Maclay Swim Team Handbook

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Damian Shields
6 years ago
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1 Maclay Swim Team Handbook

2 Maclay Swim Team Handbook Table of Contents 3. General Information 4. Policies and Procedures 6. Lettering Requirements & Team Captains Duties 7. Frequently Asked Questions 9. Community Service Form 10. Sign off Sheet (to be filled out and returned) 11. Strokes for Strokes Form 2

3 General Information for Student Athletes Absence from School: Any athlete must attend the last four full periods of the regular school day to participate in practice. If an athlete is suspended from school for any reason, he/she is not eligible to participate during that suspension. Accidents/Injuries: All accidents or injuries incurred in practice or a contest is to be reported to the trainer and/or coach immediately. All accidents or injuries incurred in practice or a contest in the club sports are to be reported to the coaching staff immediately. Conflicts between Activities: Student athletes at Maclay are involved in a great number of school-related activities away from sports. Conflicts are going to happen between a student athlete s commitment to their sport and other schoolrelated activities. If the conflict is between an academic class resulting in a credit/grade and an athletic contest or practice, the academic class takes precedent. Student athletes are encouraged to review their time commitment very closely before becoming involved in too many activities. It is very difficult to miss practices and contests and not get behind. Dress: As representatives of Maclay School athletics, when competing or taking part in any kind of award program or team function, student athletes are expected to dress and wear their clothing in an appropriate manner. For team traveling, swimmers are required to wear Maclay swim shirts and shorts. Athletes must ALWAYS wear team cap and suits when competing. Dress during the School Day: On home meet days, student athletes are permitted and encouraged to wear their team shirts. Hazing/Initiations: Hazing or an initiation of any team member by other team members is prohibited. Practices: Regular, Vacation and on School Closing Days: Student athletes are expected to attend all practices unless excused by their coach. Unsportsmanlike conduct: Maclay Swimmers will always demonstrate the Highest Level of Sportsmanship. Violations will result in suspension to be determined by the Head Coach and the Athletic Director. 3

4 I. Practice Policies & Procedures Swimmers should be dressed and ready to get in the water at the start of practice. Plan to arrive at the pool 10 to 15 minutes ahead of time so you are ready to go. Swimmers should listen carefully to instructions and try to follow the practice as outlined by the coach. These practices are set up to help condition you and get you ready for competition. In order to be eligible to letter you must attend 80% of the practices offered after the start of school. This includes time missed because of illness or injury unless excused by coach. Club swimmers are allowed to practice with their club teams during the season if they choose. These swimmers need to notify me of the club team they will be training with. Club swimmers must attend practice the day of each swim meet. II. Meet Policies All swimmers are expected to attend all the meets: High school swimming is, first and foremost, a team sport. The team counts on each swimmer s participation and the meets are seeded accordingly. An unexcused absence from the meet reflects poorly on the swimmer and hurts the team as a whole. All swimmers are expected to stay for the entire meet unless given permission by the coach to leave. Frequently there are last minutes changes that need to be made to relays and swimmers are needed to fill in the relays. It is a good show of sportsmanship to come out and support your team even if you are unable to swim in a meet because of injury or because you didn't qualify for the meet. Swimmers are expected to swim the events that the coach puts them in. Failure to comply with the seeding order has resulted in the team losing meets in the past. This is poor sportsmanship and is a violation of the code of conduct and could result in a swimmer becoming ineligible to letter. III. Meet Schedule The swim season consists up to 13 dual meets, districts, regionals, and states. Girls: no jewelry allowed! You must remove all earrings, bracelets, rings, etc. or you will be disqualified. A schedule listing all of the meets is available on the Maclay Swimming website, 4

5 IV. Team Uniforms We are a team therefore we will look like a team. Uniforms are required. The team uniform consists of a team suit, warm-ups, shorts, t-shirt, cap, and a jacket. Uniforms will be worn at every meet. Though this is not a requirement, I would love to see my swimmers wearing their t-shirts to school the day of each meet! One team cap and one suit will be purchased from the Maclay swim team budget. I highly recommend having a back up swim cap and suit however it is not a requirement. V. How Parents Can Help Be ready to volunteer with the team. Be pleasant to other team parents who call asking for help at the meets. Encourage your child to talk to their coach. Try to get your swimmer to handle their problem themselves. Let the coach - coach, but be there to support and applaud your swimmers efforts. Understand that High School swimming is a team sport. Every member of the team is valued and has an opportunity to make a contribution to the success of the team. Many meets are won or lost by 1 point. Any swimmer that contributes even one point has made it possible for the whole team to win. 5

6 Lettering Requirements In order to receive a varsity letter, a swimmer must fulfill the following requirements: 1. Display good sportsmanship, citizenship and conduct at meets and on trips as determined by the coach. 2. Meet all school requirements for conduct and standards outlined in the Maclay Student Handbook. Violations will result in ineligibility for a letter award. 3. Practice and meet training requirements (pool and dry land) of at least 6 hours per week as established by the coach (80% of practices either with the high school team or club team). 4. Must participate in every meet (regionals and states not included) to receive a letter unless excused by coach. 5. A minimum of 10 community service hours. Captain Duties Captains must be willing to perform the following duties: Provide assistance to the coaches during meets as needed. Lead and/or organize the cheers at swim meets. Provide a positive role model for the other swimmers and be especially willing to help the new swimmers become familiar with the functions and procedures of the swim team. You are the leaders of this team, lead by example and always show team support. 6

7 Frequently Asked Questions 1. What do swimmers need for practice? a. Training suit, cap, goggles, and a water bottle. Kickboards will be provided. Sunscreen is also encouraged. 2. What do swimmers need for home meets? a. Team uniforms (team shirt, team shorts, suit, cap), goggles, towels, a water bottle, and whatever else you or your child may need. Please remember it will get cold during our season so you want to pack warm clothes, parkas, and extra towels. 3. What do swimmers need for travel meets? a. In addition to what was started above, parents you may want to bring chairs and tents especially for the larger meets. I would hate to overcrowd those who pack tents or worse for anyone to be baking in the sun for hours. 4. How many duel meets are required to qualify to swim at Districts? a. Four. 5. What is the order of events? a yard medley relay yard freestyle yard individual medley yard freestyle yard butterfly yard freestyle yard freestyle yard freestyle relay yard backstroke yard breaststroke yard freestyle relay 6. Who determines Varsity Letters? a. At the end of the season the coaches decide who will receive a Varsity Letter guided by the Varsity Lettering requirements. 7. Who can receive a Varsity Letter? a. Anyone, if you have met all the qualifications for lettering. Please refer to that handout for the requirements. 8. How many events can I swim? a. An individual swimmer is allowed to swim a maximum of 2 individual events + relays for a maximum of 4 events. A coach may choose to place a swimmer in only 1 individual event so he can use the swimmer in 3 relays. But many times on a large team a swimmer may only get to swim one individual event and one relay. 9. How many swimmers can the team have in an event? a. On individual events the team is limited to only 4 swimmers per event except in the 50 and 100 freestyle. During the dual meet season we can have 5 swimmers in that event although only 4 will 7

8 be allowed to score. At Districts, Regionals, and State we are limited to 4 swimmers in an individual event - period. That means that during a dual meet there are a total of 34 individual events to be swum (8 events * 4 swimmers + extra I swims in the 50 & 100 Free). 10. How does scoring work? a. Points are awarded to 7 of the 8 swimmers in the following order 1st = 8 pt., 2nd = 6 pt., 3rd = 5, 4th = 4, 5th= 3, 6th= 2, and 7th = Who decides who gets to swim on the relays? a. The coach. During the dual meet season the coach will be constantly moving swimmers around onto different places within a relay and onto different relays. This process goes on right through the District meet in order to develop the very best mix of swimmers for the District and State Championships. Relay teams at these meets bring in a lot of points and can determine whether the team will place at these meets. 12. I hardly ever see the club swimmers at Maclay practices why? a. Many of the Maclay Swim Team members also are members of an area club swim team. They swim 18 to 21 hours per week. Some of these swimmers qualify to swim in National meets and a few have goals of making the national swim team or going to the Olympic trials, not to mention college scholarships. Maclay Swimming provides 8 lanes for up to two 2 hours, 5 times per week. While we would love to have the whole team practice together, logistically it works out fine allowing club swimmer to practice off campus with their local club team. Furthermore, this will also alleviates pool crowding at the High School practices and it will give the coach more time to spend on the non-year-round swimmers. The Maclay coaches require the club swimmers to continue to train with their regular coaches and to come to at least one High School practice per week so they can work on relays with the High School team. 13. What are Championship Meets? a. There are three levels of championship meets Districts, Regionals, and States. The championship meets are swum as preliminaries and finals over multiple days. 14. How does advancing to Regionals and States work? a. The top 24 individual swimmers from all the districts in our region will advance to Regionals as follows: the top two finishers in each individual event as well as the next overall best times among the top 16 times from the combined Districts. 8

9 Community Service Activities In order to letter an athlete must perform at least ten hours of community service. This is a requirement for all of my swimmer athletes at Maclay. The community service may be performed with the team during the season, or it may be performed on your own between August 1 and November 12, One activity we will do as a team is Strokes for Strokes which helps to raise money for the TMH Stroke Center. You must get at least one sponsor, tally your training hours, and record all required information. Then, turn in the completed time sheet and money to Ryan Rumana. (Refer to page 12) We urge you to participate in a community service project. Community Service is a requirement to letter. Once you have fulfilled the requirement, please fill out the bottom portion of this form and return. Swimmers Name: Please list all hours of community service performed from August 1st- November 12th, Date: Hours Worked: Supervisor: Organization Name and Activity Description: 9

10 Maclay Swim Team Handbook We have read this handbook and agree to abide by the policies of the Maclay Swim Team. Signature of Swimmer Signature of Parent 10

11 Strokes for Strokes Please return to Ryan Rumana Swimmer Name: Address: Phone Number: Sponsor Sheet: All fields are required! Name Address Amount per hour/kilometer Total Payment To receive service hours, swimmers must include at least one sponsor that is donating per hours or per yards. Hours will NOT be awarded for lump sum donations 11

12 Yard tracking This donation option will award service hours to the swimmer upon payment You can add the dates as individual days or as a range (Ex. 6/7/16-6/11/16) Date Hours Yards (optional) 12

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