Service Hour Policy

RICE Aquatics Families,

As a growing year round swim program, the support and involvement of RICE Aquatics families is vital to the success of our team. Each year many dedicated families provide countless volunteer hours to ensure that RICE swimmers enjoy a quality experience while on the club and that RICE is well represented at home and away meets. In an attempt to ease the load and help distribute the hours to all families on the team RICE Aquatics will be putting a service hour policy in place for all swim families active with RICE Aquatics.

 For the 2010 -2011 swim season we will use the following guidelines.

• Families on the team for the Fall Session will need to acquire a minimum of 3 Hours per family. (August 1st - December 18th)
• Families on the team for the Spring Session will need to acquire a minimum of 3 Hours per family. (December 18th - April 17th)
• Families on the team for the Summer Session will need to acquire a minimum of 6 Hours per family. (April 18th - July 31st)

The goal of the Service Hour Policy is to get all families involved in the club while creating a greater team environment. Hours can be earned by but not limited to: timing at swim meets, volunteering for team activities, bringing required items for practice or planned events, helping with meet hosting duties. Volunteer opportunities will be posted online as job sign ups; in order to view these sign ups you must be logged into the website. Number of hours for each job will vary depending on commitment level involved. 

Penalties for not acquiring the minimum amount of hours

We will be using the Fall 2010 session as our test run for hours per family. Depending on the results our spring and summer session hours maybe adjusted slightly. Because of this there will not be a direct penalty for not achieving the required hours for the fall session. However if we are unable to fill all opportunities it will result in an increase in hours per family for future sessions.

• Starting with the spring session if a family does not achieve the required amount of service hours they will loose priority in the Fall for our returning swimmer registration. Swimmers will have to be re-evaluated during the new swimmer evaluations. 
• If a family does not achieve the required amount of hours for two sessions they will have to fill these hours prior to their swimmer being allowed to swim at meets and/or practices. 
• If a family does not fill hours for RICE for four session in a two year period the swimmer(s) may not be allowed back on the team. 

Additional emails will be going out over the next couple weeks further educating everyone on the job sign up process and how hours will be acquired and logged. For Service Hour inquiries please email servicehours@riceaquatics.com.

Thank you for supporting RICE Aquatics and your swimmers,

Jason Wedlick

Rice Aquatics

Head Coach

2010 Gulf Swimming Officials Clinics

Parents - The Gulf Officials Clinic information has been posted. All of the meets our swimmers participate in are ran by volunteers; this includes officials for the meets. The GULF is known for its great meet reputation through out Texas and southern LSC's. Most of this reputation is credited to the healthy supply of officials at our USA meets. With RICE Aquatics now having over 185 swimmers registered it is important that we have multiple officials for our team. Our goal is to have 5 officials in training or certified for the 2010/2011 season. New officials will have a training period where they assist a current registered official at meets. If you are interested in becoming an official please contact the clinic you wish to attend and CC me on the email. Officials are always eager to teach new volunteers and welcome them on deck.


The 2010 Gulf Swimming Officials Clinics will be held at three different locations.

The first clinic will held at the Conroe ISD Natatorium on Tuesday, October 12 at 6pm with a Jason’s Deli dinner at 5:30pm. It located at 19133 David Memorial Dr., Shenandoah, TX 77385

The second clinic will be held at the Pearland Natatorium on Tuesday, October 12 at 6pm with a Jason’s Deli dinner at 5:30pm. It is located at 4241 Bailey Rd., Pearland, TX 77584

The third clinic will be held at the Seven Lakes HS Natatorium on Tuesday, October12 at 6pm with a Jason’s Deli dinner at 5:30pm. It is located at 9251 South Fry Rd., Katy, TX 77494

The two hour clinics are designed for S&T officials, official trainees and those who wish to become Gulf Swimming officials, but all Gulf officials are invited. The clinics will have a classroom instruction and in the pool demonstrations by swimmers. The clinics will be the only clinics offered this year so it very important for those in the target group to attend (read mandatory).

The clinics will be hosted by the Gulf Referee listed below. 

Please RSVP by October 10 to:

John Leneave for the Conroe/Shenandoah clinic at swimkids@consoldated.net 

Gary Baker for the Pearland clinic at gbaker@att.net 

David Brown for the Seven Lakes/ Katy clinic at david-a-brown@comcast.net

for the clinic that you would like to attend and what type of Jason’s Deli sandwich that you would like to have (turkey-wheat/white), roast beef, ham, tuna, chicken salad or veggie.

Saturday Practice

This weekend Group 4 White will have Saturday off and Group 3 will have Saturday practice. Coach Kyle will be running Group 3's Saturday practice from 8:00 - 9:30 am.

Sponsorship and Advertising with RICE Aquatics

Dear RICE Aquatics Families and Local Businesses, Included in this letter is an overview of the team, its services and the sponsorship and advertising opportunities available to you for the upcoming 2010 - 2011 swim season. (August - July) Rice Aquatic Swimming Club (RICE) is affiliated with Gulf swimming and USA swimming, the local and national governing bodies of competitive swimming. We strive to provide all participants with professional guidance while emphasizing: individual and team growth, good sportsmanship, and a healthy lifestyle. It is our goal to encourage and nurture a life long appreciation for the sport of swimming. We provide a foundation of proper technique and fundamental training in a fun, positive atmosphere under the supervision of a professionally trained coaching staff. RICE began in the summer of 2003 as a masters swim conditioning group.  In the fall of 2004 RICE began an age group developmental team during the school year.  It was strictly skill development and non-competitive.  RICE was not a registered USA Swimming team at this time.  This group continued into the fall of 2005 and doubled in size.  Finally with the core of this group interested in competing and interest in the team growing, RICE became a registered USA Swimming team in September of 2006.  RICE philosophy from its inception has been to serve those interested in swimming from elementary school age kids to senior citizens and everyone in between and accommodate all levels of swimmers from novice to USA National team members. Currently RICE serves a diverse group of over 200 local swimmers ages 5 to 18. Our RICE masters program has over 100 members who range in age from 19 - 80’s. Currently we have swimmers representing communities in the West University, River Oaks, Meyerland, Willowbend, Memorial, Upper Kirby, Montrose, Heights, Pearland and Bellaire area. We are introducing our inaugural sponsorship program this year in hopes of providing multiple marketing and advertisement opportunities for our members and businesses in the surrounding communities. We hope to have you as part of our team for our 2010 - 2011 swim season. Any sponsorship or advertisement inquiries can be sent to:  Jason Wedlick Rice Aquatics Head Coach coachjason@riceaquatics.com www.riceaquatics.com http://rice-aquatics.blogspot.com Sponsorship Levels Navy Level $1000 Annual  Team Website Ad - Linkable logo on front page of website and sponsor link of website for one year. Meet Program Ad - Full Page Interior Add with recognition of navy level sponsor (see meet dates) Meet Program Footer Ad - Logo added to bottom footer of all Heat Sheet pages T Shirt Ad - Logo included on all meet shirts ( At least 3 RICE hosted meets per year.) Twice a year letter sent to membership expressing thanks for support of program. White Level $500 Annual  Team Website Ad - Linkable logo on sponsor page of website for one year. Meet Program Ad - Half  Page Interior Add with recognition of white level sponsor (see meet dates) T Shirt Ad - Business name included on all meet shirts in medium font (At least 3 RICE hosted meets per year.) Twice a year letter sent to membership expressing thanks for support of program. Advertising for Meets Heat Sheet Advertising (Per Meet) * $ 250 Full Page $ 150 Half Page $ 75 Quarter Page  Meets RICE Aquatics will be hosting. Date:October 3rd 2010   RICE Open Water Champs T Shirt/Ad Deadline:September  26th *Date:TBA March 2011   RICE Masters March Madness T Shirt/Ad Deadline: TBA Date:April 23rd 2011              RICE Open Water Carnival T Shirt/Ad Deadline:  April 10th *Date:June 17th-19th 2011    RICE Junior Swim Meet T Shirt/ Ad Deadline: June 1st

Group 4 Parent Meetings

Parents - With many of our families on Holiday for this weekend both Group 4 Navy and White will have their parent meetings rescheduled for Monday the 20th 6:00 - 7:00 pm. I will email out PDF's on Tuesday for those who are unable to attend the meetings.

See you at the pool,
Coach Jason

Group 4 and Senior 2 Saturday Practice

Group 4 White will have Saturday practice 8:00 - 9:00 am.

Senior 2 will have Saturday practice 8:00 - 9:30 am.

1. Sometimes my child doesn’t want to go to practice. He wants to play with his friends. Should I force him to go? 
You should not force your child; you want his participation to be his decision. Reinforce the choices and decisions he has made to start his sport. For example, your son chose to go to practice on Tuesday and Thursdays, on other days he has the freedom to do other activities. As a parent, explain your expectation that he fulfill the commitment he made by joining the team. You don't want to force your child into a sport that he does not enjoy, yet you want your child to be involved in a 'lifetime sport', to learn about making and keeping a commitment and to interact with peers  So, what are you to do?
 
Instead of allowing your child to make a daily decision about going to practice, allow him to decide whether or not he wants to participate for the season. Once the decision is made to participate, he is making a commitment to the team and needs to follow through on it by attending practice on a regular basis. A haphazard schedule is detrimental to the athlete’s overall development.
 
Interestingly, when asked to reflect on the role of their parents in their swimming, athletes from a recent USA Swimming World Championship team talked about being pushed to swim by their parents on a weekly basis but knowing they could quit if they stopped having fun with swimming.
 
2. My child has a lot of interests and activities so he only attends about half of his practices. What will happen to his competition results?
 
Children involved in other activities can benefit in the areas of coordination and balance, as well as improved social and intellectual development. Specialized training in one activity does not necessarily need to take place at this stage of development. Will your son’s teammate who makes all practices have better results? Probably he will because his teammate is working solely on developing one sport skills. It is up to you to explain to your child that making the choice to participate in other activities can have its consequences. Tell your son that he should not compare his results to that of his teammate, but to focus on the fact that he is benefiting from and enjoying other sports.
 
3. It looks like my child is having a lot of fun at practice. Shouldn’t she be working harder?
 
Be happy that your child is having fun!  According to a recent study conducted by USA Swimming children who experience fun while participating stay in sports longer (Tuffey, Gould, & Medbery, 1998). At this stage of the game, the most important aspect of development is the mastery of skills, which means learning the proper technique. Fundamentals must be established prior to true “training” taking place. And, if she is having fun in the process of learning, she is more likely to continue to the sport.
 
4. It looks like all they do at practice is drills. Shouldn’t they be training more?
 
Your child needs to develop a solid foundation in mechanics.  Drills and drill sets serve the specific purpose of teaching skills and fundamentals. Drills develop motor coordination, motor skills, and balance. In fact, your child’s coach may prescribe a particular drill, just for your child, in order to improve an aspect of her technique. In addition, she may actually be experiencing a “training” benefit from drills.  Drills require concentration and aerobic energy to do them correctly.
 
5. My daughter’s coach sometimes makes her “sit out” for disciplinary reasons. Isn’t that a waste of her time?
 
The coach has set up expectations of proper behavior. Hopefully, your child is aware of the consequences of testing these boundaries. Obviously the coach is reinforcing what is expected of the children at practice. We encourage you to reinforce the coach's practice expectations by discussing your child’s behavior and the consequences of that behavior. Hopefully, this “time out” begins to reinforce self-discipline, accountability and respect for others.
 
6. My son complains that some of the kids cheat in practice. What should I tell him?
 
Praise him first for completing the workout the coach offers. Remind him that he is there to improve himself and he can’t control what his teammates do. Tell him however, that his best course of action is to continue to do things right and others may actually be influenced by his good example. By committing to do his best at all times, over the long haul he will reap the benefits of his hard work.
 
7. My daughter just moved up to the Senior Group. Now the coach wants her to train twice a day. Is this really necessary?
 
Your child has established proper technique and fundamentals by progressing through the levels of the team. It is appropriate at this stage of your daughter’s career development to increase the training loads. This includes adding the two mornings per week. Although morning practices come extra early, most coaches feel that this level of commitment is necessary for your daughter to reach the next level of her career. 
 
Training for competitive sports is demanding on young athletes. As athletes develop, they need to understand the upcoming time demands. One specific principle of training that applies is the progressive overload principle. A person must be stressed slightly more each day over time to continue to improve. In order to do that, the coach must plan additional time. The addition of morning workouts often becomes necessary for the coach to develop young athletes to their maximum potential.

Courtesy of USA Swimming