Weekly Announcements for Week of 11/29-12/5

Dear SBSC families, 
Practice Schedule Here is the practice schedule for this week. Riley HS Group 1 Monday and Wednesday 6:00-7:15 G1 Elite-no additional practice this week Group 2 Monday and Wednesday 5:30-7:30 New Prairie HS (only for NPUSC students) Group 1 Monday and Wednesday 7:00-8:15 CST Group 2 Monday and Wednesday 7:00-8:30 CST Practice Notes: No practice on Tuesday or Thursday at either site due to a high school meets. No practice on Friday due to the Elkhart Invite. We are using the Train Heroic App during the RHS Group 2 and the G1 Elite practices. If your swimmer has a smart phone we would like them to bring it to practice. If they do, please have them download the app and create an account. The access code for our Group 2 swimmers is G22020. Swimmers should come to practice in dryland clothes over their suits. They should also be wearing quality workout shoes as well. Flip flops or Crocs are not acceptable options. Swimmers are encouraged to bring a yoga mat if they have one. Swimmers attending New Prairie practices will continue to enter the building through door N17. Everyone entering the building will be required to wear a mask. Parents will not be allowed on deck. Each athlete will need to fill out the attached form and hand deliver to the coach when entering the high school. All swimmers should come dressed ready to practice. There may be limited use of the locker rooms after practice. If you have any questions regarding procedures for NPHS practices please email Coach Ashley at awojtysiak@npusc.k12.in.us Elkhart Invite December 4-6 Elkhart Aquatic Center The last chance to commit to this meet is today Sunday 11-29. If you would like to see your swimmer's event list you can log into your account (on our website or using the OnDeck app) and go to the same spot you'd normally commit to the meet. Here are the pertinent times for this weekends meet. Friday Session 1: distance events Doors open at 3:45-our athletes should be at the facility when doors open Warm-ups 4:00-5:00 Meet starts 5:05 Saturday and Sunday Sessions for 11-12 year olds Doors open at 7:45-our athletes should be at the facility when doors open Warm-ups 8:00-9:00 Meet starts 9:05 <i>Saturday and Sunday Sessions for 13 & over + 8 & under Doors open 11:30-our athletes should be at the facility when doors open Warm-ups 11:45-12:45 Meet starts 12:50 Saturday and Sunday Sessions for 9-10 year olds Doors open at 3:00-our athletes should be at the facility when doors open Warm-up 3:15-3:45 Meet starts 3:50 I will be on deck for the majority of the sessions. If you are running late or will be unable to make it to the meet please text me as soon as you can, 574-276-6057. STAR's Powerup Invitational Here are our results from the Power Up Invite. Here is a link to our new all time top-10. This link is a tentative draft of our Divisional/State qualifiers, please check for accuracy. Daily Self Checks Thank you to all of the athletes and parents who have using the on-line Google form. If it is at all possible please fill out the form as opposed to bringing in a printed copy or having your swimmers fill one out when they arrive. If you do fill out the Google form for your athlete please inform them you did. Wifi is at best very weak and mostly non-existent by the door so it is difficult for us to check on-line if the form has been completed. But the use of the Google form allows us to quickly get the swimmers inside without too much congestion by the doors. So, if you have the ability to fill out the Google form please do so and inform your swimmer it is completed. Lifeguarding We are still in need for a guard for tomorrow's practice, Monday November 30. We also have 9 spots still available in December. We only have a handful of athletes that have met their minimum requirement. If need be, athletes will be assigned to guard practices. Since we are not required to have lifeguards at NP Group 3 athletes may volunteer to help as assistants during the Group 2 or Group 1 practices. Please talk to Coach Ashley about times since the number of athletes in the pool/on the deck will be limited. If a NP athlete took our lifeguarding course they will need to volunteer time as a lifeguard at Riley. Changes For This Season These will be some changes will be implementing for the upcoming season. Masks: All swimmers, coaches, and lifeguards will be required to wear a mask when not in the water. Family Technology Fee: This fee was originally used to eliminate the need for credit card financing charges. Over time this has cost club a considerable amount of money. If you would like to avoid those finance charges you can always prepay with cash or check. Lifeguarding: We will be using a system we used a few years ago with the Riley High School team. Group 3 practices will be using our swimmers to guard practice. Each certified athlete will take a 20-25 minute turn in the chair and hopefully only once or twice a week. Volunteering Requirements: Each of our Group 3 athletes will be required to volunteer 4 hours each season. This is included in the Terms and Conditions document you digitally sign during registration. Those with lifeguarding will be expected to lifeguard. Those without will be expected to help the coaches during practice. Once a swimmer has fulfilled their volunteer requirement they can earn credit to the families swim club account to help pay for training and/or meet entry fees. Team Caps: At any given practice this summer we only had a few of our swimmers wearing any of our club gear. This includes caps, T-shirts, and backpacks. If we had a visitor come to practice there would have been zero chance of the visitor identifying our team correctly. We saw gear from multiple high school teams, college teams, and former club teams. I feel for us to become more of a team we need to look more like a team. Staring this fall the only caps that will be allowed during our practices will be SBSC caps. These can be our regular meet caps, Divisional caps or State Team caps. We will be getting some silicone caps for those who prefer that type. We do have some silicone caps with our old logo but a very limited supply. USA Swimming Guidelines-MAAPPUSA 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. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. -- John VanDriessche Head Coach South Bend Swim Club South Bend Riley High School (574)276-6057 www.southbendswimclub.com #SBSCForLife