Weekly Announcements for Week of 11/1-11/7

Dear SBSC families, 
Practice Schedule Here is the practice schedule for this week. Riley HS Group 1 Wednesday and Thursday 6:00-7:15 Group 2 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 5:30-7:30 Group 3 Monday Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 4:30-6:00 New Prairie HS (only for NPUSC students) Group 1 Monday and Tuesday 6:30-7:30 CST Group 2 & 3 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 5:00-6:30 CST Practice Notes: RHS Group 1 practices will add and additional 15 minutes to practice for the month of November. Once the high school season starts the following week we will add the additional time to Group 1 at NP as well. No practice on Tuesday at Riley due to it being an election polling place. I am not sure exactly why we've been told we couldn't practice because we've practiced on election day (mornings and afternoons) every year I have been at Riley. As I mentioned last week, we are adding 30 minutes to the RHS Group 2 practices for dryland. We will be using the Train Heroic App. 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 November 7 & 8 Beacon Health and Fitness Center I have sent multiple emails to the Elkhart coaching staff and have not received a reply. My last communication with them was on the 24th and was told the deadline to commit to this meet would be tonight Sunday, November 1. At this point I am at a loss of what to tell you. There is not any information on the Indiana swimming website or their club website that I could find. I'd say we may be at less then a 50/50 chance the meet will not be conducted. If you have not committed to the meet but plan on swimming if the meet is conducted please commit your swimmer by this evening. If we are lucky enough to compete I will pass along any information as soon as I receive it. Plymouth Shark Fest If you received an email about this meet please disregard. The meet was marked as "admin only" on my website dashboard and I didn't realize it would send an email when in that mode. Unfortunately, this meet was canceled last week so we will be looking for a different opportunity to compete. Go Fund Me I forgot to mention in a previous email about our expenses for our fundraiser for September. Through the Go Fund Me page we raised $2465. After the fees back to Go Fund Me our payout was $2386.90. Our payment to Arlington Pool was $1269.76 and we bought 4 solar covers for the pool for $377.61 for a total of $1647.37. That left us with a balance of $739.53. 100% of the remaining money will be used on swimmer incentives including the team backpack being offered for the drawing this month. Spirit Wear Order Form The order form Page 1 is attached here and Page 2 here. Page 2 is the form you will need to return to the club. The due date listed is incorrect. All orders need to be returned to me no later then Tuesday November 24. If you are a NP family please return to one of the coaches and they will get it to me. RHS families, there is a manila envelope taped to the front of my desk and athletes can drop off the forms as they arrive to practice. For our new families this is different then the T-shirt your swimmer will receive. That price was included in the spirit wear you paid for when registering. We are getting closer to the design but it is taking some time. Practice Incentives I believe we have accomplished our goal of looking more like a team at practice by wearing only club caps. I also believe being part of team means having a little fun and allowing athletes a chance to express themselves. So moving forward practices on Friday will be considered "Fun Cap Friday". Athletes will be able to wear any cap they'd like to practice on those days. I plan to start having a competition for this as well through one of our social media sites. We'll take pics of all the fun caps worn on Friday and post a poll. The winner will get some club gear or other swimming related prize. We will also be starting a monthly drawing to win club gear. When an athlete arrives to practice they will be allowed to fill out a small ticket to place in tumbler to be drawn at the end of the month. There will be one drawing but it will include both practice sites. The first prize up for grabs will be a new TYR team backpack. It will be embroidered with the club logo and the athletes name. Changes Coming to New Prairie Practices Because of our limitations of space and numbers allowed we are unable to offer the dryland as a group at NPHS. But, the workouts are designed to be done with little or no equipment and can be done by athletes at home at anytime. Also because of the limits on the number of swimmers allowed in the pool at NPHS the boys and girls high school teams will need to have split practices. This unfortunately means our club practices will be pushed later into the evening. So our window of practices will be from 7:00-8:30 each evening there is not a high school meet. I realize there may be some families who feel finishing practice at 8:30 will be too late for their swimmers. We do have space at Riley for additional swimmers. But unlike previous seasons parents would need to contact me to confirm there is space on any particular day. Lifeguarding For November The lifeguard sign-up for November is now available. Please remember all Group 3 athletes are required to volunteer 4 hours of their time during each season they are members of the club. If they are lifeguards they will be expected to guard practices. If they are not they will be expected to help assist coaches during Group 1 or Group 2 practices. This requirement is to be completed by the end of the winter season in March. If they received their lifeguarding certificate from the club they have an additional 10 hours of lifeguarding to complete by the end of the summer season of 2021. As of this morning we have 5 spots still available for November. For those few families who have gone over their required volunteer time the credit will be applied to your account by the end of this month. 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

Weekly Announcements for Week of 10/25-10/31

Dear SBSC families, 
Practice Schedule Here is the practice schedule for this week. Riley HS Group 1 Tuesday and Thursday 6:00-7:00 Group 2 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 5:30-7:30 Group 3 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 4:30-6:00 New Prairie HS (only for NPUSC students) Group 1 Tuesday and Thursday 6:30-7:30 CST Group 2 & 3 Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday 5:00-6:30 CST Practice Notes: We are adding 30 minutes to the RHS Group 2 practices for dryland. We will be using the Train Heroic App. 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. No practice at NP on Wednesday due to a winter sports meeting for NPHS. Swimmers attending New Prairie practices will 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 Due to limits imposed by NPUSC for safety reasons no more then 24 swimmers will be allowed in the pool at any one time. This means we have to put limits on our roster groups. Group 1 is at capacity and all spots are filled, 1 more spot is available in Group 2, and all the spots in Group 3 are taken. If you would like to be added to the waiting list please send an email to me and Coach Ashley. Spirit Wear Order Form True to our recent history we have hit some road bumps with a vendor. We went with a different company this year due to the struggles with the vendor from last season. But, somethings never change. The process started in early September and has required multiple emails from me just to keep the ball rolling. I've been promised better service moving forward so we shall see. Page 1 is attached here and Page 2 here. Page 2 is the form you will need to return to the club. The due date listed is incorrect. All orders need to be returned to me no later then Tuesday November 24 For our new families this is different then the T-shirt your swimmer will receive. That price was included in the spirit wear you paid for when registering. Typically these shirts would have been distributed a couple of weeks ago, but like I said we've hit some road bumps. I hope to get these out to everyone very soon Practice Incentives I believe we have accomplished our goal of looking more like a team at practice by wearing only club caps. I also believe being part of team means having a little fun and allowing athletes a chance to express themselves. So moving forward practices on Friday will be considered "Fun Cap Friday". Athletes will be able to wear any cap they'd like to practice on those days. We will also be starting a monthly drawing to win club gear. When an athlete arrives to practice they will be allowed to fill out a small ticket to place in tumbler to be drawn at the end of the month. There will be one drawing but it will include both practice sites. The first prize up for grabs will be a new TYR team backpack. It will be embroidered with the club logo and the athletes name. Changes Coming to New Prairie Practices As you noticed we are adding time to the RHS Group 2 practices. Because of our limitations of space and numbers allowed we are unable to offer the dryland as a group at the school. But, the workouts are designed to be done with little or no equipment and can be done by athletes at home at anytime. Also because of the limits on the number of swimmers allowed in the pool at NPHS the boys and girls high school teams will need to have split practices. This unfortunately means our club practices will be pushed later into the evening. So our window of practices will be from 7:00-8:30 each evening there is not a high school meet. We are currently trying to figure out the staffing but we are searching for a solution. I realize there may be some families who feel finishing practice at 8:30 will be too late for their swimmers. We do have space at Riley for additional swimmers. But unlike previous seasons parents would need to contact me to confirm there is space on any particular day. Elkhart Invite November 7 & 8 Beacon Health and Fitness Center Hopefully everyone received information about our next meet, the Elkhart Invite hosted by Elkhart United. The deadline to commit to this meet is next Sunday, November 1. All high school swimmers are eligible to compete in this meet without obtaining a waiver. Once a meet letter is available I will post it to our website. The information I do have is the morning sessions will be for the 13 & over and the 8 & under swimmers. The afternoon sessions will be for swimmers ages 9-12. Until the entry file is received from Elkhart United you will be unable to select specific days/sessions for your swimmer. You will be able to commit with a "yes" response. If you do commit your swimmer please leave a note for the day or days you'd like your swimmer in the meet. If you know you will not be attending please decline committing to the meet. Lifeguarding For November The lifeguard sign-up for November is now available. Please remember all Group 3 athletes are required to volunteer 4 hours of their time during each season they are members of the club. If they are lifeguards they will be expected to guard practices. If they are not they will be expected to help assist coaches during Group 1 or Group 2 practices. This requirement is to be completed by the end of the winter season in March. If they received their lifeguarding certificate from the club they have an additional 10 hours of lifeguarding to complete by the end of the summer season of 2021. If your athlete has completed their volunteer hours please wait until October 31st to sign up for any additional hours. If your athlete has finished more then 4 hours your credit will be added to your account prior to November 1. 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

Weekly Announcements for Week of 10/18-10/24

Dear SBSC families, 
Practice Schedule Here is the practice schedule for this week. Riley HS Group 1 Monday and Wednesday 6:00-7:00 Group 2 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 6:00-7:30 Group 3 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 4:30-6:00 New Prairie HS (only for NPUSC students) Group 1 Tuesday and Thursday 6:00-7:00 CST Group 2 Monday 4:30-6:00 CST, Tuesday 6:00-7:30 CST, Wednesday 4:30-6:00 CST, and Thursday 6:00-7:30 CST Group 3 Monday and Wednesday 4:30-6:00 CST Practice Notes: Group 1 practices at New Prairie, as in years past, will vary each week due to coach availability. But the schedule will follow similar format. Swimmers attending New Prairie practices will 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 Due to limits imposed by NPUSC for safety reasons no more then 24 swimmers will be allowed in the pool at any one time. This means we have to put limits on our roster groups. Group 1 is at capacity and all spots are filled, 1 more spot is available in Group 2, and all the spots in Group 3 are taken. If you would like to be added to the waiting list please send an email to me and Coach Ashley. CON Dual Meet First, a big thank you to Coach Tom Johnson and the Concord Swim Club. It was a great first meet for our club yesterday. This was the first racing some of our swimmers have done since before the shutdown and at most only the second time. We had several best times and several best un-rested times. In those best times were two new team records set by Addy Szakaly in the 100 IM and 50 back. Very proud of all of our kids for their ability to adjust to our current circumstances. This was a unique situation being spread out from their teammates, having no fans/parents in the stands, and the very fast tempo of the meet. Our kids were all smiles yesterday and everyone was having a good time. Regardless of what the rest of the world feels like our kids got to be kids yesterday and do what they love. Thanks for allowing them to compete. Here are our results, our results with improvements, our updated all-time top ten, and our team records page. Future Meets I am in the process of gathering information from other clubs about their upcoming meets. My plan is to find 3 more opportunities to race before Christmas break. I will update you as I learn more. Lifeguard Volunteering at Riley Group 3 swimmers who need their volunteer hours are able to sign-up for some remaining spots in October. 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

Weekly Announcements for Week of 10/11-10/17

Dear SBSC families, 
Practice Schedule Here is the practice schedule for this week. Riley HS Group 1 Monday and Wednesday 6:00-7:00 Group 2 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 6:00-7:30 Group 3 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 4:30-6:00 New Prairie HS (only for NPUSC students) Group 1 Monday and Tuesday 6:00-7:00 CST Group 2 Monday 4:30-6:00 CST, Tuesday 6:00-7:15 CST, Wednesday 4:30-6:00 CST, and Thursday 6:00-7:15 CST Group 3 Monday and Wednesday 4:30-6:00 CST Practice Notes: Group 1 at Riley will be on Monday and Wednesday for the next 2 weeks. We will have limited space in the diving well due to the Adams HS divers practicing the same time we normally would. Once high school season starts on the 26th they will have different practice times. There may be an issue for NP practice on Thursday. Coach Ashley was told there was a possibility we may not have access to the locker rooms. NPHS is hosting volleyball sectionals and they may need the pool locker room space for some of the teams. As soon as we know for sure we will pass that information along. Group 1 practices at New Prairie, as in years past, will vary each week due to coach availability. But the schedule will follow similar format. Swimmers attending New Prairie practices will 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 Due to limits imposed by NPUSC for safety reasons no more then 24 swimmers will be allowed in the pool at any one time. This means we have to put limits on our roster groups. Group 1 is at capacity and all spots are filled, 1 more spot is available in Group 2, and all the spots in Group 3 are taken. If you would like to be added to the waiting list please send an email to me and Coach Ashley. Covid Precautions I was informed Friday evening one of our Group 3 athletes, who practices at Riley, was instructed to quarantine by their school. This athlete has not tested positive but was within 6 feet and longer than 15 minutes of someone who did test positive on October 6th. Our athlete did attend practice Monday-Thursday last week. Due to our social distancing practices and a previous conversation with Dr. Fox I believe our athletes are safe. I felt it was necessary to inform our members so you can make the best choice for your family about sending your athletes back to practice. Team Caps All athletes, if they have not already, will receive their new caps for this season at practice this week. They will be required to wear them at the meet this Saturday. If they are lost or damaged they will be given another and your accounts will be charged $5. CON Dual Meet Saturday 10-17 The safety protocols for the meet can be found by clicking here. Parents please go over the protocols with your swimmers. The deadline to commit to this meet is this Wednesday, October 14. If you know you won't be attending please decline the attendance on the website or by using your OnDeck app. I will be sending email invites on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to those who have yet to commit or decline. The cost of the meet will be $7 and athletes could swim up to 3 individual events and 2 relays. Here are the pertinent times for this Saturday's meet 13 and over Arrive at Concord in swimsuits by 8:45 Enter the building 8:50 Warm-ups 9:00-9:40 Meet Starts 9:50 Conclusion of session 11:00 12 and under Arrive at Concord in swimsuits no earlier then 11:00 Enter the building 11:10--if all 13 and over athletes have left the pool deck Warm-ups 11:15-12:00 Meet Starts 12:10 Conclusion of session 1:30 I will have the entries completed no later the Thursday afternoon. I will also be the coach on deck the entire meet so if you are running late on Saturday or will be unable to make it please text me as soon as you can. Remember there is no use of the locker rooms but restrooms will be available. As of now 1 parent per swimmer will be allowed to attend the meet. Lifeguard Volunteering at Riley Group 3 swimmers who need their volunteer hours are able to sign-up for some remaining spots in October. 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

Weekly Announcements for Week of 9/27-10/3

Dear SBSC families, 
Practice Schedule Here is the practice schedule for this week. Arlington *Group 1 No practice until we return indoors *Group 2 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 6:00-7:15 *Group 3 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 4:30-6:00 New Prairie (only for NPUSC students) Group 1 Tuesday and Thursday 6:00-7:00 CST Group 2 Monday 4:30-6:00 CST, Tuesday 6:00-7:15 CST, Wednesday 4:30-6:00 CST, and Thursday 6:00-7:15 CST Group 3 Monday and Wednesday 4:30-6:00 CST Practice Notes: The anticipated cold weather this week may force us to cancel practices. If we are not able to maintain water temperatures where we feel the water is safe we won't have much choice. Hopefully we will return to Riley soon. See below for explanation Click here to see the list of Group 3 swimmers allowed to attend Arlington practices each day. If you know your swimmer will not be there on any given day please alert me as soon as you can. The earlier you let me know the sooner I can contact other swimmers who wanted to attend those practices. Group 1 practices at New Prairie, as in years past, will vary each week due to coach availability. But the schedule will follow similar format. Swimmers attending New Prairie practices will enter the building through door N17. Everyone entering the building will be required to wear a mask. Parents will not be allowed on deck. but will. 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 Due to limits imposed by NPUSC for safety reasons no more then 24 swimmers will be allowed in the pool at any one time. This means we have to put limits on our roster groups. Group 1 is at capacity and all spots are filled, 3 more spots are available in Group 2, and 1 more spot in Group 3. This will be on a first come first serve basis. *Practice Returning To Riley We may be returning as early as the 29th. I emailed the district athletic director, Mr. Edwards, last Tuesday pleading our case to be allowed back into Riley. I didn't receive a response by Thursday so I asked the Riley athletic director, Mr. Gavin to follow up for us. He received a text response that essentially stated the board vote on Monday (assuming the vote on returning to school) would determine our access to Riley. If any of you are so inclined to contact the school board to encourage a positive vote here is their contact information. John Anella, President, janella@sb.school Rudy Monterrosa, Secretary, rmonterrosa@sb.school Dr. Ruth Warren, District 1, rwarren@sb.school Oletha Jones, District 2, ojonves@sb.school Leslie Wesley, District 3, lweslye@sb.school Stephanie Ball, District 4, sball@sb.school Dr. Stuart Greene, District 5, sgreene@sb.school If we do get the o.k. to return we will go back to Riley immediately. Things could happen rapidly so be prepared for schedule changes and following whatever protocols SBSCS will require. If we are not cleared to return to Riley soon we may have to suspend club activities in South Bend. Any decisions to not practice in South Bend will not, at least initially, have an impact on our club operations at New Prairie. As a reminder our arrangement with NPUSC is only those swimmers attending NPUSC may attend practices held at NPHS. Potential Meets We have scheduled our dual meet with Concord for Saturday October 17. The NCISC meet, the one we would normally host, will possibly be hosted by Plymouth Aquatic Club on Saturday October 31. Once we have a better understanding of where our club will be over the next week I will post this information to our website. Lifeguard Class Congratulations to all of our newly certified lifeguards. The fees charged by the American Red Cross, instructor and lifeguard wages, the overall cost to club was about $750. We will be requiring 10 hours of volunteer lifeguarding for each of our new guards to be completed before 9-1-21. If individuals are unable to complete those hours in the time frame or discontinue their membership with the club before that date the families account will be charged the full amount for a lifeguard class. We also hope to be able to host this class once a year if there is enough interest from our members. 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. This will include when we are outside and certainly continue when we return to the buildings. 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. We will have an area to sign-up for lifeguarding on the website and it will be active sometime later today. 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

Weekly Announcements For Week of 9/20-9/26

Dear SBSC families, 
Practice Schedule Here is the practice schedule for this week. Arlington Group 1 No practice until we return indoors Group 2 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 6:00-7:15 Group 3 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 4:30-6:00 New Prairie (only for NPUSC students) Group 1 Monday and Tuesday 6:00-7:00 CST Group 2 Monday 4:30-6:00 CST, Tuesday 6:00-7:15 CST, Wednesday 4:30-6:00 CST, and Thursday 6:00-7:15 CST Group 3 Monday and Wednesday 4:30-6:00 CST Practice Notes: Our outdoor practice schedule is being adjusted due to the earlier sunset. Click here to see the list of Group 3 swimmers allowed to attend Arlington practices each day. If you know your swimmer will not be there on any given day please alert me as soon as you can. The earlier you let me know the sooner I can contact other swimmers who wanted to attend those practices. Group 1 practices at New Prairie, as in years past, will vary each week due to coach availability. But the schedule will follow similar format. Swimmers attending New Prairie practices will enter the building through door N17. Everyone entering the building will be required to wear a mask. Parents will not be allowed on deck but will be allowed to walk our Group 1 swimmers to the pool. 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 Due to limits imposed by NPUSC for safety reasons no more then 24 swimmers will be allowed in the pool at any one time. This means we have to put limits on our roster groups. Each NP group will be limited to 12 swimmers. This will only allow for 3 more in Group 1, 6 more in Group 2 and 3 more in Group 3. This will be on a first come first serve basis. Practice Returning To Riley We will not be returning this week. At the meeting I attended I was told no club sports would be allowed back into the SBCSC buildings at this time. High School winter sports athletes (swimming, wrestling and basketball) will have very limited access. Per a new IHSAA regulation these athletes will only be allowed 2-two hour practices each week. I will be emailing the new Director of Athletics and again asking for permission to be allowed to return. We have proven we can practice safely and I would hope the administration can appreciate all we do to keep our athletes safe and consider allowing us to return sooner rather then later. 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. This will include when we are outside and certainly continue when we return to the buildings. 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. We will have an area to sign-up for lifeguarding on the website and it will be active sometime later today. 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

Weekly Announcements for Week of 9/13-9/19

Dear SBSC families, 
Practice Schedule These practices are being held at Arlington Pool. Group 1 Tuesday and Thursday 6:45-7:30 PM Group 2 Monday, Wednesday and Friday 6:15-7:30 PM & Tuesday and Thursday 5:45-6:45 PM Group 3 AM Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 6:30-8:00 AM Group 3 PM Monday, Wednesday and Friday 4:30-6:15 PM & Tuesday and Thursday 4:30-5:45 PM **Practices at NP will begin on Monday 9-21** Practice Notes: There will not be practice on Monday morning and we may be possibly be cancelling all morning workouts due to the lower than expected temperatures. We took a pool temp check yesterday and the water is below a point where we feel it would be safe on Monday morning. We will be installing solar covers later today and we hope with the sunshine predicted for today and tomorrow it could raise the temperature back to a level comfortable for our swimmers. We will be making decisions day by day. Please check your email, text messages, our website news page, and our Facebook and Twitter pages before leaving for practice each day to check for any cancellations. The practice assignments for Group 3 can be found by clicking here. It it possible there are mistakes, so just let me know and I can correct on my end. Practice Returning To Riley The last communication I received was winter sports (swimming) will be allowed back into SBCSC buildings ahead of the possible return date for students on October 5th. When the exact day for us is still unknown. The Riley pool has been empty since March. Back in November it was decided at the conclusion of our winter season the pool would be shut down and most of the 20 year old mechanical systems in the pump room basement would be replaced. When the initial call to quarantine was made everything was still on schedule with the hope of having the pool up and running we returned to school after spring break. As you know we never returned and most of the custodial staff was sent home for the remainder of the school year. It was also determined for safety reasons no outside contractors were allowed in buildings until after June 30th. Once July arrived arrived the cleaning and the other basic maintenance of the pool resumed. Once that was completed the mechanical system was all set to be installed. Then the elevator to the basement pump room was not operating. So for the last several weeks we have been waiting for replacement parts for the elevator. But, thank you to the persistence of the Riley head engineer Mr. Pezan and the Riley AD Mr. Gavin they will be attempting to carry the equipment down the stairs to basement. Installation is planned to start on Monday and the pool will be filled as soon as the installation is completed. So, this long story is that our hope is we could be back at Riley on the 21st. I have been promised updates as they happen. Once we are given our date of return I will pass that along. If we are able to return to Riley earlier then anticipated, and we did not use all the fundraising money, those funds will be spent directly on our swimmers. I will be sure to communicate all the expenses to you in a future email. Billing All families who have returned to practice will be billed the training fees on the 15th. This will be either the monthly ($25, $35, or $50), the seasonal ($166.25, $232.50 or $142.50) or the annual ($247.50, $346.50, or $315). New families joining this summer who were not required to re-register will also see the spirit wear ($17) and the meet surcharge ($15) on their accounts on the 15th. 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. This will include when we are outside and certainly continue when we return to the buildings. 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 15-20 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. We will have an area to sign-up for lifeguarding on the website and it will be active sometime later today. 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