Richison NCS CCS Tournament

The Richison Tournament is an annual tournament in honor of former Acalanes Coach Ron Richison. It is also a fundraiser for our program.  While it is a Varsity-only tournament, we need both JV and Varsity parents to sign up on the attached google doc for volunteer shifts as we are a hosting pool with a concession stand.  There is a good chance the Varsity team will end up playing at Acalanes on Saturday, so Varsity parents can take Friday and Saturday shifts only, but we still encourage JV parents to take Saturday shifts so that Varsity parents can watch games.   

This tournament brings together 32 teams from the North Coast and Central Coast Sections for some great competitive water polo. Please support!

Thanks and Go Dons!

Ron Richison, Acalanes Head Coach

1984- 1995  

League Champions (1986, 1987, 1988) CIF-North Coast Section Champions (1986, 1987, 1988) California State Champions – 1987 

Ron Richison has been an incredible contributor to the development of the sport of water polo in the East Bay of California and in Northern California. In 1967 Ron, with Bill Brown (Miramonte & US WP Hall of Famer), Pete Cutino and Ervin Zador (Hungarian Olympian), helped establish water polo as a league sport in what was then the FAL league (now DFAL). In 1966 teams from Acalanes High School, Miramonte HS, Las Lomas High School competed as club teams.  The interest in water polo coincided with the arrival of Pete Cutino (US Water Polo Hall of Famer) as the coach of the Aquabears Swim Club. Pete and Ron introduced water polo as a way to keep kids in the pool during the fall, which had, in the past, been the off season for competitive swimming. Needless to say, it was a big hit. Eventually they got the FAL to approve the sport.  Ron and Pete then founded one of Northern California's premier and most successful club programs in the country, Concord Water Polo Club, in 1967.  With Concord Water Polo club (now Lamorinda Water Polo) Ron produced numerous High School All Americans, (22) College All Americans, (24) players who became NCAA Champions, and (9) United States Olympians.  He also coached (5) members of the United States Water Polo Hall of Fame.  Ron was a pioneer for water polo in one of the biggest water polo zones in the country.