Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Seniors, Age Groupers, and Masters WIth the long course season here and all groups officially going to our Summer schedule I wanted to cover what is going in regards to the pool and the course we will be using. Listed below is a table with what the course will be each day for AM and PM. There will be switching of the pool to accommodate for our programs as well as REC Center run programs during the day. Once we get a few switches under our belt from SCY to LCM and LCM to SCY the whole process shouldn't take more than 15 minutes.


This represents the entire week and not actual practice dates. Please refer to your groups schedule for exact practice dates.


Time of DayMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday

No SwitchSwitch from SCY 5:50 - 6:10Switch from SCY 5:50 - 6:10No SwitchSwitch from SCY 5:50 - 6:10No SwitchNo Switch
AMLCLCLCLCLCLCLC

Switch to SCY post practiceSwitch to SCY post practiceSwitch to SCY post practiceSwitch to SCY post practiceSwitch to SCY post practiceNo SwitchNo Switch
PMSCYSCYSCY/LCSCYSCY/LCLCLC



Switch to LC 5:00 - 5:30
Switch to LC 5:00 - 5:30No SwitchNo Switch


A couple notes for the AM switches prior to practice. Seth, Kyle, the college swimmers and myself will be in the building a few minutes early to get the process rolling. By the time Masters swimmers are in the building we should be almost done unhooking all the lane ropes and getting the connections attached. We will need all hands on deck to help straighten out the lane ropes to LC and get them in lanes and tightened prior to the start of practice.


LC Set Up - Minimum of 7 (14 SCY lines + connection piece) lane lines in the water with both walls not needing a lane rope. We will have the blue tightening ends on both ends of the pool with the wire end in the middle. The connection ropes use a screw carabinier that loops into the wire end of the lane ropes. The diving well end will also need the long double ended "S" hooks to latch into the wall. The bulkhead end will have the lane line connect directly to the rings in the wall.


SCY Set Up from LCM - AM Shift for Age Groupers at 8:30 This will vary depending on day but we will do the following. 


1  - Loosen up the blue tightening ends on both sides of the pool.
2 - Disconnect the middle extensions by hand or with wrench.
3 - Bulkhead side. Swing the blue connector ends from the bulkhead to the side of the pool closest to the building. Start with the lane line closest to the building on the bulkhead count the number of ropes in the pool. Take this number and count the connection hooks on the wall starting with the one closest to the bulkhead. This number will be where the first lane rope connects.
4 - Keep doing this for all the lanes on the bulkhead side. Lane 1 rope for LCM will become Lane 7 for SCY and work your way back to the wall.
5 - While this is going on another swimmer will swing the opposite ends of the lane ropes to the far (treeline) wall and begin connecting. We should have at least 7- 8 lanes completed.
6 - Work from the opposite end (dive well) and disconnect the blue connector pieces working your way back to the building. Then take these to lanes 8-9 through 15-16 and connect both ends. 
7 - Depending on the day we may need to put a couple more additional lanes in towards the diving well.


The LCM to SCY went well today for our second switch. By the end of the week we should have a well oiled machine. It may take this entire week to get the morning switches down but by next monday I would want the switch to take around 15 minutes.


If you arrive and we are in action please just ask for where we are at and what you can help with. Ultimately more hands will get it done more quickly.


Thanks for all the help and all you guys do,
Coach Jason

Monday, June 7, 2010

Weather Policy

Just a reminder of our weather policy for the outdoor pool. If it lightenings or thunders during practice we will have to clear the pool and pool deck for 30 minutes with each occurrence. If your swimmer is at the pool we will find something for them to do either with drylands or classroom teaching. If the weather looks like it is getting sever we will have the swimmers call parents so no one is stuck at RICE with high water. If you are in route or thinking of coming during bad weather we will usually have an update on the website but can't guarantee how frequently it will be updated. Again if your swimmer is at the pool we will find something constructive for them to do while here.

Message for Group 4

Parents/Swimmers - Just a reminder of our schedule for the summer.


AM - M,T,W,TH -  7:00 - 8:30 am
PM - M,T,TH,F - 5:30 - 6:30 pm
Drylands - M,T,TH - 5:00 - 5:30 pm


Our mornings will be the most important practices to make during the Summer. All swimmers should be striving to make 6 of the 8 practices offered during the week. A good example of this is 4 mornings and a Tuesday and Friday night practice. The bulk of the training will be done in the AM with PM's complementing the mornings. We will be switching the pool back to SCY every morning after practice. This should be only a 10-15 min process if we have all our swimmers at practice. With smaller numbers it will take longer.


See you at the pool,
Coach Jason

Monday, May 31, 2010

Practice Schedule this week.


Parents/Swimmers- A quick reminder on practice for this week. We will be LC all week. We will begin our Summer Schedule minus the mornings for Age Group and Senior swimmers. The morning practices will begin on June 7th for groups that have mornings. 


The schedule is listed below and is on our website under Groups and Schedules:
Seniors and Group 4 will have Cardio and Drylands at 5:00 - 5:30 this week.


Seniors
AM Practices: M,T,W,Th (All LC)                                               6:00 - 8:00 @ RICE
PM Practices : M (SC), T (SC), TH (SC), Fri (LC)                       5:30 - 6:30 @ RICE 
Saturday AM:                            TBA
Drylands/ Cardio Work             TBA

Group 4  
AM Practices: M,T,W,Th (All LC)                                              7:00 - 8:30 @ RICE
PM Practices : M (SC), T (SC), TH (SC), Fri (LC)                      5:30 - 6:30 @ RICE
Saturday AM:                                TBA
Drylands/ Cardio Work                 TBA

Group 3 
AM Practices: M & W, (All LC)                                                  7:30 - 8:30 @ RICE
PM Practices : M (SC), T (SC), TH (SC), Fri (SC)                      4:15 - 5:30 @ RICE

Group 2 
PM Practices : M (SC), T (SC), W (SC), TH (SC), Fri (SC)        4:15 - 5:15 @ RICE

Group 1 White 
PM Practices : M (SC), W (SC) F (SC)       4:15 - 5:00 @ RICE

Group 1 Navy  
PM Practices : T (SC), TH (SC) F (SC)       4:15 - 5:00 @ RICE

Friday, May 28, 2010

DADS Club Meet

Warm Ups, Timeline and Job Sign Ups have been posted for the DADS club meet this weekend. You can get all the info on our website under the event page.

See you at the meet,
Coach Jason

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Monday Practice

The Rec Center will be closed this Monday for the holiday, as a result there will not be practice for all groups.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Josh Abramovitch, a Senior at St. Thomas High School, will be attending Southern Methodist University (SMU) in the fall of 2010. Josh has been with RICE Aquatics since his Freshman year at St. Thomas where he was an academic All- American, TAPPS state finalist in the 100 fly and an eagle scout. Josh was a National Merit Finalist and a National Merit Corporation Scholarship recipient. He plans to double major in Physics and Engineering Management while at school. While at school he plans on staying active in swimming and rejoin RICE's master program during the summers.