. He is only half kidding. Social media has brought access to this sport to anyone who has a twitter or Facebook account. (See end of article for a list of polo related twitter accounts) The creation of the Ohio Water Polo website has also been a great addition in Ohio, as now players and parents can keep up to date on what is happening with the sport in their state and even discuss in their forum. It compiles records, stats and rankings for the teams across Ohio. It sounds cliché, but the internet has allowed easier access to this sport from streaming videos, blogs, tweets, websites and so much more has added any player thinking of water polo access to a wealth of polo information.

The growth of the Moose Program is not a single blip on the polo map for Ohio. Growth really can stem back prior to its creation to the formation of the Ohio Squirrels Masters Program ( www.ohiosquirrels.com ) and even further back to the original Cincinnati club team River City. After just a few years, the River City team folded and a few high school players occasionally played with the Squirrels. It got players excited that there was somewhere to play after they came back from college and got some competition outside of the high school season. From there players continued to ask about ways to play in the off season, which is what got Coach Hellwig and Splitt talking in the first place. Two years ago, Mike Jones helpped create the Ohio Water Polo Camp (www.ohiowaterpolocamp.com ) to try to increase local talent as well as once again bring the spot light of US water polo onto Cincinnati. Most recently, Ohio has seen the Olympic Development program come to Cincinnati and also the Championships for ODP come to northern Ohio. This, along with the club programs, has brought the spot light onto Ohio Polo.

It is not just the club scene that has seen growth in Ohio. High School Water Polo in Ohio has been around since the 1970s, but as of lately has been stagnant if not decreasing. The loss of teams in Dayton, Findlay, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and others gave the image of dyeing sport. But in the last 5 years, there has been a resurgence of water polo in Ohio. With the return of St. X and the addition of AMDG, Cincinnati Teams have increased to 10 teams. Columbus is starting to see growth as well with New Albany and the hopeful addition of another girls team. Even Toledo has added a girls team with St. Ursula.

In the past few years, we have seen more and more players continuing playing into college. The majority will play at the club level on teams scattering Ohio like Dayton, Ohio State, and UC as well as other collegiate club teams across the US. Recently we have seen a few more players making it to the NCAA division level for collegiate polo such as Dan Matulis with Longbeach, Dave Matulis with MercyHerst, Drew Hugenberg with Washington and Jefferson and Chris Culin with Brown to name a few. Ohio has also sent girls to play at the Division level like Jenna Tameris did for IU.

For more on Water Polo in Ohio log onto www.ohiowaterpolo.com or hop onto your twitter account and follow some of these accounts to keep updated in the world of water polo.

Our Twitter: @moosewp,

Ohio water polo: @Ohiowaterpolo, @Ohiowaterpolocamp

Cincinnati Local Teams
 Sycamore: @Aviatorpolo,
 Ohio Squirrels: @Ohiosquirrels,
 Mason: @CometWaterPolo,
Milford: @MHSWaterpolo,
 St. X / AMDG: @AMDGpolo,
Princeton: @PHSaquatics
University of Cincinnati: @UCWaterPolo

Other Ohio Teams
Sylvania: @Sylpolo 
Columbus Water Polo: @ColumbusH20polo 
University of Dayton: @Daytonwaterpolo
The Ohio State University Mens: @OSUwaterpolo
The Ohio State University Womens: @OSUwwaterpolo

Collegiate Water Polo News : @CWPAWaterPolo, @NCAA_Water_Polo
Water Polo News sites: @totalwaterpolo, @usawaterpolo, @WPPLive, @USWaterPoloNews

On Febuary 23-24th, High school players from across Cincinnati came together to form the coed Moose Nutty Invite team Players from Milford, Mason, St. Xavier and Sycamore tested their polo skills against Midwest Collegiate teams. 

Moose competed against Ball State (Indiana), Vanderbilt (Tenn), Central Michigan and THE Ohio State University adding to the list out of town teams that Moose has competed against.

The team competed extremely well. Moose went 2-2 in the tournament, losing only to teams that went undefeated the entire tounrament. Moose easily handled both Central Michagen (15-6) and Ball State (15-4). They even held the SEC Champions Vandebilt to under 10 points and kept the game close losing 4-9. 

 Their final game came against OSU. In the fall 2012 season, OSU ended their season ranked 28 nationally, and during the game on Sunday, showed their skilled. In an intense game which featured Moose Alumni, the score was held close afte the first quarter with Moose down only 1 point. But as the game went along, OSU skilled shut down Moose's offense and dominated the offensive game of their own. When the final buzzer sounded, OSU won the game 11-3.

 Even these loses, according to Coach Hellwig, proved a lot about our team. With no previous practice since the fall season, Hellwig  continued, the team quickly bonded together and demonstrated great talent as a team. This Spring and Summer teams should be extremly strong this year.

Thanks to this tournament, Moose has received many invites to continue to compete at this collegiate level and had invites from other Club tournaments. This is going to be a very exciting 2013 for Moose.

Registration for the 3 sessions of 2013 has opened up today. Local Coaches have been emailed registration forms. You can also download a registration form in our handouts section or you can registration online. Below are the session details.

18 and Under Team
This team consists of a range from varsity level players and beginners. The team will condition together and then often split into groups to focus on the individual development of each type of player.

Spring (16 Practices for 1.5 hrs)
Boys: April 1st – May 21st – Monday & Tuesday 8pm-930pm
Girls: April 3rd – May 23rd – Wednesday & Thursday 8pm-930pm
Practice Location: Cincinnati Country Day

Summer (16 Practices for 2 hrs)
Boys: June 10th-July 16th – Monday & Tuesday 830pm-1030pm, and selected Sundays 8am-10am
Girls: June 9th-July 21st – Wednesday & Thursday 830pm-1030pm, and selected Sundays 8-10am
Practice Location: Montgomery Swim and Tennis (rain out location Sycamore High School)

Fall (Open only to players without a high school program - 16 Practices for 2 hrs)
Coed- August 6th – Sept 25th – Tuesday and Wednesday 6pm-8pm 
Practice Location: Norwood High School

Youth 14 and Under Team
This team is a developmental team designed as an introduction into water polo for players from the 6th – 8th grade ages 11-14. It will provide instructional programs to teach and increase their polo skills.

Spring (16 Practices for 1.5 hrs)
Coed- April 2nd – May 22nd– Tuesday and Wednesday 6pm-730pm Practice
Location: Norwood High School

Summer (14 Practices for 2 hrs)
Coed- June 11th-July 17th – Monday & Tuesday 6pm-8pm Practice
Location: Sycamore High School

Fall (16 Practices for 2 hrs)
Coed - August 6th – Sept 25th – Tuesday and Wednesday 6pm-8pm
Practice Location: Norwood High School

Tournament Opportunities
Spring Tournament possibilities: Columbus Round Robin, Tiger April Challenge (Penn.) Tiger Spring Invite (Penn), Limburg Invitational (St. Louis), 

Summer Tournament possibilities: Cincinnati Shootout JCMT, Clayton Invite (St. Louis), Chicago Invite, National Challenge or Junior Olympics (May have additional stipulations, we encourage these players to join USA waterpolo) 

Fall Tournament possibilities: Ohio Cup (Columbus), St. Charles Tournament (Columbus), Mason Invitational, Milford Invite

Compeition Opportunities
Ohio Squirrels Masters Program (Cincinnati)
AMDG (Cincinnati)
Oakwood (Dayton) 

If any of your quetions are not answered here, please feel free to contact us at moosewaterpolo@gmail.com and will answer it the best we can.

Why is it called Moose Water Polo?
For that answer, check out the team history. It was Coach Hellwig's Idea.

I am brand new to water polo? Is that going to be a problem?
Absolutly not! Most players in Cincinnati have never played before their freshman year of high school. This team is meant to change that. We work with brand new players all the way to top rate varsity players. We make practices so you can learn the most and get as much experience as possible.

Why are practices so late in the evening?
That has a simple answer- Pool Time. We are at the mercy of pool avialability. We will gladly take donations of millions of dollars to build and run a Moose Water Polo facility.

Why do I need to register for American Water Polo or USA Water Polo Insurance?
Since Moose Water polo is not affiliated with a specific school, the team does not fall under the insurance coverage of any school. This means that Moose Water Polo has to use these companies as insurance incase of an accident during a practice or game.

Which Insurance company is better for me?
This all depends on what you are planning on doing. If you are only playing on session or are not planning on playing with the Junior Olympic team, then the cheaper option is American Water Polo. This also has the benifit of being active for 365 days once you buy it.

USA Water Polo is more expensive, but allows the player to participate in Junior Olympics. It also gets them signed up with a larger water polo community and offers a the magizine Skip Shot.

What is this $20 Active.com charge with the online registration?
Activie.com is similar to registering with Pay Pal. This is the fee that the website charges to do the online registration. Luckily there is another option to avoid this fee. You can print off the registration form under handouts and mail that in. Sometimes the snail mail is the best way to go.

 Why did the prices for the team increase?
We try to keep the cost for players playing as low as possible, but if a pool we are using raises cost, we have to raise our prices some to pay for that added cost. In the past few years we have seen a slight increase in our pool costs.

We have also added additional practices to the sessions, which in turn adds to our pool costs. Moose Water Polo is a non-profit team, so the money we raise is spent on things such as coaching costs, pool costs, insurance, equitment and many other things which make our team better.

Why does it cost extra to play in tournaments?
To keep our overall restration costs lower, we only charge those who are playing in the tournaments to pay for those tournaments. The tournament costs help offset some of the tournament registration and gas reimbertion as well as hotel and often a meal.

If I am going to miss a lot of practices, is their a discounted rate?
Unfortunatly no. As a team, we decided to prevent discrepency in pricing for this player or that, we would not pro-rate our prices. We always suggest that you look at your schedule and see if playing that session is worth the cost. If it is, we would love to have you.

I really want to play with Moose, but I know there is no way my family can afford it. Is there anything I can do?
Yes! Even though we have tried to keep our prices as low as possible, we understand that it is still a decent expense, but one we feel is well worth it. Please contact us and we can figure out what we can do.

I am looking at getting better at polo. Should I buy my own ball?
The more touches a person has with a water polo ball, the better off they are. If you are going to buy your own ball here are the Kap7 sizes
Boys- Size 5
Girls Size 4

It is hard to ever see a silver-lining on the dark cloud that comes around the death of high school student. How can you tell a mother that has lost her son, a student that has lost his friend, or a coach that has lost his player, that something good will someday come of this tragedy and how can that young man’s life truly be remembered?

Courage, Strength and Love. Luisa Cerda and her family have used courage, strength and love to make sure the memory of their son will never be forgotten nor ever fade. In 2010, Jose Cerda’s life was dramatically cut short. Since that time, his mother has dedicated her life to continuing their son’s dream and passion of water polo through the creation of the Jose Cerda Aquatic Foundation. The JCAF was built to promote the growth of water polo in the Cincinnati Area.

Water Polo in the Cincinnati region had declined and reached a point of little growth since the 1980s. Up until 2010, it had consisted of only 4 local high school teams. It was that summer that saw its first growth of a club team, Moose WP, since River City WP in the early late 90s, and then the addition of St. X in 2011. The JCAF wanted to help change this stagnated growth into something positive. Through Galas and private donations (See Article “Jose Cerda Gala brings dancing and remembrance”), they began collecting funds with the sole purposing of bringing life into water polo in southern Ohio. They began donating to Moose WP to start a memorial tournament to honor her son. This tournament (See article “2nd Annual Jose Cerda Memorial Tournament”) brought teams from around the Midwest to a great water polo facility at Montgomery Swim and Tennis. They donated to the Ohio Water Polo camp to draw attention to water polo in Ohio and then help the Moose WP team go to the Junior Olympic Qualifying games to bring National attention to players in Cincinnati. During the Jose Cerda Memorial Tournament, Tatoos both permanent and non-permanent tattoos could be seen supporting the name of Jose.

Through her dedication, Luisa is lighting the fuse of a water polo explosion in Southern Ohio which has draw attention from large groups such as USA Water Polo. Though nothing will ever replace her son, she has now become the mother of water polo in southern Ohio. The teams of Cincinnati, and water polo in this region will have bright and growing future thanks to the efforts of Luisa Cerda and the JCAF. To get involved in the Jose Cerda Aquatic Foundation go to their website at http://www.joseito.webs.com/foundation.htm