We are officially rocking and rolling with the swim and dive season - and as promised, here is the first official newsletter! Since this has a little more information than normal I wanted to send it out early. My apologies for the lengthy read!
All pool practices continue as normal this week. Strength and conditioning training begins Tuesday in the BI weight room. As a reminder the first session is 4-5pm and the second 5-6pm.
Monday (11/13) the spirit wear store closes. Make sure you place orders prior to 11:59pm!
Wednesday (11/15) there is a spirit dinner fundraising event at Haute Dog & Fries in Old Town. It is from 4-9pm and 20% of the proceeds go to the team.
This Friday, November 17 we are holding swim time trials at The St. James. Meet details are below.
Where: The St. James (6805 Industrial Rd, Springfield, VA 22151)
Entries: All swimmers should pick the 2 individual events they would like to swim through this google form or let Coach Gerke know at practice by Wednesday. Only athletes who sign up for entries will be entered into the meet! As this is a time trial and not a scored meet, there will be no relays.
Volunteers: All families should have received an email from Mr. Joe Ferguson regarding meet volunteers and officials. In that email he included the sign up genius we will use this year for all meets. Since this meet is only for our team, we have a greater need than normal!
Dive: Coach Katie will be out of town so we are not going to hold a dive portion on this date
Looking ahead, Tuesday, November 21 vs PVI.
Where: The St James (6805 Industrial Rd, Springfield VA)
When: 11/21, 4:20pms warmups, 5:15pm start, should be done around 7pm
Transportation: Bus details TBD
Entries: Swimmers must let Coach Gerke know if they have a valid met absence no later than Sunday, 11/18. I am expecting that some athletes will already be out of town for Thanksgiving! The meet entries will be sent out in next Sunday's email.
Volunteers: Volunteer slots will be on the sign up genius.
Dive: Coach Katie will be out of town so we are not going to hold a dive portion on this date. The first dive meet will be on November 28.
Lastly, thank you to Stefani Nick for putting together the sign up genius for events! if you are willing and able to help out with either hosting a team night, senior night or the end of the season banquet, please fill out this form.
Now that Swim & Dive tryouts are complete, I am reaching out in regards to the beginning of the 23-24 Bishop Ireton Swim and Dive (BISD) season!
For those I haven't met, my name is Coach Kaitlyn Gerke and this is my 6th season as Head Coach for the Swim & Dive program. I also work full time on campus as the Digital Brand Manager, and some of your students may know me as their advisor, Yearbook or Graphic Design teacher.
Please join us at the mandatory Parent/Athlete team meeting this Tuesday, November 7th at 7:30pm.This meeting will be held virtually and there is a zoom link here. My apologies for the quick turnaround on this meeting, we like to cover all of the season's details before we get too far into practices and meets begin. At the meeting I will introduce the full coaching staff, go over practice schedules, meet information, varsity letter qualifications, needed volunteer roles and answer any questions you may have.
Please find attached the BISD Information Packet that we will go over at the meeting. This was reviewed with all of the students at the interest meeting on October 10th. It includes the current practice and meet schedule (which has been updated since October!!), attendance and lettering requirements, information about swim gear, and more. Things I wanted to reinforce before the parent meeting:
1. TRANSPORTATION: A bus is provided to practices on normal school days. The bus leaves the upper lot at 3:20pm. Students do need to be picked up from Franconia Rec Center. There will not be a bus for practices that fall on a no school day or 12:10 dismissal day.
2. ATTENDANCE: Attendance is required for all pool practices (Mon, Wed-Fri) and is optional for the Tuesday strength and conditioning practice. Athletes are responsible for reaching out to me when they cannot make a practice.
3. YEAR-ROUND ATHLETES: Year-round club swimmers and divers should submit the completed club contract by the end of the first week of practice, Friday, November 10. As a reminder, club athletes do have to attend one practice per week for BI in order to remain eligible for meets and varsity lettering.
4. GEAR: Spirit wear is currently available online! The store will close on November 13. This deadline ensures we receive all gear prior to Christmas break. As stated in the team info packet, you are not required to purchase anything. However, I do recommend buying a team suit (they are new this year!) and getting a team shirt to wear to meets and for our team media day.
5. COMMUNICATION: I send weekly "BISD: This Week" emails on Sundays to the full team roster and families. This is where you can expect to receive all of the upcoming information for the week. The portal bulletin board also has all necessary links, the schedule and will have past emails on it as well.
I am looking forward to another great season and I will see athletes on Monday for practice and families on Tuesday for the meeting!