SEACREST COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL SWIMMING AND DIVING HANDBOOK

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Julie Miller
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SEACREST COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL SWIMMING AND DIVING HANDBOOK GENERAL INFORMATION All participants in Seacrest Swimming and Diving will be required to accomplish certain tasks before, during, and after

1 SEACREST COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL SWIMMING AND DIVING HANDBOOK GENERAL INFORMATION All participants in Seacrest Swimming and Diving will be required to accomplish certain tasks before, during, and after the season. Physical form, parent consent/permission form, concussion and heat related illness form, and team data sheet/policy/rules/procedures adherence forms must be signed by all parties and turned in before swimmers and divers can workout! Forms will be available at all meetings, the front office, on the team website, from the coach(s) and the Seacrest Athletic Director. They should be dated on or after May 14, 2012 to be used for the season (valid for one year). Seacrest Swimming and Diving practice starts normally within four weeks of starting the competitive season (beginning of September). Workouts start at 4:00/4:30 PM daily and all athletes must be on time, dressed out with assigned equipment, ready to train. Workouts end at 6:00/6:30 pm. Different abilities and levels may start and finish at different times. Morning workouts may become an available resource for some athletes and could be held between 5:00-7:00 AM. Supplemental weight training may also be available. Attendance at scheduled practices is mandatory starting no earlier than the first day of the FSHAA fall season and workouts do not end until after the District Meet for all athletes. USAS club workouts can substitute for Seacrest team workouts but those swimmers must attend at least one Seacrest practice per week. Athletes are expected to be in/at workouts and not to leave the aquatic complex with anyone other than a parent unless you have turned in documented parental permission to the school and to your coach. Seacrest Country Day School Aquatics Team Handbook 1

2 If an athlete needs to miss practice or a meet for any reason, the athlete or their parent must contact the athlete s coach. If an athlete is absent for more than three days, a doctor s and parent s notes are required to get back into the water. An athlete is allowed ten (10) total excused absences/tardies at which time a swimmer/diver can be placed on probation from the competitive team. Missing a swim/dive meet and/or having five (5) or more unexcused absences/tardies without prior notice could result in immediate probation and could be grounds for exclusion from dual meets and/or invitational meets. Communication is the key to avoiding misunderstandings and understanding problems and therefore before such action is taken a conference will be requested between the coach, athlete and parent(s). Terms of Probation will be mutually understood between the coach (es), the athlete and parent(s). GENERAL CONDUCT Swimmers and divers represent Seacrest Country Day School and our community. Participants must always present their best attitude and behaviors while traveling and competing. When you represent Seacrest Country Day School you are expected to be at the highest level of integrity and respect. We are also guests at any complex where we train so we need to always be courteous, helpful, and friendly. Thank everyone at guest schools (swimmers, coaches, parents, your lane timers, concession volunteers.) for their participation. Keep your uniform neat and clean at all times. When you re not wearing it, keep it in a safe place. Do not lose it or leave it where it can be stolen. Proper attire is always required out of the pool as well and must be in good taste. Swimming equipment may be made available for use and needs to be well cared for. Put pool equipment up neatly after use. All SEACREST equipment must be returned at the end of the season to obtain your awards/letters. Any unreturned equipment will be billed to each participant s parent(s). There is a proper chain of communication to address complaints. If you have a problem or concern, please talk with your assigned coach or the head coach first, If you are not satisfied, talk with the Seacrest Athletic Director, Seacrest Country Day School Aquatics Team Handbook 2

3 then the Division (Middle School or High School) Head, and finally if unresolved go to the Head of School. Please allow each step in the chain time to respond to any issues you may have (48 hours). Conferences with any coach may be requested and will be held as soon as possible. is another effective way to communicate. Please contact the coaching staff with any concern as soon as it is perceived. Please remember: any problem is a problem. We want things to go smoothly and for everyone to have a great experience. Good communications can resolve many issues so please use this chain early for even the smallest issues before they grow out of hand. EQUIPMENT Each athlete is required to purchase a team suit, two pairs of goggles and a team cap and have extras of both ready at all times. It is a good practice to keep an additional suit and goggles in a bag in the car. Team caps and suits must be worn for all meets. Swimmers may wear non-team suits and caps for practices. Hand paddles, fins, and other equipment may need to be purchased by individuals if not available at the pool for general use. The school (or the facility) may maintain kick boards and pull buoys for our use so please keep these nice as they are used year after year. Bring suit, cap, towel and proper hydration to every workout and competition. Also bring running shoes, shorts, and shirt daily to practice as weather may force us inside the facility for dry land drills. PRACTICE Swimmers and Divers need to make sure they learn as much as possible to help themselves and others every year in order to continuously improve. Athletes are expected to train up to and beyond their ability everyday. Overtraining and other activities (skateboarding, surfing, etc.) can be dangerous so be smart as you train and play in other areas, sports, and activities. Learning to safely and efficiently circle swim, passing without hindering another swimmer, learning to use the pace clock for times and send-offs, starting properly in and out of the water (safely) are all basic skills for team practice. Concentration on stroke drills, improving technique, working on breathing patterns, turns, breakaways, streamlining, finishes, and listening carefully to coach s instructions, will greatly help all athletes improve faster. Seacrest Country Day School Aquatics Team Handbook 3

4 Everyone is required to complete daily stretching, flexibility drills and dry land exercises before and after workouts. Coaches will introduce these exercises to athletes but responsibility for performing them rests with the athlete. Year-round programs (USAS/USAD) help develop the fastest swimmers and the best divers. Participation in summer leagues and our developmental program during the season is strongly encouraged and will help our swimmers improve and help Seacrest s program grow. BALANCE YOUR TIME Remember that there will be a need for balancing schedules during the swim season. The key to swimming success is time management. Swimmers and divers will need to balance swimming and school work. Be sure to get school work done efficiently and meet all deadlines. Also, swimmers and divers should be eating healthy foods and avoiding junk. Last, it is important to get at least 8 hours of sleep every night. MEET STRATEGY AND POLICY Swimming and diving are individual sports and as such everyone will be required at some time to compete in events that are not normally their best events. It is important for athletes and parents to know that Coaches employ strategies to 1) ensure all swimmers have the opportunity to swim throughout the season, while 2) employing strategy swimming -- placing value on the ability for a swimmer to swim in events that will checkmate another team s strengths. Remember that being a utility swimmer is priceless to any team. Relays are also a place where the coaching staff may try and vary the level of abilities of individuals that will comprise any single relay team for best advantage. If you are asked to compete in an event and refuse, someone else will take your place and may score points. Refusal to swim events could also jeopardize your future spots on relays and even to letter. Communicate any concerns with your coach and carefully weigh any decision not to compete and its possible consequences. Seacrest Country Day School Aquatics Team Handbook 4

5 If you are unable to compete for any reason inform the coaching staff immediately and follow their instructions on how to handle the situation (declared false start, medically excused, etc.). Athletes are not to wear any jewelry during competition or during training. No excessive marking of bodies or inappropriate tattoos are allowed. Athletes are responsible for knowing heats and lanes that they are assigned to for each event entered and are personally responsible for being at the blocks for each entered event even if they are scratching that event. All athletes are responsible for reviewing results as soon as they are posted and reporting any discrepancy to a coach immediately so that results can be corrected within the required 30 minute time frame. Athletes shall be courteous to all officials, meet/facility staff, visiting coaches, and other athletes. If there are problems contact your coach immediately. If disqualified notify the coach immediately before your swim down as there is a 30 minute window to lodge a protest. After each event swim down properly first, then report to your assigned coach or manager for splits and critique. Always congratulate other athletes who you dive or swim against win or lose, demonstrating good sportsmanship. When you finish an event, please remain in the water until every swimmer has completed their race. Congratulate the entire team at the end of a dual meet. Seacrest athletes support each other at all meets. They cheer for each other, count laps for them in a 500 and support each other to develop team spirit and cohesiveness. Distractions (girlfriends/boyfriends, cellphones/texting for example) must not interfere with your concentration and team involvement. All team cheers will be appropriate, approved, and led by assigned team members. Demonstrating favoritism, having exclusive friends, gossiping, and promoting bad politics toward teammates and others will kill team spirit and fun and will not be tolerated. AWAY MEETS The team travels together for away meets. We take assigned transportation (bus or assigned cars). No one is to drive to meets alone unless preapproved. If for some reason athletes are not riding the bus home, arrangements for travel home from away meets needs to be provided by each parent/legal guardian, a written note/form must be provided to the coach as a release of responsibility. Seacrest Country Day School Aquatics Team Handbook 5

6 The team may eat out together after away meets on the way home so each athlete needs to bring money for a meal or snack. We travel to away invitational meets each year involving overnight stay. Approximate costs are $45-$55 for meals and $60 for hotel. Fund-raising will be an important component of the program and will involve parents and athletes alike. We are trying to give everyone a heads up in advance so that we can fund-raise and budget accordingly. NUTRITION/HYDRATION/LIFESTYLE Athletes must consume foods and fluids that will aid growth, development, and support a heavy training schedule. Good nutritional habits will also enhance performance. Pre-, during, and post-competition nutrition and hydration is critical. Athletes should eat/drink immediately after workouts especially high quality proteins. Extensive information on nutrition and hydration will be available on the team webpage. Alcohol, all tobacco products, illegal drugs, and selected other drugs are prohibited. Immediate suspension or expulsion shall be administered for any athlete possessing these products. If you are taking prescribed drugs let the coach know what you re taking as some drugs are banned. Inform your healthcare providers that you are a competing athlete. FOR DIVERS ONLY During the course of the season divers are requested to submit a report on their diving progress to the head coach on a weekly basis. For each meet, divers are required fill out a diving score sheet for the coach s signature. This must be completed and signed prior to the start of any meet and reviewed with the head/executive coach. Divers are requested to swim with the team when not practicing diving. Coaches may also choose to place divers in swim races, particularly in relays. LETTERING CRITERIA The lettering criteria system requires participants to maintain strong academics, good sportsmanship, meet attendance, and team activities. There is no reason that all athletes cannot letter as long as they actively participate in all team activities. Seacrest Country Day School Aquatics Team Handbook 6

7 Academics are paramount and athletes must maintain a 2.0 minimum level in all classes. Academic All American is the goal for all team members. Second, good sportsmanship is critical at no time are participants allowed to be critical of others, other teams, or your team mates; foul language or poor behavior of athletes will be immediately warned to cease and only warned once during a season. Repeated violation will result in probation. Third, attendance is mandatory. It is the athlete s responsibility to make sure the staff/managers have marked you present. Absences or tardiness are disruptive, create problems with team morale, affects your ability to train/compete, to score points supporting the team, and therefore to letter. Fourth, meets are mandatory. Athletes need to come to all meets and remain with the team until a coach has dismissed you at the end of a meet. If an athlete cannot participate in a meet it must be discussed with the coach no later than two days prior to a competition. This will allow coaches the time they need to make adjustments to the event assignments. Fifth, participation at team activities such as fundraising is required to maintain our budget and to sustain our sport and the team. PARENT CONDUCT Parents shall support all athletes and coaches through active participation, active support, and positive communications. Parents are expected to be role models, supporting the sport and the athletes, and possessing positive attitudes. While cheering for your team and athlete is great, it must also be appropriate (moderate and respectful-- too much can be too much). Parents should avoid any negative communications with their athlete and remain supportive during and after event participation. Constructive criticism is the role of the coach. All organizational meetings are mandatory (athletes and parents) as events, goals, and critical information will be discussed. We will also try to make time to socialize, communicate, and bond as an organization. VOLUNTEER NEEDS Volunteers are needed throughout the season and during off-season to plan for next year. They are needed to act as timers, drivers, chaperones and fundraisers. Seacrest Country Day School Aquatics Team Handbook 7

8 When we have home meets about individuals are needed to run the meets: 8-16 timers, 2-4 runners and 2 individuals to score the meet. The visiting team usually supplies one volunteer. Parents may be called upon to step in as timers during away meets as well. Parents may need to help with carpooling and chaperoning for overnight away meets. If you have room in your vehicle and are willing to drive athletes to an away meet, please let the coaches know. Chaperones for overnight meets will be needed to help obtain food for the athletes between heats and finals, locate appropriate restaurants for meals, and supervise overnight hotel stays. Meet chaperones should be very responsible individuals who care for others as they would their own children! Fund raising needs to be accomplished throughout the year usually through activities such as car washes, Splash Bash, etc. We will need volunteers to step up and lead these initiatives and everyone is needed to volunteer in some capacity for the event. Please get involved! Families will also be encouraged to join the Seacrest Stingray booster club in support of all Seacrest Athletics. These funds are important as they may provide aid for purchase of equipment during the season, help operate the team, and to ensure all individuals have an opportunity to participate. Other volunteers needed throughout the year include the following: Individual(s) to help or learn to operate Hy-Tek software, the automatic timing system that the team has for all meets. Certified officials (referee, starter, stroke and turn judges). A PR volunteer to develop a great relationship with the local media for publicity purposes. An individual to log all volunteer hours served and to assign volunteers to necessary functions. Communication link: Phone/Text to communicate with all parents in case of practice interruptions and other key information. One parent needed help develop travel, hotel, and restaurant arrangements and to be the main liaison to the other traveling parents. This is a critical position. Team parents are also requested from each grade level to help with athlete development and parent communications. Seacrest Country Day School Aquatics Team Handbook 8

9 TEAM MANAGERS and TEAM CAPTAINS Team members will elect team captains annually. Careful consideration should be exercised when voting for a team captain as this is not a popularity contest and is critical to the smooth and efficient running of the team. Captains are team leaders. Team captains are assigned responsibility and are accountable for team athletes and their behavior. Athletes who fail to listen to and follow appropriate directions of team captains will receive disciplinary action. All team captains will be trained as leaders. The coaching staff will appoint team managers. The utmost respect will be given to all team managers. They are assigned responsibilities and have duties and accountability to the coaching staff. Athletes must follow manager s instructions as they may be following a coach s instructions when coaches are unable to communicate with the athletes. Duties of a team manager include attendance keeping, team administration as assigned, equipment upkeep, split timing, meet management, relay team handling, meet warm-up/down observation, workout administration, and other general duties and responsibilities. All team managers will be trained as leaders. FINAL WORDS Thank you so much for allowing the coaching staff to have the opportunity to work with you. We hope while you are growing you will also have fun and that you will be proud of yourself and your team. It is the coaching staff s desire for everyone to have a positive, memorable, and rewarding experience with the Seacrest Swimming and Diving Team! Let s have a great season. GO STINGRAYS! -Coach Lindsey Seacrest Country Day School Aquatics Team Handbook 9

10 This Seacrest Team Handbook sheet is to be signed by each athlete, their parent(s), and a coach/organizational representative. By signing and returning this sheet the athlete and parents are stating they have read all the rules and the team handbook and are agreeing to abide with all rules and policies in print or enacted during the current season. A copy of this sheet will be retained in a file with all other forms required by the organization (data sheet, physical form, consent form) until one year after the athlete has left the organization, left the school, or upon graduation. Printed name of athlete and parent(s): Athlete signature: Parent(s) signature(s): Coach/Organizational signature: Date signed: Seacrest Country Day School Aquatics Team Handbook 10

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