1st Day of Practice

Parents and Swimmers,

Welcome to RICE Aquatics and the 2011-2012 season. I wanted to thank all of you personally for being apart of our team for the 2011-2012 year. Your swimmers and families commitment to the program means a great deal to myself and the entire coaching staff. We welcome the opportunity to get to know each and every one of your swimmers over the next few months and hopefully years.

Most of the teams communication will be through email, our website, facebook page and blog. We will supplement this with handouts, our announcement board in the lounge area and announcements to the swimmers. Over the next couple months there will be many emails coming your way regarding the swim team and your swimmers groups. Please take the time to read these if they pertain to your swimmer. I will try to minimize the quantity of emails I send. Many basic swim questions will be answered in our upcoming parent meetings for each group. These dates will be emailed out no later than Wednesday of this week. Please make every attempt to attend these meetings.

With today being most of our swimmers first day of practice please read the following points to make sure everything goes as seamless as possible:

• All swimmers must have their ID visible to gain access to the pool area, if you missed the hand out we will have a parent located in the building to the side of the gates passing out ID's. Swimmers should put these on a necklace or lanyard for the easiest access into the building each day.
• If you are wanting to walk your swimmer into the building please park in the Norh Annex lot, West Lot 1 or Parking Garage. Do not park along the street as you will be ticketed by RUPD.
• Once your swimmer is on the pool deck have them sit under the covered area nearest the starting blocks. They can find their lead coach to find out where they will be practicing. Lead coaches are as follows:
  • Group 1 - Coach May
  • Group 2 - Coach Paul
  • Group 3 - Coach Jason
  • Group 4 Navy - Coach Kyle
  • Group 4 White - Coach Jason
  • Senior 1 - Coach Kyle
  • Senior 2 - Coach Jason
• Swimmers should have their name on their equipment in several places. I will have a sharpie on hand to help tag their gear so its not lost.
• We will be doing some intros and instructions out of the water today to start off but make sure your swimmer is suited up for practice prior to the start time.
• Its HOT outside so water bottles should be lining the pool deck and the coaches will be encouraging the swimmers use them through out practice.
• In addition to the heat the sun is nice and bright so if you need to apply sunscreen have them do so prior to practice so we can ensure it stays on when the hop in the water.

Again please look for additional emails this week and as always check our facebook page and blog as well. Thank you again for being apart of the RICE.

See you at the pool,

Coach Jason