MHS Swim Team Newsletter
July 21, 2012
Hello All!
I hope you are having a wonderful summer and have all been enjoying your year-round teams. The start of school (and swim season) is fast approaching and I wanted to send out our first newsletter of the 2012 season. A current copy of our newsletter along with additional information can always be found on our website at www.mhspanthers.com; follow “Panther Sports” to “Swim Team”.
As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns at (251) 490-6407.
I am looking forward to a great season and I can’t wait to see all of you soon!
Go Panthers!
Coach Amy Davis
Practice Times:
With the school year start date being pushed back, it also pushed back our practice times during the summer. We are going to start practices on Monday, August 13 to Friday, August 17 from 7:00AM to 8:30AM. These practices are MANDATORY so please start planning now. You will be receiving important information during these practices as well as beginning to work together as a team. We will be spending some of this time planning our season and practice schedules. After the first initial 5 practices we will be holding practice during 5th block every day.
We will also be using the first 5 practices to choose our captains for this year’s team. We will have one boy captain and one girl captain and it does not matter their age. The captains will be required to be the last ones out of every practice, help organize swimmers at meets, etc. If you are interested in captain, please notify me on Monday, August 13, the first day of practice. I will make the announcement that Friday.
Sponsorship and Fee $$:
Your team fee was raised to $150 this year and we are still requiring a $50 sponsorship participation. The higher fee will include swimwear, caps, full warm-up suits, and 2 t-shirts. The sponsorships can be sold in $25 increments and you can tell each vendor that they their money will buy a spot on our team sponsorship t-shirt. If you can get more sponsors than 2 you can use that money to cover your team fee. In other words, if you sold 8 sponsorships you would not have to pay anything for your fees! The entire $200 is due at the end of the first week of practices: Friday, August 17. I will begin ordering our team supplies the following week. We DO NOT have the money to order our supplies without your fees so they MUST be paid by this time.
Parental Involvement:
Last year our parents were phenomenal in their participation in our program. I am hoping for more of the same this year and enjoyed working with our parents so much last year. There are several ways you can help: provide snacks or drinks at meets, help host pre-meet dinners, help time at meets (we will always have to provide 2), and help sell concessions, etc. at our meet that we will sponsor. Please contact me if you have any questions or want to know how you can get involved.
In-season Practice:
This is just a reminder that we will be practicing during 5th block every day during 1st semester. This means that swim team is not only a team it is also a class with grades, conduct, etc. Each student has the opportunity to earn or lose 2 points a day based on participation. To earn their two points they must show up prepared to practice and practice with us. A swimmer can lose 1 point by being tardy to the pool or getting out early (or if asked to get out of the water early due to behavior problems) and will lose both points for not practicing at all. The only valid excuses will be a written parent note or a doctor’s note on the day they miss (not the day after). If they miss the entire day of school they must produce a parent or doctor’s note per the school policy. If a swimmer is going to receive an early dismissal, it must occur before 5th block begins: 1:05. If not, they will be expected to dress out and practice just like everyone else.
Let me stress the fact that students will NEVER be able to leave the school before 2:35 unless a valid early dismissal is provided to the front office. Anything else will be considered skipping and the swimmer will face suspension and be asked to leave the team. This is for their safety.
Meet Schedule:
Our meet schedule has not been posted yet but as soon as it is I will post the information on the website and pass it along to all of you. Our meets are typically on Saturdays during the months of September and October with one meet each occurring in the first weekends of November (County) and December (State). Please try to limit plans during this time so you can participate and show off your hard work.