You can join Shores at any time! To get signed up, please call our office at 619.929.0812 or send us via email.
Our calendar is split into four seasons (also called sessions) per year. We welcome you anytime, and can prorate your fees if you enroll mid-session.
Shores has divided the year into four quarters: September to November (FALL), November to February (Winter), February to May (Spring), and May to August (Summer). These quarters jive with our competition schedule. Youth compete quite a bit in the autumn and summer. Winter is more about development for youth and less about competition. We encourage our players to be swimming. Just check the calendar section of our website for practice times and get a sense of the flow. Many of our coaches’ biographies and contact information are on our website. Feel free to contact them directly.
SHORES practices are hosted in the evenings, Mondays through Thursdays. The training schedule depends on the age group.
Splashball: Saturday mornings (1 hour practices)
10 and under: 2 days per week (1.5 hour practices)
12 & 14 and under: 4 days per week (2 hour practices)
16 & 18 and under: 3 days per week (fall-spring) 4 days per week (summer)
Our tryouts are based on a young person swimming proficiently 50 yards of a pool, or two laps of a 25 yard pool. We gauge your ability by this “test”. As a reference point, the best youth water polo players nearing high school swim 100 yards in about one minute.
Start by emailing us at info@sandiegoshores.net We will walk you through our automated sign up process and warmly welcome you. When you are ready to register, you’ll click on the New Member to get going. As part of the registration process, your athlete will need to become a member of our National Governing Body, USA Water Polo. A current USA Water polo membership is required to practice and play in games with Shores. Armed with your new USA Water Polo number, register on our website.
2 Days per week is $445.00 for one season
3 Days per week is $600.00 for one season
4 Days per week is $715.00 for one season
SHORES has always been a fortunate and supportive community. If you have trouble with the dues and fees, please contact Malin Peabody at the Shores office to obtain a financial aid application form. She will handle your special payment request discreetly. Scholarships are approved by the Board of Directors of SHORES.
Water polo is a small sport and the ratio of youth playing water polo to the number of athletes playing in high school is VERY LARGE which means there aren’t 300 8th graders trying for varsity training spots in high school their freshman year like in other land sports. Water polo is an Olympic sport. Many colleges offer water polo. Many SHORES athletes play water polo in high school. Almost all of SHORES athletes have splendid high school water polo careers. Water polo is a great background for participating as a lifeguard at pools during summers. Water polo athletes are the best physical specimens in sports. No one is better conditioned than water polo players. Games last 60 minutes. When the game is over, your athlete is clean, exhausted, and hungry. That’s much different than America’s other past times, where game times are longer, very sweaty, and sometimes not always active.
Being comfortable in the water is the main criteria to playing water polo. We have players as young as 7 playing with us in our 10 and under group. We also have a splashball program on Saturday mornings that children as young as 4 can participate in. For splashball the coaches are in the water with the kids and this game is played in the shallow end of the pool so the kids can touch the bottom or use pool noodles.
Team Suit, three tee shirts, a ball and you are ready to go. Girls will also need swim caps. You can purchase your gear through our e-commerce store.
Quite simply, your age in water polo is determined by the age your athlete will be on August 1 of every year. Right now you would look at what age your athlete will be on August 1, 2025. If your child will be 14 on August 1 he/she will play on the 14 and under team. If your child turns 15 before August 1, 2025 he/she plays with the 16 and unders. You can always use Age Calculator on our site.
Water polo is divided into age groups (10 and under, 12 and under, 14 and under, 16 and under and 18 and under). 10U teams are for the most part coed but the other age groups have boys teams and girls teams. Most age groups have at least two teams per gender. The coaches will decide what team your athlete will be placed on based on the skill level shown at practices and games.
All athletes will have an opportunity to play in games. SHORES teams compete both locally in different leagues and tournaments as well as at out of town competitions, mostly in Orange County and the Inland Empire. Once you have registered your athlete and he/she has been placed on a team you will be able to see that team’s competition schedule on the team’s calendar.
Parents in youth sports tend to forget that athletes continue to mature into high school and beyond. SHORES is the launching pad for the sport of water polo or a place where older athletes can find great training and team opportunities. SHORES tries its best to provide opportunities for all of its players. We carry numerous teams. If you ever feel you are on the short end of the stick, please address your coach privately.
Comfort in the water is the most fundamental water polo skill. Swimming is part of that. Being able to stay high above the water using a leg skill called the “eggbeater” is vital to success. We teach the eggbeater. Learning to handle the ball is another skill that is important. Water polo is like soccer and basketball played in the water. The object is to put the ball in the goal on offense and prevent the ball from going in the goal on defense. SHORES believes that understanding defense before offense is vital to a player’s ultimate success.
Unlike other sports, water polo action does not stop when the whistle blows. Action begins when the whistle blows. The object of the game is to throw the ball in the goal. Goalies can touch the ball with two hands. All other players can only touch the ball with one hand. Fouls create free throws for the person fouled. In some instances, when the person fouled is grossly impeded, the defender has to leave the game for 20 seconds and the offense has a “power play opportunity.” In the worst fouls, a penalty throw is awarded. Sit back, relax, enjoy and learn. The players learn the rules faster than the spectators!!!!!
Winter:
Cal Cup League
Futures League
Grommet League
Pacific Winter Classic
Spring:
Same leagues as winter
County Cup
County Cup Elders
Summer:
Junior Olympics Regional Quals
Futures Super Finals
Quiksilver Cup
John Hale Tournament
US Club Championships
Junior Olympics
Fall:
Cal Cup League
Grommet League
Rocktober
Champion's Cup
Evan Cousineau Cup
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Malin Peabody in the Shores office either via email or phone 619.929.0812