Weekly Announcements for Week of 9/22-9/28

Dear SBSC families,

Practice Schedule
RHS Practice Groups
Group 1: Tuesday and Thursday 6:00-7:00

G1 Elite: Monday 5:30-7:15
Group 2: Monday,Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 5:30-7:15, and Friday 5:00-6:30

Group 3 PM: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 4:15-6:30PM, and Friday 4:15-5:45PM

Group 3 AM: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 5:30AM -7:00AM

NPHS Practice Groups (all times for NP our CST)

Group 1 Thursday 6:00-7:00

Group 2 & 3 Wednesday and Thursday 5:30-7:15

Practice Notes:  If the health department gives the o.k the NP practices will start practice on Wednesday.  All the NP families that were unable to attend practice at Riley will have the September dues credited to their account.  Next week's practices will not be charged to any of those accounts.  This credit will be applied prior to the end of the month.  A reminder to all Group 2 swimmers attending Friday's practice to bring dry-land clothes and running shoes.

Intra-Squad Meet Tuesday October 1st

The first meet on our schedule is our annual intra-squad meet.  All swimmers will be entered in the meet unless I receive an email from you stating that will not be attending or you decline to attend on the meet commitment page.

I realize this will only be the second or third practice day for the majority of our NP swimmers and some might assume the swimmers are not ready to compete.  I do understand that sentiment, but, this meet is a practice meet.  All of our athletes with the possible exception of those brand new NP swimmers are ready for this meet.  Remember our youngest swimmers will swim 25's and our oldest will swim 50's.  Our swimmers swim considerably more yardage then this even on their first day of practice with us.  So please do not worry about your swimmers being ready, they are.

NCISC Fall Sprint Meet & Dual Meet Vs. Concord

These are two excellent meets and that have been designed to compliment each other.  If it is at all possible please commit your swimmer to both meets.  There are 6 individual events for each age group available that cover all 4 strokes (25's or 50's depending on their age), 100 IM and the 50/100 freestyles .  Swimmers are allowed to swim 3 individual events each meet.  If they are able to legally complete the events they will be entered in all 6 over the the two meets.  This give a great starting benchmark to measure our improvements over the season.  It also can give us times to help select relays. If your schedule allows please commit to both meets.

CON Skypoint Transit Invitational November 8th-10th

This is an exclusive meet and our club was given preferential early entry status.  This morning you should have received an email alerting you the deadline for this meet is next Sunday the 29th. As of this morning we only have 8 swimmers signed up.  This is the first meet being held in the brand new Elkhart Aquatic Center and promises to offer some great competition.  The high school girl swimmers will be back with their high school teams but will not need a waiver to compete this weekend.  The high school boys will have not yet started officially with their high school teams so they will also not need a waiver.  Hopefully, you will be able to sign your swimmers up for this meet not only for the great competition but also to be a part of swimming history in our community.

Port - A - Pit

On Friday October 4th the Riley Swim Teams will be hosting the annual Port-A-Pit Chicken sale.  Tickets are available from any Riley swimmer or diver.  The cost is $7 for a half chicken.  You can also purchase the day of the event. We will be located in the O'brien Skate Park parking lot on the corner of Michigan and Walter Streets.  We plan to begin selling at 11:30.

Group 2

Group 2 swimmers will be allowed to attend the Group 3 morning workouts this fall.  If you have a swimmer that is interested in doing this send me an email to let me know.

Swimmer's T-shirts

Parents please go into your accounts and double check your swimmers shirt size.  We will be placing our order very soon and want to make sure everything is correct. 

Swim-A-Thon Saturday October 19th

The South Bend Swim Club was founded with the belief that being part of a USA Swimming Club should be affordable for every family in our community.  Because of this firmly held belief we have not raised our training fees, our primary source of revenue, even once!  Our training fees are exactly the same today as they were when we started back in 2006.  Every year, like with every organization, our costs rise.  Due to the great success of our previous Swim-A-Thons we have been able to keep your dues the same and still maintain our great coach to swimmer ratio.  

This year will be using the funds for our Swim-A-Thon to not only keep your costs low but to purchase some updated dry-land equipment, power racks for the pool deck, and continuing coach education.  We also are looking into hiring a full-time lifeguard and hope to use the funds raised for this as well.

Thank you for the families that have received contributions so far.  We are just a little over 10% of the way towards our goal.  In next week's email I will list the prizes that will be available for our swimmers if they reach certain levels of fundraising.

Parent Meetings

We are waiting to schedule our meeting at New Prairie until we are back in the water.  The parent meet for Riley is scheduled for this Tuesday September 24th, starting at 6:00.  It will be in the RHS cafeteria.  For our new families, the cafeteria is on the 2nd floor and a very short walk from the pool's seating gallery.  My plan is to keep the meeting under an hour, but I will stay and answer questions as long as needed.

Spirit Wear

One of the many benefits of being a swim coach/swimmer is the number of T-shirts one acquires over the years.  The downside to this is our parents sitting in the stands at meets also have multiple T-shirts to wear.  At any given meet, it's possible to see 10+ different SBSC shirts in the stands.  I genuinely appreciate parents who support our club by wearing our shirts but we would look more unified if we were all wearing, at minimum, the same colors. 

So, I am going out on a little bit of limb and trying to do something different this season and hopefully for future seasons.  This year the shirts for that you purchased for your swimmers when you registered will be just for swimmers and coaches.  Don't panic, I have a plan for our parents/grandparents/siblings and any other SBSC fans out there.  I have been in talks with a local apparel company, It's Tops,  and they are putting together a spirit wear package for our club.  The plan is to include a regular T-shirt, a long sleeve T-shirt, and hooded sweatshirt.  The colors of the T-shirt will be navy with white and yellow lettering, the long sleeve T white with navy and yellow letting,  and the sweatshirt will be athletic gray with navy/yellow/white lettering.  We are discussing two different options on the designs.  One is to have one traditional looking design and repeat it each season.  Or, to try to match the designs of the fall/winter shirt each season.  If you have any opinion on this please share.

We are also planning on offering towels, blankets, water bottles, string bags, and quarter zip jackets.  While the intention for the shirts/sweatshirts was to be for our fans in the stands they can of course be purchased for your swimmers as well.  I hope to have order forms available in the next week or two. 

New USA Swimming Guidelines-MAAPP

USA Swimming issued a directive with regards to electronic communication and social media contact between coaches and athletes.  Most of what is being implemented is common sense and falls in line with our club's policies.  One new requirement we will need to adhere to is how your minor child communicates with me.  For several years I have asked swimmers in Group 2 and Group 3 to text/email me if they would be missing practice.  Moving forward, swimmers will be instructed to include a parent on all communication with me.

If you are the parent of a Group 2 or Group 3 swimmer, and have never sent me a text before, please text me so I have your contact info in my phone.  This way if I need to contact your swimmer about missing practice I can be sure to include you.  My cell phone number is 574-276-6057.

I encourage all parents and swimmers to read the full policy.  We are required to keep this policy on our website, here is the link. 

 
Fall and Winter Meet Schedule/Dates of Meet/Location/Deadline to commit

Below is our fall/winter meet schedule. The first date listed is the day(s) of the meet and second date is the deadline to commit. Swimmers wanting to compete will need to commit to those meets.  The deadlines are based on deadlines that were set last year (or best guess for new meets). They may change once the meet hosts posts the meet information.  When committing to multiple day meets please if the option to select the days you want is not available, please leave a message in the available notes section of the specific days you would like to attend. Meets marked with an * are meets that require swimmers to meet certain time standards.  All pool locations can be found on our website under the "Pools" tab

Intra Squad Meet/October 1st/Riley High School/Monday September 30th

NCISC Fall Sprint Meet/October 5th/Riley High School/Monday September 30th

Dual Vs. CON/October 12th/Concord High School/October 8th

CON Great Lakes Meet/November 8th-10th/Elkhart Aquatic Center/next Sunday September 29th

ELK Invitational/November 23rd & 24th/Elkhart Aquatic Center/October 6th

Maple City Classic/December 7th and 8th/Laporte High School/November 3rd

DUNE Rumble in the Region/December 14th/Chesterton High School/November 10th

IA TW Invite/January 3rd-5th/Rolfs Aquatic Center, Notre Dame/November 10th

CON IMXtreme Challenge/January 24th-26th/Concord High School/December 8th

NCISC Winter Championships/February 15th/Riley High School/February 9th

CON Last Chance/February 28th-March 1st/Concord High School/January 26th

*IN Divisonals/March 6th-8th/Lake Central High School/February 16th

*IN Age Senior State/March 13th-15th/IUPUI/March 1st

*IN Age Group State.March 20th-22nd/IUPUI/March 1st

*Speedo Sectionals/March 26th-29th/Elkhart Aquatic Center/March 1st

As always, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

--
John VanDriessche
Head Coach
South Bend Swim Club
South Bend Riley High School
(574)276-6057
www.southbendswimclub.com