High School Swim Team Update - Week of 11/30/20

Good evening,
I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving holiday and break! As of tonight, all district extracurriculars are still on pause. I have a meeting with the high school athletics director tomorrow after his meeting with the superintendent. Hoping for good news and an update on being able to return to practice. I will let you know what I hear. Continue to stay safe and work hard in the classroom!

Swimmers, look for emails starting tomorrow with an optional daily workout you can complete from home.

Team Handbook
Tentative Practice and Meet Schedule (Subject to Change)
Tentative Meet Schedule and Status (Subject to Change)

If you have any questions or need help, please let me know! Have a great week and Go Cards!

High School Swim Team Update - Week of 11/9/20

Good afternoon everyone,

It has been great to see the team be back in the water and swing of things this week! Included below are some important reminders and our schedule for the week. The biggest items to be sure to take care of are suit orders (close Fri 9/13) and spiritwear orders (close Sat 9/14). I will be emailing a few reminders this week if parents/swimmers need to sign any of your FinalForms. If you filled yours out approximately two weeks before the season began, it would be a huge help if you could double-check yours. The school office updated the Covid form and added a form from Lake Health that might have bounced yours back to the unsigned stage. Unfortunately, any time they edit the documents in FinalForms, that can happen. If you filled them out inside of two weeks of the season starting, we are seeing most are still green and you are all set. Thank you so much for your help with this!

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Reminders:
1.) Spiritwear orders are open through this Saturday, 11/14. You may order at the link included here https://mentorhsswimteam.itemorder.com/. We would like all swimmers to purchase the team t-shirt so that we can match for meet days at school/travel to meets.
2.) The final window for suit orders closes this Friday, 11/13. You may order at the link included here https://aquaticoutfittersofohio.com/pages/mentor-cardinals. The suits are designed to last multiple seasons, and we use the same design each year. If you would like to purchase your own suit for meets, it just needs to be solid black.
3.) If you are not feeling well, please continue to stay home from practice. We know, understand, and want you to be more cautious than in the past. It is okay to miss when feeling sick and we will get you caught up and back on track when you are feeling better!
4.) Please email coaches to let us know of any absences so we can update attendance.
5.) For practice, remember that you will need your suit, towel, goggles, cap (if you wear one), and clothes that you will change into before/after practice.
6.) Please remember to wear masks at all times when not in the water.

Schedule:
Mon 11/9 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:35-6:45 am
Mon 11/9 PM - Swim practice at LH Wellness 2:45-5:00 pm
Tue 11/10 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:35-6:45 am
Tue 11/10 PM - Swim practice at LH Wellness 2:45-5:00 pm
Wed 11/11 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:35-6:45 am
Wed 11/11 PM - Swim practice at LH Wellness 2:45-5:00 pm
Thu 11/12 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:35-6:45 am
Thu 11/12 PM - Swim practice at LH Wellness 2:45-5:00 pm
Fri 11/13 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:35-6:45 am
Fri 11/13 PM - Swim practice at LH Wellness 2:45-5:00 pm

Team Handbook
Tentative Practice and Meet Schedule (Subject to Change)
Tentative Meet Schedule and Status (Subject to Change)

Have a great week and Go Cards!

High School Swim Team Update - Week of 11/2/20

Good afternoon everyone,
Thank you again for your hard work and effort on Friday! Congratulations on making the 2020-2021 team! We are looking forward to a great season! Our reminders and schedule for this week are included below.

Reminders:
1.) I will send a follow-up email to notify you of your initial practice color group. The groups will be blue and purple. This will have instructions as to any change in practice location/times etc. After tryouts, our goal is to minimize any changes to swimmers that made the team at this time. However, this will allow us flexibility in the future based on the evaluation of conditions. Practice groups may be edited this season based on performance, effort, attitude, and attendance, as well as any change to pool availability/the Covid policies that are imposed on us.
2.) As a reminder from our team handbook and meetings, we did not pick the requirements/policies that are imposed on us. We have received questions as to why we chose not to have access to the locker rooms. I want to be clear that we DID NOT. That was a non-starter with Lake Health because of numbers in the space and time to disinfect, and the only major requirement they had. It is also consistent to what the school district has implemented for other sports (coming ready to practice/compete), or what other pools are requiring (Spire and YMCAs). We will continue to push for any potential change, but I want to be clear that your feelings on this were the same feelings we shared and pushed for. It came down to finding a solution or not being able to have the season. We will continue to work hard to meet your needs and concerns.
3.) We did secure the family locker rooms for swimmers attending morning practice. If you are attending morning practice, there will be the option to use the family locker room in shifts after swim/before school. If you are on an off day from school, please let swimmers that have school utilize the family locker room first.
4.) I do believe we are fortunate to be in the situation we are in right now from what I am hearing from other teams and schools. We are able to offer full practices, and to the same level we have each of the past seasons. We will continue to maintain safety as our number one goal and work toward a great season! Everyone has done an excellent job with this so far. Regardless of politics/where you stand on the issue, we are in the middle of trying to navigate a tightrope between those that have strong feelings on both sides. Our concern and priorities remain to be safe while having a season that most resembles our previous seasons. I know everyone shares in a goal that we want to have a great swim season! I will do everything I can to make that happen. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to me. I am happy to help!
5.) A window for suit orders will run the next two weeks ending on Friday, 11/13. We use the same suit design each year to help prevent having to purchase a new meet suit each year. These suits are the Speedo Endurance fabric, which will not wear out from the chemicals in the water. It is completely fine if you want to order a meet suit separately, it just needs to be all black. https://aquaticoutfittersofohio.com/pages/mentor-cardinals
5.) For practice, you will need your suit, towel, goggles, cap (if you wear one), and clothes that you will change into.
6.) Please remember to wear masks at all times when not in the water.

Schedule:
Mon 11/2 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:35-6:45 am
Mon 11/2 PM - Swim practice at LH Wellness 2:45-5:00 pm
Tue 11/3 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:35-6:45 am
Tue 11/3 PM - Swim practice at LH Wellness 2:45-5:00 pm
Wed 11/4 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:35-6:45 am
Wed 11/4 PM - Swim practice at LH Wellness 2:45-5:00 pm
Thu 11/5 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:35-6:45 am
Thu 11/5 PM - Swim practice at LH Wellness 2:45-5:00 pm
Fri 11/6 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:35-6:45 am
Fri 11/6 PM - Swim practice at LH Wellness 2:45-5:00 pm

Team Handbook
Tentative Practice and Meet Schedule (Subject to Change)
Tentative Meet Schedule and Status (Subject to Change)

Have a great week and Go Cards!