Dear SBSC families,
Practice Schedule
Riley High School
Group 1 Monday 6:00-7:00 and Wednesday 6:00-7:15
Group 2 Monday, Tuesday, 5:30-7:00 Wednesday, Thursday 5:30-7:15, and Friday 5:00-6:30
Group 3 PM Monday 3:45-6:00, Tuesday 3:45-5:45, Wednesday 3:45-6:00, Thursday 3:45-5:45, and Friday 3:45-5:15
Group 3 AM Friday 5:30-7:15
New Prairie High School
Group 1 Monday 5:00-6:00 and Wednesday 5:00-6:15
Group 2 Monday, Tuesday 5:00-6:30, Wednesday, and Thursday 5:00-6:45
Group 3 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 5:00-7:00
Practice Notes:
Here is the link for practices for Group 2 and Group 3. Please share this with your athletes.
Riley families please use door #22. This is the door on the northwest corner of the building and faces Fellows Street. If you are planning to stay to watch practice there is a stairwell that is adjacent to this door, and this will lead you to the seating area.
New Prairie families continue to use door N18. New Prairie swimmers are always welcome to attend their corresponding group's practice at Riley.
Group 1’s practices will last 1 hour and 15 minutes for the month of May. Group 2’s practice will now last 1 hour and 45 minutes for May. Group 3 practices at Riley will have different ending times on different days.
The tentative schedule for NP through April is on the website. The tentative schedule for Riley for the remainder of the season can also be found on the website.
NASA Off The Blocks Invite
We have not yet heard of the official timelines for next weekend’s meet. As soon I am sent the information I will forward it on to the families attending the meet.
CON BW3 Invite/Merrifield Pool/May 24-26
The deadline for committing to this meet is tonight, Sunday April 28.
Picking Up Swimmers
All swimmers should enter and exit Riley high school through door 22. We do this for several reasons, the most important is we can keep track of our swimmers. If athletes leave through another door we may not know they are still in the building when the last coach leaves. Let this also serve as a reminder parents need to be at the school no later than 15 minutes from the posted ending time of practice to pick up their athletes.
Another issue we have at Riley during the spring and summer months is vandalism in the building (trash cans knocked over, graffiti on the walls, displays disturbed). By only using door 22 and the adjacent hallway and stairs we limit any accusations against our club. Regardless of my affiliations with the school SBSC is a guest and we should always do our best to remember that.
Group 2 at Riley
I have set several goals for this group this season. The primary one we are addressing now is the swimmers in this group will take ownership and responsibility for their swimming. I am asking for the parents' help in facilitating this. Every time your athlete will miss a practice please require them to text or email me they will not be attending. Even if they will always miss on a specific day due to another activity. It can be as simple as “Coach, just a reminder I will not be at practice today because of tutoring.” It will take less than 30 seconds and will keep them connected. I am also aware this is a very easy thing for you to handle for them since as parents we essentially operate as our children's traveling secretaries and manage their schedules. If we want them to grow as athletes this is something they must learn to handle on their own. As with all electronic communication between coaches and athletes please have them include you on the text chain or cc you in the email.
The second part I see for them becoming more responsible with their swimming is to have them come prepared to practice. Athletes should arrive at every practice with a water bottle and appropriate dryland clothes. Athletes need to be wearing T-shirts, shorts, and gym shoes. Crocs and flip flops are not appropriate or safe. I will also be including a link to the daily workout so they can prepare properly and have clarifications questions ready. Please share this link with your children. If your swimmer has an email address you can add and verify them from your account page and they will receive the weekly emails. I can add their address but they won’t receive them until you initiate the verification process.
Finally, as with our Group 3 swimmers, Group 2 swimmers will only be allowed to wear SBSC caps at practice Monday - Thursday. I believe looking like a team is the first step into becoming a team. We do have Fun-Cap Friday and swimmers can wear any cap of their choosing. If your athlete has not received their cap included with the spirit wear fee for this season they will this week.
Goggles
Over the last few seasons there has been an epidemic of our younger swimmers needing to borrow goggles. After a suit a pair of goggles is the most important and individualized piece of equipment a swimmer can own. Not to be overly hyperbolic, but goggles should be just as important and specific to the individual as a baseball or softball player’s bat and glove are to them.
The club purchased around 20 pairs a couple years ago and we have none of those left. Starting on Monday, every time a swimmer needs to borrow a pair of our goggles your account will be charged $1, if they fail to return the goggles you will be billed an additional $9. This is not meant to be punitive. It is meant to show how important a swimmer’s goggles need to be.
There are multiple places where goggles can be purchased. I recommend Swimoutlet or A3 Performance Store for online purchases. If you want to buy local Milinkos Scuba and Swim Shop. All swimmers should have two pairs of goggles. One for daily use and one kept in their swim bag as a backup.
Group 1 Spring and Summer Practices at Riley
During April and May Group 1 at Riley will continue to practice on Monday and Wednesday. During the summer months Wednesday evening has been an off day for our club. We will continue with that this summer. Tentatively, we are going to schedule our Group 1 on Monday and Thursday.
Group 2 and 3 Summer Practices at Riley
As most of you know I am the primary coach for Group 2 and Group 3 this season. Since SBCSC has mandated we keep the doors locked it has become a logistical problem running back and forth from the pool deck to door #22. To help alleviate this Group 2 and Group 3 practices will both start at 5:30 PM beginning June 3. Practices for Group 3 will all be 1.5 hours in length ending at 7:00. Practices for Group 2 will be 2 hours long on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday ending at 7:30. Friday’s are the exception. Practice for both groups on Friday will start at 5:00 and will be 1.5 hours long ending at 6:30.
NP Schedule Adjustments May 6- May 16
Due to the requirement of Coach Ashley to provide swim lessons and with the NP pool being down during the summer months we need to make some adjustments to our schedule. During the two weeks mentioned above NP Group 1 will practice Monday and Wednesday 6:15-7:30 CST. Group 2 and Group 3* will be Monday-Thursday 6:15-8:00 CST. (Group 3 is now going to be the same time as Group 2. This is different than we had originally planned.) If those times are inconvenient NP athletes are always welcome to attend their corresponding groups practice at Riley.
USA Swimming Membership
As we are entering into week 4 all of our new athletes are now required to have this completed. If you have any trouble please let me know.
Here is a link to the document with instructions on how to register with USA-S. A few of our members have had trouble adding their swimmers once they created their own account. If you have trouble after creating a parent account, try using this link. If your swimmer qualifies for the Outreach Membership (free/reduced lunch at their school) click on this link. Remember, if you use this link you will need to provide documentation to me that your athlete qualifies.
To be eligible to practice/compete with the club once they turn 18 swimmers need to complete the USA Swimming Athlete Protection Training.
Birth Certificates
If your athlete has never competed in a meet for SBSC (or another USA Swimming club) you will need to send me a copy of their birth certificate. The preferred way is to electronically send a pdf. If that is not possible, please email a pic.
Team Apparel
The local swim shop in town is Milinko’s Scuba & Swim. This is a great place to find a good practice suit or pick up a spare pair of goggles.
We are also partnered with A3 Performance. You can purchase a logoed team suit directly from this site. Here is the link to the A3 Team Store. When your swimmer is old enough to purchase a tech suit (13 and over) this company is who I recommend purchasing from.
USA Swimming Guidelines - MAAPP/Safe Sport
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. A requirement we will need to adhere to is how your minor child communicates with all coaches. For several years we have asked swimmers in Group 2 and Group 3 to text/email their coach if they would be missing practice. Moving forward, swimmers will be instructed to include a parent on all communication with me or any of our coaches.
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.
Spring and Summer Meet Schedule/Dates of Meet/Location/Deadline to commit
This is our tentative meet schedule for the spring and summer. We may add meets if we find ones that fit our club’s needs There will be two different dates listed with each meet The first date listed is the day(s) of the meet and the second date is the deadline to commit.
Swimmers wanting to compete will need to commit to those meets. The deadlines will be based on deadlines that were set in previous years. They may change once the meet hosts posts the meet information. When committing to multiple day meets, if the option to select the days you want is not available, leave a message in the notes section stating the specific days you would like to attend.
Some meets will be marked with an * and those will require swimmers to meet minimum time standards. All pool locations can be found on our website under the "Pools" tab.
NASA Off The Blocks Invitational/Northridge HS/May 4/Entry Sent
CON BW3 Blazin Invite/Merrifield Pool/May 24-26/Tonight Sunday April 28
GSI Summer Splash/Goshen Aquatic Center/June 1/ May 5-Group 1 or new swimmers only
MSC Summer Splash/Munster HS/June 21-23/May 12
IA Summer Spectacular/Elkhart Aquatic Center/June 28-30/May 19
*IN Swimming SwimFest/IUPUI & Center Grove HS/July 11-14/June 16
SwimFest is now combined Age Group State and Senior State
*USA-S Futures Championships/University of Minnesota/July 24-27/July 7
*IN Swimming Summer Divisionals/Concord HS/Aug. 2-4/July 7
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
#SBSCForLife
