6-8 Training Academy
Los Caballeros Sports & Racquet Club, 17272 Newhope St, Fountain Valley, CA 92708
About
The 6-8 Training Academy includes water polo, gym and conditioning sessions, mental and tactical work, and goalie training. The program also offers video breakdown, virtual reality training, nutrition guidance, college recruiting consultation, workshops, in-person clinics, the 6-8 Challenge combine, and game scoring activities.
• Ages: 11–18 years old
• Schedule: Semester-based program with Winter/Spring (January 5 – May 29, 2026), Summer (June 8 – July 31, 2026), and Fall (September 1 – December 18, 2026) sessions
The 6-8 Training Academy is led by 6-8 Sports founders Maggie Steffens (#6) and Tony Azevedo (#8). Staff for the program includes Italian Olympian and professional coach Umberto Panerai, Pepperdine head coach and 3-time Olympian Merrill Moses, and UCLA goalie and professional athlete Jahmea Bent. Maggie Steffens is a 4-time Olympian, 3-time gold medalist, 3-time NCAA champion, current Team USA Olympics captain, and has both MS and BS degrees from Stanford, and she has played professionally in Hungary and Spain. Tony Azevedo is a 5-time Olympian, silver medalist, 4-time NCAA/Pete Cutino MVP, Stanford graduate, former Team USA captain, and has played professionally in Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, and Brazil. The mission of 6-8 Sports is to accelerate growth and exposure in water polo through revolutionary analytics.
The Academy is described as the first high-performance academy for water polo in the world and runs as a semester-based, full-time, immersive training program. All athletes follow the same basic training schedule and are divided into small training groups based on age and skill level, and the Academy experience is entirely personalized. The Academy is not a club or a team and does not affect eligibility for any other programs. On average, about 50% of athletes live onsite on campus and 50% are commuters, and the Academy has a dedicated full-time goalie coach. The program also offers new 6-8 Academy Summer Camps and a limited number of week-long guest spots during the fall and winter/spring semesters.
Athletes in the 6-8 Training Academy are monitored by the 6-8 Platform with detailed personal evaluations to track and analyze progress over time. 6-8 Sports uses a development platform that unites standardized metrics, live-game tracking, and advanced data analytics. The 6-8 Platform combines objective data, consistent testing, and technology to give an overall snapshot of athlete and team performance over time. A mobile app collects and displays key data from the 6-8 Challenge combine and game scoring software, and an app training series and in-person clinics use this data in a systematic way. The 6-8 Game Desk replaces pen and paper for team game statistics and analytics, and a public scoreboard and dashboard show rankings and power scores for athletes and teams. New tools include 68i, an AI chat bot available in the mobile app and game desk, and a 6-8 Dashboard that displays athlete rankings and data profiles modeled after the NFL power rating platform.
6-8 Sports is involved with the USA Water Polo Olympic Development Program through collaboration with ODP staff, as reflected in a testimonial from John Abdou, Head of Olympic Development for USA Water Polo. Additional testimonials come from Maureen O’Toole Purcell, a water polo Olympian, silver medalist, and club coach, and Scott Nicholson, founder of Beach Water Polo Fours in Australia, who describe the 6-8 Challenge and 6-8 Sports’ use of data and analytics in water polo.
Last updated March 25, 2026.
• Ages: 11–18 years old
• Schedule: Semester-based program with Winter/Spring (January 5 – May 29, 2026), Summer (June 8 – July 31, 2026), and Fall (September 1 – December 18, 2026) sessions
The 6-8 Training Academy is led by 6-8 Sports founders Maggie Steffens (#6) and Tony Azevedo (#8). Staff for the program includes Italian Olympian and professional coach Umberto Panerai, Pepperdine head coach and 3-time Olympian Merrill Moses, and UCLA goalie and professional athlete Jahmea Bent. Maggie Steffens is a 4-time Olympian, 3-time gold medalist, 3-time NCAA champion, current Team USA Olympics captain, and has both MS and BS degrees from Stanford, and she has played professionally in Hungary and Spain. Tony Azevedo is a 5-time Olympian, silver medalist, 4-time NCAA/Pete Cutino MVP, Stanford graduate, former Team USA captain, and has played professionally in Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, and Brazil. The mission of 6-8 Sports is to accelerate growth and exposure in water polo through revolutionary analytics.
The Academy is described as the first high-performance academy for water polo in the world and runs as a semester-based, full-time, immersive training program. All athletes follow the same basic training schedule and are divided into small training groups based on age and skill level, and the Academy experience is entirely personalized. The Academy is not a club or a team and does not affect eligibility for any other programs. On average, about 50% of athletes live onsite on campus and 50% are commuters, and the Academy has a dedicated full-time goalie coach. The program also offers new 6-8 Academy Summer Camps and a limited number of week-long guest spots during the fall and winter/spring semesters.
Athletes in the 6-8 Training Academy are monitored by the 6-8 Platform with detailed personal evaluations to track and analyze progress over time. 6-8 Sports uses a development platform that unites standardized metrics, live-game tracking, and advanced data analytics. The 6-8 Platform combines objective data, consistent testing, and technology to give an overall snapshot of athlete and team performance over time. A mobile app collects and displays key data from the 6-8 Challenge combine and game scoring software, and an app training series and in-person clinics use this data in a systematic way. The 6-8 Game Desk replaces pen and paper for team game statistics and analytics, and a public scoreboard and dashboard show rankings and power scores for athletes and teams. New tools include 68i, an AI chat bot available in the mobile app and game desk, and a 6-8 Dashboard that displays athlete rankings and data profiles modeled after the NFL power rating platform.
6-8 Sports is involved with the USA Water Polo Olympic Development Program through collaboration with ODP staff, as reflected in a testimonial from John Abdou, Head of Olympic Development for USA Water Polo. Additional testimonials come from Maureen O’Toole Purcell, a water polo Olympian, silver medalist, and club coach, and Scott Nicholson, founder of Beach Water Polo Fours in Australia, who describe the 6-8 Challenge and 6-8 Sports’ use of data and analytics in water polo.
Last updated March 25, 2026.
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