Academy Parent Volunteer Coordinator Urgently Required for Titans Cup in January

We require an Academy parent to serve as Volunteer Coordinator for the Titans Cup (14U) event being held January 31-February 1 here in Ottawa. It involves recruiting other parents as minor officials (game clock operators, game secretaries, etc) and various volunteer roles over the weekend of the tournament. We have contact information to provide you with for all families, as well as templates from last year. We will not be able to run the tournament without this role being filled! If you can take it on, please contact Tournament Chair Colin Kelly, at colin.kelly@alcatel-lucent.com .

Please note the new mailing address below. Also, there was a glitch with their mail over the last week during their move, and many envelopes have been returned to the sender, as Canada Post was not aware of the new tenants in the building. If this was the case with your letter or package, simply resend to the address below.

It's not too late to join Performance Polo! (and list of dates for those currently registered)

For Academy, AA and AAA players who would like to further development their fundamental water polo skills. Supplementary training opportunity to work on individual skills, coached by Celso Rojas.

Please note that these dates are subject to change, based on pool time arrangements. All changes will be made on the Titans website calendar.

Fee to register for January through May sessions is $110 ($60 for goalies). For information, or to register, contact Titans General Manager Deanna Barry at INFO@titanswaterpolo.ca.

Titans Water Polo is pleased to be able to provide two updates to the membership on, both being held on Saturday, December 13, at the University of Ottawa, Montpetit Hall (the pool building), room 201.

1-2pm- Presentation by Head Coach David Hart on the status of coaching modules and materials that he has been working on as part of a 3-year plan. Have a look at some of the documents that are already in use by our coaches, as well as demonstrations of videos produced to date.

2-3pm- Treasurer Damian Laflamme will be presenting on the 2007-2008 audited Financial Statements, the new-format of the 2008-2009 approved budget, and the first quarter forecast.

In both cases, there will be presentations, followed by the opportunity to ask questions. See you there!

KW Winter Classic Nov 29th - 30th, 2008 Photo Gallery
Submitted by Yuri Tarnopolski

From December 5-7, the Marlins came together for the first time at the Laval Tournament. The team consisted of first time players from the Academy and 6 core players. The team recorded a 1 win 2 losses 1 tie in the tournament. All players performed very well and as the tournament progressed they got stronger.

Well done girls and continue to work hard! Have a Merry Christmas and best wishes for a safe holiday season.

Stingrays win Silver!
Submitted by Greg Sidebottom

It was a big weekend for the Stingrays at the Laval 16U invitational last weekend. Click on pictures to view some fun photos from the weekend. The core Stingrays were joined by Annie and Mira from the Marlins and Lulu and Jessica who play with the senior girls for a roster of 11 girls. The girls tournament had two divisions with the Stingrays in with an exhibition team from Laval, a team from DDO, and a combined Laval-Scarborough-Hull team which included our friends Natalie, Jelena, and Ceilidh. The other division included the Marlins as an exhibition team because they included some older players, two more teams from DDO, and a team from CAMO. Each division played a 3 game round robin followed by a first versus second cross over to qualify for the gold medal game.

The Stingrays started the tournament on Friday with a fairly easy 13-1 win over the Laval exhibition team. Then, after cheering on the Marlins and Tigersharks in their afternoon games, it was off to an Italian place for dinner and some relaxation and socializing at the hotel before bed.

The Stingrays started Saturday with an 11-1 win over a DDO team which was notable for 15 major fouls by DDO, including three 5 meter shots and two players fouled completely out of the game. The Stingrays clean play, tight defense, fast attacks, and quick shots allowed them to get out in front early and never allowed DDO to come close. After a two hour break, the Stingrays played their second game against Laval-Scarborough-Hull. Again, the Stingrays came out flying and built up an 8-0 lead at the half. But this was only the second game Laval-Scarborough-Hull had ever played together, and with a switch to Jelena in net and tighter play, the game ended in an 11-3 Stingrays win.

So with the round robin finished, the Stingrays had every game well under control by the half and had never been seriously tested. But neither had the CAMO team in the other division, winning all their games by wide margins. The Stingrays were finished the round robin by 2pm and had to wait until 9pm for their semi-final game against the second place DDO team from the other division. And the DDO team only had played one round robin game on Saturday to the Stingray's two. We had our main dinner meal at 3pm at a pasta bar, and then spent some time shopping and relaxing at the hotel waiting for the evening playoff game to finally come around.

Laval-Scarborough-Hull looked very good against CAMO in their playoff game preceeding the Stingray's, staying within a goal or two all game. But CAMO ended up prevailing by a score of 7-5. So CAMO was starting to look very beatable, or was it Laval-Scarborough-Hull was starting to come together, it was very hard to tell. As was their pattern, the Stingrays came out hard against DDO in the 9pm game, running up a 10-0 lead at the half, and then locked down the defensive zone in the second half, rarely letting DDO of across the center line for an 11-1 win. So the Stingrays qualified for the gold medal game, but without ever really being tested, which isn't always the best preparation.

The girls gold medal game was the final game of the tournament at 3pm Sunday, so after getting back to the hotel late Saturday night, the girls had a chance to sleep in until a 10am breakfast followed by a stealing Christmas gift exchange with the coaches and Marlins at 11am. Then it was off for lunch and more waiting for the big event. With the Marlins, Tigersharks, and lots of parents in the stands to cheer them on, the Stingrays lined up to the loudest cheering of the tournament. Unfortunately, the game started with a quick goal by CAMO on the first play. It turns out that an elite CAMO player unavailable to play on Friday and Saturday turned up for the gold medal game. This set the Stingrays back on their heels for a while, unable to make their usual creative plays while figuring out how to control CAMO's dreaded number 11. After some rapid fire CAMO misses, the Stingrays tied it up 1-1 but then CAMO scored 4 unanswered goals to lead 5-1 at the half. The Stingrays and CAMO exchanged two goals each in the third quarter, putting the score at 7-3. But CAMO relied on effective defense in the fourth quarter and though the Stingrays had some chances, including a 5 meter shot that required a great save by the CAMO goaltender, no goals were scored.

So the Stingrays had to accept a 7-3 loss. The girls were a little disappointed after being so dominant in their other games. But the Stingrays can take solace in the fact that the CAMO team they faced included many of the players from the 16U champion team last season that won Nationals. So this was a great start to the tournament season for a young team that showed it has what it takes to compete and win against some of Canada's best teams at the 16U level.

Special thanks go to our dedicated coaches - Celso, Alison and Adrian!