Blog is on the move!

Born and unveiled on Friday, July 27, 2007, it's bittersweet to announce the JCWP Blog is moving. Please visit us at our new home....jcwp.tumblr.com.

Thanks for supporting the blog in its first incarnation. See you soon!


Coach Penilla

Awards

Congratulations to the first ever JCWP award winners!

Most Outstanding Kitten: Todd Losby, (Parkway South)
Most Outstanding Cub: Brad Gardner, Rockwood Summit
Most Improved: Matt Marcouiller, (SLUH)

Most Outstanding Leopard - Games: Zach Smith, Kirkwood
Most Outstanding Leopard - Practice: Michael Bowers, Parkway South
Most Improved: Brandon Pilas, Parkway South

Most Outstanding Lion: Dan Goeddel, SLUH
Most Improved: Nick Keao, Parkway North

Jungle Cat Pride

Most days, I am proud of Jungle Cat Water Polo. Today, I am more proud than usual.

In the third place game of the Kuppa Tournament, JCWP 4 played Flyers A, a team comprised of the best players from two top ten schools. After three quarters of substituting our stronger and weaker players evenly, JCWP 4 trailed Flyers A 4 - 9. As Coach Penilla suggested, the game was already a "victory" at that point. But playing only their best six players for the remainder of the game, JCWP 4 made a rousing comeback, tying the score 9 - 9 before giving up a late goal and losing by one.

Here's the kicker: Since we split into four balanced teams for the Kuppa Tournament, each of our teams had one fourth of our top-end talent. So when playing one fourth of our club's best against another club's best, we dominated the one quarter of play, 5 - 1.

This speaks to the strength of our club better than anything I could write. Had we put our best teams together at the Varsity and JV levels, we would not have gotten nearly as much out of this winter's games. I am pleased with our fourth, fifth, sixth and ninth place finishes, knowing that we sacrificed tangible success for opportunities to develop as players and teammates. Thank you for understanding.

And thank all of you, players and coaches, for what you do to make Jungle Cat Water Polo the best club in town.

Coach Baud

Kittens claw their way to win Middle School Championship

Since the inception of the middle school league a few years ago, JCWP has always had a strong group that has done considerable well. That tradition was extended Saturday, as this year’s Kitten squad ended the season by beating CCP 19-6 and Storm 20-1 and finishing the season undefeated with a 6-0 record.

Saturday was a great cap on a tremendous season, as the Kittens were able to implement many of the things they had learned over the course of the season into the game. However, although the scores made both games seem like blowouts, the game against CCP started out very close. CCP had one extremely impressive lefthander (#16), and at first, the Kittens could not contain him and match up with him quick enough. His two goals, in addition to the panicking Kittens’ play, kept the game at a 2-2 tie through the first quarter. As the game continued, CCP continued to hang with the Kittens, primarily due to the play of #16. It was not until the Kittens started to communicate on offense before they were able to find the open man and bury the ball into the goal. In the second quarter, the Kittens began double-teaming #16, and from that point forward, he was ineffective and did not get many shots except for from near half. He was clearly an excellent player, but the Kittens did a pretty good job of matching up with him once they recognized that he was far and away their best player.

In the second game against Storm, the game went much more smoothly from the start. On the first play of the game, the swimoff, Michael Mcward won and once again scored a goal after continuing to drive toward the goal and getting a pass from Joey Buelter. At the end of the first quarter, the Kittens were up 7-1, and they were once again on their way toward victory. The Kittens did a pretty solid job of matching up defensively in this game, as they prevented Storm from getting the ball down onto their offensive side of half at least once because of their playing in the passing lanes.

Throughout the course of the game, the Kittens drew a number of kickouts. The good news was that most of the time, we recognized this fact and we even set-up. The only problem was we often ended up throwing the ball to the 2 and 3 positions (the positions right in front of the goal) with wet passes, and this caused us to lose a couple of good chances to score on the 6-on-5. Although it looked rough, we only started practicing the 6-on-5 explicitly this last week, so it was good to see the 6-on-5 look a little better than it had at times in the past, and the players at least knew what they were supposed to be doing. There still is some work, but with most things, there always is a little work that can be done.

So Saturday was a great end to the season. The player of the day was Michael Mcward for playing the best games of his life thus far, but in reality, the team looked very solid as a whole. Todd Losby did a nice job setting and directing traffic from the 2-meter position. Victor Castro was doing a great job communicating as well, and he played a very important role in shutting down #16 in game #1. Peter Brooks and Michael Kennedy did a really nice job of counter-attacking. Matt Marcouiller and Phil LePoidevin made some nice defensive plays, and Ryan Finkelstein did a nice job of push-dribbling when the other team was trying to drown him. This list is not to all-inclusive. I was happy with the efforts of our whole team in general. It can be challenging to play two games back to back, and the team did an excellent job of playing hard for both games and thoroughly dominating both.

In closing, thanks on another great season. I really enjoyed working with these guys, and I think they all learned a ton and hopefully had a lot of fun. We hope you all can make it to our last two practices this week on Wednesday and Thursday night.

Coach Ray

Kuppa Games

Team 4 defeated Team 2, 9 - 6

Team 4 Stats
Goals: Goeddel 3, Sigman 3, P. Buelter, Erlinger, Ri. Mayer
Assists: Auinbauh 3, Erlinger 3, Kramer 2, Gardner
Shots: Erlinger 4, Goeddel 4, Sigman 4, J. Buelter 2, Brennan, P. Buelter, Chisholm, Fischer, Ri. Mayer, Ramacciotti
Kickouts Drawn: Erlinger 3, Goeddel, Meyer, Sigman
Steals: J. Buelter 3, Goeddel 2, Kramer 2, Chisholm, Fischer, Gardner, Meyer, Sigman, Stelmachowicz
Field Blocks: Goeddel 2, P. Buelter
Saves: Gardner 3, Chisholm 2

Team 2 Stats
Goals: Hagerty 2, Maloney, Ruzicka, Smith, Zenk
Assists: Ruzicka 2, C. Archer, P. Archer, Smith, Zenk
Shots: Hagerty 6, C. Archer 3, Burggraf 2, Ruzicka 2, Zenk 2, Maloney, Savio, Smith
Kickouts Drawn: Hagerty 4, Maloney
Steals: C. Archer 2, P. Archer 2, Ruzicka 2, Jellinek 2, Smith 2, Zenk
Field Blocks: Zenk
Saves: P. Archer 8


Team 1 defeated Team 3, 9 - 8 SV

Team 1 Stats
Goals: Morgan 3, Gitel 2, B. Castro, Keao, Pilas, Slaughter
Assists: Allen 2, B. Castro, Champion, Dharmavarapu, Luhmann
Shots: Morgan 7, Keao 4, Slaughter 4, Allen 3, Gitel 2, Golterman 2, B. Castro, Derdeyn, Kimbrough Luhmann, Pilas
Kickouts Drawn: Keao
Steals: Keao 6, Allen 3, Morgan 3, Golterman 2, Luhmann, Slaughter
Field Blocks: (none)
Saves: Dharmavarapu 7

Team 3 Stats
Goals: Pike 2, Adcock, Bowers, Dell'Orco, Faddis, Kabance, Schmidt
Assists: Pike 2, Faddis, Lewis, Schmidt, Tanner
Shots: Pike 5, Schmidt 5, Adcock 3, Lewis 3, Bowers 2, Dell'Orco 2, Faddis 2, Kabance 2, Jungels, Maurer
Kickouts Drawn: Adcock 3, Lewis 2, Faddis, Schmidt
Steals: Faddis 4, Bowers 2, Lewis 2, Adcock, Kabance, Pike
Field Blocks: (none)
Saves: Anderson 4, Jungels 4

Kittens handle SLAP 19-3

For me, one of the most gratifying parts of coaching is teaching your team something in practice and then seeing them carry it out successfully in a game situation. And on the first play of the game against SLAP on Saturday, that is just what the Kittens did. Michael Mcward won the swim-off and after passing it to Joey Buelter, who was at the three position, continued swimming unabated toward the goal, where he received a beautiful pass from Joey Buelter and put in the first goal of the game (Michael Mcward and Joey Buelter were co-POTG for this play). It was a hot start for the Kittens, who ended the first quarter with an 8-1 lead.

For the remainder of the game, the Kittens focused on trying to set-up the offense before shooting. After having a few problems early on setting up the offense, the team continued to improve, and by the fourth quarter, they were doing a very nice job of getting set-up and getting the ball in to the 2-meter. Throughout the course of the game, the Kittens scored multiple times off of drives from the point and other positions on offense.

One of the great strengths for the Kittens on Saturday was their passing lane defense. The Kittens were able to make countless steals, just by being in the passing lanes and knowing where the ball and their man were.

I also really loved the Kittens awareness in the pool. Once we started slowing the offense down, we started to use a majority of the shot clock. Multiple times, I heard people start yelling “yellow” and “red” when the shot clock started winding down. It started at the end of the first quarter, when Ryan Finkelstein, who was playing goal, started the tread. I was very impressed by Ryan’s leadership in starting this, and I was glad to see it continue throughout the game.

One thing that SLAP did very well was counter-attack toward offense. A few times we were caught off guard by this. However, most of the time we were able to re-cooperate because we were a little faster than SLAP, and our goaltending was very good today. However, in the future, we need to go to defense harder once it looks like we are about to take a shot or that we might lose the ball.

Overall, however, it was another good game for the Kittens. I told them after the game that I was extremely proud of their progress thus far this winter. A few weeks ago, the Kittens narrowly edged SLAP 15-12. However, today, it was not remotely close. The Kittens looked like a whole different team, and they didn’t even have the whole team there (we only had one sub). I think this is a very good indicator of how much these guys have improved this winter, and they should be commended for their great work.

Also, I was talking to the refs after the game, and they were very impressed with the team’s communication in the water. They specifically cited 2M Todd Losby as being an excellent leader in the water.

We hope to see you all at practice this week. With only two weeks left, we want to try and teach you guys as much as we can. And next weekend, the middle school championship will be on the line in our last weekend of games as we have a rematch against both CCP and Storm.

We’ll see you around the pool.

Coach Ray

JCWP Black 4 Flyers 7

The black team played a tough game of water polo, but mental errors allowed the flyers tesam to get the win. The cats played a tough press defense and a good drive based offense. The guys took and early 2-0 lead, but the mental mistakes of crashing off of the wing and not picking up the guy closest to the goal allowed the flyers to tie the game 2-2.

The cats offense continued to work hard drawing kick outs and making good passes into the two-meter. The problem was the players could not capitalize of their opportunities, but they did not lose their composure. They continued to play hard and the game went on as a stalemate for awhile.

The fourth quarter rolled around and the teams were tied 4-4. The cats did not play with the same intensity that they had the entire game. Frustrated with the lack of calls from the refs the guys were flustered and allowed two counterattack goals. After the game the guys talked about the importance of scoring on 6 on 5 opportunities and not letting the refs affect the outcome of the game. The guys played well until they did not get the calls that they expected and the game fell apart for them.

JCWP Yellow 3 Daisy A 14

The yellow team came out in the first quarter ready to play against the physically dominating Daisy team. The guys played smart defense matching up well with the better offensive players for Daisy. They had a rough time on the offensive end and were unable to notch a goal. The first quarter ended with the cats down 2-0.

The second and third quarters were not very pretty for the team. The Daisy team was playing a strong press defense, and looking to counter. Unfortunately the cats did not adjust their play. They got flustered on offense and did not match up well on defense. They did have a little offense generated mainly by Nick Keao, who was named player of the game for his efforts.

The fourth quarter began with the guys down by a large margin. The goal of the fourth was to win the quarter. Unfortunately they did not tally more goals than the Daisy team, but they did slow them down the counter and were able to run a better half court offense. After the game the team talked about improving their abilities to pass under pressure and exploiting the other teams weaknesses. There were many players that our two meters could have set on, but made no effort to swim out the Daisy two meter guards and swim in the smaller players.

Jungle Cat Orange vs. Flyer

Orange vs. Flyer B

After close games the last two weeks, Jungle Cat Orange showed that they were learning how to work as a team and how to correct their errors. While the flyers players were physically larger than us, we were able to exploit their relative inexperience. As well throughout the game the flyers players were walking on the bottom and holding, but we were able to play through at least for the first three quarters. Our biggest success was on defense where, multiple times, their goalie held the ball for their full shot clock. Archer commented after the game that he enjoyed not being shot on. As well, we made some good steals both 1-on-1 and as a team that fueled our offensive counter attack. With these attributes we clearly dominated the game the first three quarters. At the end of the first it was 3-0. In the second quarter we scored 3 more goals and in the forth we scored 4. Ahead 10-0 we went into the forth quarter with an attitude of complacency. While it is true that we didn’t need to score and only needed to play defense in that last quarter, the Orange team managed to keep the Flyers scoreless, but not with the same intensity that was present in the first three quarters. It is often difficult to learn when you are ahead by ten goalies, but that is the time to demonstrate consistency in the set up half court offense and continue the passing lane defense. Orange made dramatic improvements in the past two weeks, and this game really demonstrated what they had been learning on half court and 6-on-5. It was a very impressive performance. Players of the game were two meter guards.

Coach O’Neill

Green Team Dominates Mad Dog B-1

Riding high off of last week's victory against Charmander, the Green team came out on fire against Mad Dog B-1, winning the contest by a score of 10-2. We were quick to recognize which of our opponents were the biggest threats so that we could make the appropriate matchups, and our defense started to click immediately. Our presence in the passing lanes led to several counterattack goals that saw us up 7-1 at half. Afteward some sloppiness while controlling the ball hurt us a little. Remember, the first rule of passing is eye contact. We also want to keep the ball dry if possible because it's easier to be moved quickly if players don't have to pick it up every time the ball is to be passed. Still we did a pretty good job of moving the ball around the perimeter and finding open players. Tom Critchfield also had some nice drives from the wing that generated some very good opportunities, and Richie Mayer and Evan Stelmachowicz were quick to clear the middle for him.

Mad Dog's only goals came from a penalty shot and from a 6-on-5, so props to the boys for playing great full strength defense and for keeping them from countering. We coaches are also very proud of the entire team for not getting suckered into a lot of the kicking, pushing, sinking and grabbing that our opponents were employing, and for instead just playing better. We had six players notch goals (Archer, Critchfield, Gardner, Mayer, Rhoades, and Stelmachowicz) and several other did a great job of driving and attacking the goal to get good looks. Our goalies did great in the net, and received excellent help from the field. Matt Anderson's save percentage was at least 75% and Brad Gardner's ability to protect the ball under pressure in the deep end really stood out. Both also collected a few steals.

Our player of the game was Charlie Archer for outstanding two meter defense that frustrated Mad Dog's big guns, as well as great help on offense. We're very proud of how far the Green team has come this winter and we look forward to seeing them play alongside some of the more experienced players in the Kuppa da Daisy.

-Coach Merritt

Kittens wrestle to 20-8 victory

As you might imagine, there are a plethora of pages in the water polo rule book that explain all of the different ways that a player can commit an act which constitutes a foul, kick out, or roll. For those of you who were able attended the Kittens’ game on Saturday, you were able to witness one of the most comprehensive demonstrations of how to do some of these things that I have seen in a while.

In the end, the Kittens defeated the Storm 20 – 8. In a game that in the end deteriorated into more of a rugby game than a water polo game, the Kittens were able to stay strong and still battle even while stuff was happening to them.

At the beginning of the game, the Kittens once again hopped out to a nice lead. Although they were up by a handful of goals after the first quarter, the Kittens could have had more goals had they only shot near-side low rather than shooting elsewhere on the goal. The Kittens did have a few nice goals, including a nice cross-goal goal on a pass from Todd Losby to Michael Mcward.

The Kittens did a pretty good job of drawing kick outs, including a few drawn by Ryan F. and Joey Buelter. Joey Buelter also made some nice defensive plays, including at 2m guard, where he kept battling despite being held and prevented from getting the ball.

The offense looked a little less organized this week. That is not to say that the offense was poor, but there are a few things we still need to work on. Frequently, we would have people in the wrong location on offense. Although we might have the 2m set to one side, we had the flat and wing on that side sitting right next to each other so that they could not effectively release to get the ball. Despite this, Player of the Game Todd Losby did an awesome job playing 2m, especially given the amount of time he was playing that position and the physical play by the defensive. Losby buried a number of goals into the net throughout the course of the game.

Defensively, the Kittens played pretty well. I would have liked to have seen us in the passing lanes earlier than we were. On one play right off of Storm’s timeout, we got in the passing lanes and Matt Marcouiller made a great steal. If we would just get in the passing lanes more often, we would be even more successful and completely shut down the other team’s offense.

So in the end, it was a pretty good game for the Kittens. I really want to thank the team for playing through all of the stuff that was going on in the game. As a coach, you can only ask them to keep playing hard and try and get the refs to call something. Despite the latter not occurring, the team continued to play hard and have the mental toughness to get past the aggressive play of the opposing team. Philip L. and others many times were dragged under water, and they continued to push dribble, even though many times to no avail. As a coach, it is great to see this mental toughness. It is from my end to promise that in water polo, even though you will inevitably have to deal with this kind of play, the refereeing (at least I hope) will eventually recognize it, and you will be rewarded for your mental toughness. Although maybe this did not happen today, I hope that as you continue playing, you will eventually get the calls you should.

Thanks for a great effort, and I hope to see you all at practice this week.

Coach