Champs Meet Run Down.

Parents - Just a quick update on the Champs meets that are coming up. We will be doing a Winter Champs meet T shirt and will  be adding $10.00 to the entrie cost for each swimmer entered in the meet. If you are wanting your swimmer excluded from receiving a shirt please email here with that request.


Fall Champs @ PACK. (9-14 year olds) Entries due Today.
This meet is for most of the swimmers that have been attending the 9-14 Jr. meets. Swimmers can swim any event even with a NT. Swimmers are not eligible to swim events they have a GULF Champs time standard for. You can find the timestandard here. All swimmers qualified should be striving for 2 of the 3 sessions offered. We are wanting to get multiple relays in the meet for all age groups.


GULF Champs @ FCST (9-14 year olds) Entries due Monday 28th.
This meet is for swimmers 14 and under that have Gulf Champs time standards. Swimmers are allowed to only swim the event they have the time in and the same distance above and below. For example if a swimmer has the 100 Fr cut they can also swim the 50 fr and 200 fr at the meet. Depending on number of events qualified for swimmers may swim in both the Fall and GULF Champs meets. All swimmers qualified should swim in every session qualified.


Senior GULF Champs @ AGS (15 and Over) Entries due Today.
This meet is for 15 and Overs regardless of time standards. The meet will be swam as a Prelims SCY and Finals LCM. Please note the Friday session is an AM session.  


8 and Under Champs Entries due Monday 28th.
This meet is for all 8 and Unders regardless of times and events swam. We are looking for a big turn out from the 8 and Unders. 
Reminder that all swimmers in Group 1 and 2 are striving for IMX ready events and swimmers in Group 3 and above should be swimming IMX Extreme events. While this meet is a labeled meet we are still working in new events in with the Champs meets in Febuary/March as our goal for the season. 


See you at the pool,
Coach Jason

Thanksgiving Schedule

Thanksgiving Schedule for Masters

Monday - Wednesday: Normal AM and PM

Thursday and Friday: No Practice

Saturday and Sunday: Normal Practice 

Thanksgiving Schedule for Age Group and Seniors

Monday and Tuesday: 

Group 1 Navy: Combined A and B

Group 1 White: Normal

Group 2 & 3: Normal

Group 4 N,W, S1 and S2: 5:45 - 7:30 pm

Wednesday: 

Group 1 N and W: Combined 9:30 - 10:30 am

Group 2 & 3: Combined 9:30 - 11:00 am

Group 4 N, W, S1, and S2: 8:00 - 10:00 am

Thursday and Friday:

No Practice

Saturday: 

Group 3  8:00 - 9:30 am

Group 4 and Up  8:00 - 10:00am

RICE Food Drive

RICE Fights Hunger 


The RICE Student Advisory Committee (SAAC) is sponsoring a food drive to help fight hunger in the Houston area. The Women's swim team is participating and in some friendly competition with ohter athletic departments to see who can get the most food donated. If you would like to contribute rice or canned goods to the cause the womens team has a drop off box inside the pool lounge for collection. If you can't make it to the pool your self you can send your swimmer with it in their swim bag and a coach will help them get it in the donation box. The drive is running November 5th - 12th.


Thank you for your support in the effort and with RICE Athletics.


See you at the pool,


Coach Jason 

Parents - With the season now in November we will start to have a few cold fronts moving in that will lower the out of pool temps. I wanted to pass on a couple tips to making sure your swimmers keep warm before and practice. The most important thing is to dress in layers. With many practices starting in warm weather and ending in cooler nights its important to come prepared for all types of weather. Packing a longsleeve shirt or sweater in the swim bag is essential. Parkas, Jackets and extra towels are a great option as well. A good option for swimmers in the younger groups that are still low in body fat is hot apple cider in a thermos. This is something they could sip on between sets or extended period on the wall. I will be posting sign ups for parents to bring in a large thermos of hot cider for groups as an option for getting volunteer hours. 


A couple notes regarding our recent gear order:
Items are beginning to role in to our screen printer but there are also some items that are back ordered. 


Items that should be ready for hand out on Monday 11.14.2011
RICE Sweatshirts all sizes
RICE Longsleeve Cotton T Shirts all sizes
RICE Towels


Items that have come in as of yesterday and currently getting "RICE" logo's printed on them:
Adult Warm Up Jackets
Adult Warm Up Pants
Select sizing of Youth Warm Up Jackets
Youth Warm Up Pants
Back Packs


Items currently backordered:
Legend Longsleeve and Short Sleeve shirts: Estimated Ship Date 11.7.2011
Parkas: Estimated Ship Date Week of 11.27.2011


See you at the pool,
Coach Jason

Saturday Practice

We will have practice for the following groups tomorrow 8:00 - 9:30 am:


Group 3
Group 4 White and Navy
Senior 2 not attending the meet this weekend.


I would love to have a large group stay after the meet and watch the Miami vs RICE meet at 11:30 pm. The meet will run around 2 hrs in length. I am going to be running the computer system so I would like anyone under 16 to have an adult with them. This is a great oppurtunity to watch a collegiate swim meet. Dual meets go much more quickly than Age Group USA meets. 


On a side note: Volunteer hours can be earned by having your responsible older swimmers time at these collegiate meets anyone in Group 4 and above is capable of doing this ;)


See you guys at the pool,
Coach Jason

On Decking at Swim Meets

Parents - If for some reason you miss the deadline for a meet sign up you can still have your child swim in the meet. You are able to sign up the day of the meet in what is called an on deck. Here are a couple notes:

1. On Deck entries are taken at the clerk of course table at the pool. This is usually on the pool deck somewhere and sometimes is next to where heat sheets are sold and awards.
2. Entries are double the cost and must be payed directly to the host team with Cash or Check.
3. The host team has a form you will need to fill out with all of the important information. You will need your swimmers USA ID which is MMDDYYFFFMLLLL  Month/Day/Year/First/Middle/Last ( Example 010181JONPRYAN) If your swimmer has no middle initial or 3 letter last name an * goes in its place.
4. There is a list of events at the table to make sure you choose the right numbers and events. If you have your swimmers best USA swim time you will need to enter them at this time. Make sure to mark yards or meters depending on the meet.
5. Once entered they will be placed into these events at the meet. This is the same as circling them in for the events. If you enter them in Saturday and Sunday events they will not be on the circling sheets either day but will appear on the heat and lane assignments.
6. Make sure you have discussed the on deck with a RICE Aquatics coach prior to on decking them. 
7. Swimmers should not scratch events to on deck a different event unless they have coach approval. 
8. All swim meets have a maximum event number per day that can not be exceeded. If exceeded by an on deck this fee will be passed down to the swimmers account.

Typically the parents working at the Clerk of Course are very helpful with the whole process.

See you guys at the pool,

Coach Jason

Catch the Spirit Camp

Good evening (or morning by the time you get this).  I am emailing as head coach for the USA Swimming Gulf hosted Catch the Spirit Clinic on SUN OCT 16 for novice swimmers.

The deadline has been extended to MON OCT 10. 

Currently we have about 15 swimmers in each session. While this is a great coach-swimmer ratio, I would like to have at least 20 in each session to have that critical mass of energy. Will still be a great coach-swimmer ratio.  The cost is $25.00 and the swimmers get the USA Swimming Catch the Spirit T-shirt and other stuff (e.g USA Swimming temporary tattoos, wrist bands, etc.).

We have a nutritionist, Sarah Seppa, presenting an interactive 30 min nutrition talk for the 10&Younger session and more 'prep-for-training and competition' talk for the 11-14 year-old session.  

Please consider forwarding this email and/or application to your novice swimmers.   Parents can mail application to Clinic Manager Nicole Rembach (address on the attached application) or email her atnrembach@earthlink.net  or me at jamescrampton@hotmail.com.  

Also, I will be taking applications at the HSC meet this OCT 8-9. Hillary Martinez(FCST) and Andre Smith(SPA) will be taking applications at the FCST meet OCT 8-9 and Dakota Phillips (SSS) will be taking application at the BTA meet on Sunday Oct 9.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, suggestion, etc.

Jim Crampton

Here is the link for the application.