Congratulations to the following swimmers who will be competing at the Division II state championships on Friday and Saturday:

Nicole Kostyk

Emily Kruljac

Claudia Deley

Morgan Barnes

Jessica Benincasa

Darby Johnson

Ilse Dick

Emily Borsom

Daniel Strohmeyer

Jon Erbstoesser

Tyler Yamada

Joel Erbstoesser

Austin Gray

Josh Castro

The vans leave bright and early at 6:30 am both Friday and Saturday since we need to be in far east Mesa by 8:00 am.

Come out and support the Chiefs if you can.  Swimming begins at 9:30 and admission is $10

SKYLINE AQUATIC CENTER
845 South Crismon Rd.
Mesa, AZ 85208

The District is looking for volunteers to help with tasks like timing and meet administration to make the District Championships a great meet.  No experience is necessary.  If you are available and willing, we need volunteers for Friday, October 26th at 9 a.m. and for Saturday, October 27th at 10:30 a.m.  Meet sessions last approximately 2 to 3 hours and you will get a front row seat, free admission, and I’m sure we can throw in some Thunderbird swim and dive gear as well.

We want everyone to come to our team part at Darby and Lauren Johnson’s house.  We do need help from everyone to pull this one off so please see the flier for things you can contribute!  See the information here: Pasta Party 2012B

It’s about a month overdue…but our old T-shirt inventory is now up for sale!  We have most shirts in sizes from adult Small to 2XL.  See our sale flier here:  T-shirt sale

Black Hawk Invitational

Most of the Chiefs are entered in the swimming portion of the meet.  The bus leaves from school at 7am so that we may get to 8am warm up on time.  The actual competition will begin at 9:30am.  The meet should run fairly quick and be completed by approximately 1pm.  This will be our first chance to achieve State qualifying times.   We would love for our fans to travel with us but be aware that there will be a $5 spectator fee.

WE DO NEED TWO VOLUNTEERS TO HELP WITH TIMING AT THIS MEET.  PLEASE LET THE COACHING STAFF KNOW IF YOU CAN VOLUNTEER.

Brophy/Xavier Invitational

The bus will leave at 7:15 from school to attend this meet.  There will be a very limited number of swimmers entered in this meet.  A list of entered athletes will be posted on Friday, September 21^st.  This is a very fast meet and we will be using this meet to achieve State qualifying times.  There is a $3 spectator fee for this meet.  This meet should run most of the day and end closer to 3 or 4 pm.

Picture Day

Picture day will be at Deer Valley Pool on Tuesday, October 2^nd.  We will run a van back to school after pictures for divers or band members who need to return to school before the end of practice.  We will have practice for the remainder of our scheduled time at the conclusion of pictures.  Picture envelopes will be handed out next week.

Fall Break

There is practice during Fall break.  The times will not change because the City Staff is committed to our time slot.  We cannot change the times, don’t ask.  We will gauge our transportation needs closer to Fall break.

District Championships

This is our primary championship meet of the season.  Everyone should expect to be present even if they are not entered.  We think the meet will be held in the mornings of the 27^th and 28^th at the Sunrise Mountain pool.  This will be your last chance to achieve State qualifying times.

State Championships

You must achieve a qualifying time to participate in this meet.  We hope to take more athletes than last year.  Qualifying times have been posted at the pool.

The Desert Edge meet is changing from September 20th to October 18th.  It is still hosted by Desert Edge at a location we are trying to pin down.

To accommodate our new pool and our new time for swim practice, we have been provided access to two vans for transportation to and from Deer Valley pool in the afternoons. You are welcome to take advantage of the vans for a ride to practice but are not required to do so.

Taking the van:

• The vans will pick up after school in the bus bay near the mini-gym.
• Be there by 2:50 so that you don’t miss the van.
• The vans have seating for 30. If our demand is higher than seating capacity, we will make more than one run to the pool with the vans.
• If you take the van to practice, you are not obligated to take the van back. HOWEVER, if a family member is going to pick you up after practice they must be there prior to the last van leaving. If they are not at Deer Valley in time, you MUST take the van back to school and your ride can get you there.

Other methods of arriving to practice:

• If you are of legal driving age and have transportation, you are allowed to drive yourself to and from practice provided you complete a permission slip (see the staff).
• Your parents may take you to and/or from practice.

On days that we have meets instead of practice, there will be a bus that EVERYONE must ride to the meet.

Remember, we expect you at practice every day. As a team member you are committing to being responsible for arriving on time!

Thunderbird Swimming and Diving is in the process of ordering 2012 season team swimsuits. It would be best to have this form and payment available on suit fitting day which is Friday, August 17th at the beginning of practice. Credit Card orders placed after this date may be done directly through Ski Pro, cash or check orders placed after this date can be turned into the coaching staff.

This year’s suits are high quality Speedo brand suits. Suit Order Form | Suit Information & Competition Policy

Team suits are not required but are highly recommended. We would very much like to look like we are competing as a team this season. If you choose not purchase a suit please be aware of the team practice and competition uniform policies ( found here ) Because of the individual nature of uniforms in swimming and diving (these are not football jerseys and pads that can be washed and re-issued to someone else next year); athletes need to purchase their own suits. It is the goal of Thunderbird Swimming and Diving to not exclude anyone from participating for monetary issues. If you wish to purchase a suit and feel you cannot afford to do so, please approach the coaching staff so that arrangements can be made.

EXTRA ITEMS FOR 2012

Additional items are available for purchase. These items are optional and cannot be subsidized by the team.

There are two style choices of shorts. One pair will be orange with blue “THS Swim and Dive” embroidered on the leg for the ladies. The other is a Black basketball style short with “THS Swim and Dive” also embroidered on the leg for the men. While we are labeling these shorts as appealing to one gender or another, you are free to order as you wish.

Bags are large blue or orange Speedo backpacks that will have an orange “T” plus your name embroidered on them. For the quality of this bag as well as the personalized embroidery, you won’t be able to beat the price.

Our vendor, Ski Pro, has graciously agreed to visit us on Friday, August 22nd. They will have the style of suits we will be ordering so that anyone who wishes to try on suits before purchase may do so.

With the help of Ski Pro, we have put together a package of high quality goods and a reasonable price. We encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity to show team pride and place an order.

We’d like to let you know that the Thunderbird High School swim team’s first day of tryouts/practice will be August 6th at our new pool, Deer Valley pool, from 3:15pm to 5:15pm. Deer Valley pool is located at 19400 North 19th Avenue, approximately four miles north of the Thunderbird High School campus. Tryouts will continue through August 17th. After 8/17 students are welcome to continue to try out for swimming, but the chances of securing a spot on the squad will diminish (especially for those new to competitive swimming).

Transportation

At this date we do not believe we will have school provided transportation to and from the pool for the week prior to school starting. Once school starts we anticipate transportation will be available from the school to the pool.

Athletic Clearance

Please remember that students cannot participate in any way in Thunderbird High School athletics until they have completed the athletic clearance process and are approved by the athletics office. The clearance process includes seeing a film, completing an online concussion awareness course, submitting insurance information and turning a completed physical form signed by a medical professional. All portions of the process must be completed through the athletic department and only the athletic department can clear a student to participate. Please do not bring completed forms to the pool, the coaching staff cannot process these forms or be responsible for turning them in.

If you are new to the clearance process or need help, visit the front office at school or call them at 623-915-8900.

About Thunderbird Swim and Dive

This message is going out to email addresses we have on file as well as email addresses collected at Future Freshman night. We hope to see you at the pool! Please feel free to invite your friends to try out!