2010 Chiefs News:

Awards Night and State Meet Round - Up

Swimmers, don't forget awards night Tuesday in the Cafeteria at 7:30pm.

Congratulations go out to the women's swim team who finished 12th in the state over the weekend. The Chiefs were powered by a thirteenth place finish in the Individual Medley by Jenna Brems, a fifteenth place finish by Taylor Hoffman in the Breaststroke and eleventh and twelfth place finishes in the distance freestyles by Erin Strohmeyer. Those three combined with Nicole Kostyk to complete the Medley Relay in tenth place while Nicole, Chelsea Shiles, Morgan Barnes and Jackie Bailes finished fifteenth in the 200 freestyle relay. The day ended with a twelfth place finish in the 400 freestyle relay composed of Brems, Strohmeyer, Kostyk and Maggie Wissman.

State Spectator Information

State travel plans:

On Friday competing athletes are excused the entire day from school.  Athletes need to be at school to get on the vans at 9am.  We will stop and eat breakfast on the way.  Warm up starts at11:30 and competition is at 1pm.  The meet should end at approximately 4:30.

On Saturday, any returning swimmers (or anyone else who would like to go) needs to meet at school again at 9am.  We will not stop for food.  Competition begins at noon and should end again at 4:30.

Got questions, let us know.  We'll try to answer them all.

2010 State Qualifiers:

Congratulations to our 2010 State Championship Qualifiers.

They are:

Jenna Brems, 200 IM, 100 Fly
Nicole Kostyk, 200 IM
Taylor Hoffman, 200 IM, 100 Breast
Tyler Yamada, 100 Fly
Erin Strohmeyer, 200 Free, 500 Free
Emily Kruljac, 100 Breast

Also, our men's & women's 200 medley relays and our women's 200 & 400 freestyle relays qualified as well.

Congratulations to all!

To view the 4A II physc sheets, visit AIA 365 online here.

Last Chance Invitational Updates

Pasta Dinner Update

The Following items have been signed up for already:

Pasta Dinner Sign Up

Swim Team Spaghetti Dinner Please sign up for something you are willing to contribute to our Team Spaghetti Dinner. The dinner will be held Thursday, October 21st, 2010 at Tyler Lowys' house (13833 N. Canterbury Drive). 6:00pm.

Please resond to thunderbirdswimcoaches@gmail.com and we will forward it to Tracey Hoffman.

(4) servings COOKED PASTA – 3LBS EACH (1) PLAIN SAUCE IN LARGE CROCKPOT

(3) servings MEAT SAUCE IN LARGE CROCK POT

(2) servings MEATBALLS – LARGE CROCK POT

(3) servings BREAD STICKS/FRENCH BREAD – 3 DOZEN EACH

(1) PARMESAN CHEESE – 2 LARGE

(3) servings TOSSED GREEN SALAD W/ DRESSING

(3) servings BROWNIES/COOKIES – (2 DOZEN EACH)

(3) servings WATER BOTTLES – (2 CASES EACH)

Volunteers Needed

In order to fulfil our commitment to our upcoming end of year meets, we are going to need a total of 9 volunteers. 6 for the meet on the 22nd & 23rd (3 per day) and 3 for the last chance meet on the 30th.

Please contact coach Erik if you are interested. We will be greatly appreciative of your service.

Special Practice Updates

There are some special events taking place at Moon Valley that will force us to change practice times.

The 50th anniversary party for Moon Valley is taking place on Saturday, October 16th. This forces us to move our Saturday practice to Friday. There will be no practice Saturday. There will be practice on Friday from 2pm to 3:30pm.

There is a Country Club Swim League meet on Wednesday, October 20th. This forces our practice time to move from 7-9pm to 3-4pm after school. As usual, if you cannot attend at these odd times, please notify the coaching staff in advance.

Final Meets Update

Am I done swimming?

10.14.10 - If the coaching staff has not explicitly told you that you are not entered in a meet, assume you are swimming. Do not stop practicing until you have been told that you are done.

Black Canyon Invitational

The Black Canyon Invitational will be held on October 22nd and 23rd at Sunrise Mountain Pool (21321 N 86th Dr, Peoria, AZ 85345) . Our portion of the meet will start at 1:00pm with warm up at noon on both days. This is our main meet to achieve qualifying times for state. On Friday, students competing in this meet will be excused from school after second hour.

We will eat an early lunch on campus at a site to be determined and take the bus to the pool at 11:20 am. The bus on Saturday will leave school at 11:20am.

Last Chance Invitational

The Last Chance Invitational will be held on October 30th at Moon Valley Country Club.

Our portion of the meet will start at 1:00pm with warm up at noon. We will be using this meet to allow for last chance swims to achieve qualifying times, swims in different events, and swims for individuals who were not given a full compliment of swims the week prior. As of right now there is no transportation for this meet. Plan on meeting as team in the Moon Valley parking lot at 11:45am on this day.

Volunteers!

To participate in these meets, we are required to provide three volunteers for each day. We would expect that volunteers should arrive before 12:30 and be able to stay for the duration of the meet. A typical duration of the meet should be three hours baring delay. If you can volunteer for any or all of the days, please let us know as we need to turn in names, phone numbers and email addresses the Tuesday prior to each meet. Please email us at thunderbirdswimcoaches@gmail.com if you are available. These volunteers are very important. Any time you could provide would be very much appreciated.

Awards Night

Don't forget awards night on November 9th at 7:30 in the Cafeteria at school. We will be presenting Letters and awards this evening and the night will feature a desert spread of delectable treats.

The final dual meet of the year is Tuesday, October 5th against Greenway.  We will be honoring our departing seniors at this meet.  Please come support the Chiefs at the last dual meet of the year.

With the end of the dual meet season, the competitive season will be ending for some members of the team.  There are limited entries in our two end of season events so we unfortunately do not have space to enter everyone.  Individuals who are done swimming will be notified personally by the staff and do not need to attend practice any longer.  They do, however, need to plan on attending awards night on November 9th and should check back with ThunderbirdSwimming.com for any other end of season activities.  If any of these athletes need their clearance card returned to start Winter sports, please let the staff know.

Meet Schedule Update:

Attention: Our meet schedule has been altered significantly. In order to attend a necessary amount of state qualifying meets, we've had to cancel our dual meet versus Paradise Valley. Since we've canceled that meet, we were able to push our dual meet versus Greenway back to Tuesday, October 5th at Moon Valley Country Club. There will be more information regarding the qualifying meets coming shortly.

Team Photos:

Team photos will be Friday, September 24th at 3:00pm. The photos will be at Moon Valley Country Club. Purchase envelopes will be handed out Wednesday and Thursday and must be returned to the photographer with payment on Friday. No one is required to purchase team photos. Athletes are asked to please show up at Moon Valley as soon as possible after school on Friday as we are on a some what limited time schedule. Please wear your team suit. Photography will be handled by Lou Coopey All Pro Sports Photography. The team photo will be taken when it is determined that all athletes have arrived. Do your best to arrive as close 3pm as possible, as we cannot wait around all afternoon for one athlete.

Note of warning: Any athlete who deliberately disrupts the team photo ( I.E. Funny faces, hand signals etc.) Will be appropriately reprimanded.

Tax Credits:

Are you interested supporting Thunderbird Swimming and Diving? The easiest and best way to do so is to donate all or part of you tax credit to the program. If you've already committed your credit amount for the tax year, your family, neighbours, friends or anyone who pays Arizona state taxes can donate through this program. If you want to learn more or even donate now, online, please visit the district website here

Brophy/Xavier Invitational:

09.15.10 - A limited squad will be attending the Brophy/Xavier on September 25th. This will be the first opportunity to achieve qualifying standards for the state meet. We are allowed a limited number of entries so not everyone will be swimming. If you are not swimming, we highly recommend not attending this meet. We expect to spend at least six hours at the pool (7:30 to maybe 2?), possibly longer. The bus will leave school at 6:45am for a long day of fast swimming.

Qualifying for State:

09.15.10 - There are big changes afoot this year from AIA.  The state high school athletics governing body has seen fit to eliminate all region level competition for individual sports.  It has also consolidated five state championship meets from last year into two meets.  For 2010, the Chiefs will be competing in the Division II meet.

While the actual qualifying process is currently undocumented, we do know that to qualify for state competition athletes will have to achieve Division II qualifying times available here.

Additionally these time need to be achieved at an "Invitational" meet, definition of which is also not documented.

The Brophy/Xavier invitational will be the first opportunity to achieve qualifying standards."

Entertainment Books

09.02.10- Thunderbird swimming and diving will once again be selling Entertainment books good for 2010.  The books have hundreds of 2 for 1, freebies and great deals.  Books are only $30!

• Our sale will be short and sweet.  Payments and unsold books need to be turned in September 20th.  We have found that extra time did not substantially increase sales.
• We can acquire as many books as you can sell
• You are not required to sell any books.
• If you have a book checked out, you must either return it in excellent condition or pay for it.
• We do not encourage door to door sales to people unknown to you.  Your safety is more important than any amount of money we would gain.
• If a buyer would like to pay by check, checks may be made payable to “Thunderbird High School”
  

Parents Info Packet

08.31.10 - Parents, missed the parents meeting? Get all the info you need here. (You'll need Adobe Reader )

Parents Meeting

08.21.10 - Thunderbird Swimming and Diving would like to invite parents of Thunderbird Swimming and Diving to a short meeting on Thursday, August 26th at 7:15 PM. This meeting is our main kick off meeting for parents at Moon Valley Country Club. This is your opportunity to meet the staff and get a lot of useful information straight from the source about the upcoming season. We hope to see you there! If you are unable to attend, please feel free to stop by a practice and say hello.

Thunderbird High School Swimming and Diving Suit Information

08.16.10 - Thunderbird Swimming and Diving is in the process of ordering 2010 season team swimsuits.  It would be best to have this form and payment available on suit fitting day which is Monday, August 23rd 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.

ORDER FORM

This year’s suits are high quality Nike brand suits.

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 listed on the next page.

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 2010:

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 Royal Blue 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 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 Monday, August 23rd.  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.

Practice and Competition Uniform Policy:

Thunderbird Swimming and Diving requires that all athletes be properly attired when practicing and competing in the pool.  Women are to wear suits that are appropriate for competitive aquatic activities and do not hinder performance or require constant adjustment.  Men are to be attired in "Speedo" type suits that, like the women, do not hinder performance or require constant adjustment.  Shorts are not acceptable.  Additionally, all suits worn in competition are subject NCFA regulations.  These rules basically require appropriate coverage and limit non-school logos (including manufacturer logos) to 1 1/2 inches square.  All suits are subject to approval of the coaching staff.

Athletes that do not conform to team policy will be issued one (1) warning per season, after which they will not be allowed to participate on that day.  Since they are not participating, such athletes will be considered absent and be subject to makeup workouts and exclusion from future competition.

The staff realizes that not all athletes have the resources to purchase unlimited suits and that equipment purchases for the season may be limited to one suit.  As such, these rules will not be strictly enforced until after the team suit order has arrived.  After such point, there are no excuses not to adhere to team policy.

08.01.10 - The new school year is almost upon us.  The first day of swimming practice/tryouts coincides with the beginning of school on August 9th.  We invite everyone to come give the program a try.  No prior competitive swimming experience is required.  It's even better if you have some (or a lot).

We swim at Moon Valley Country Club (151 W Moon Valley Dr.).  We anticipate we will resume our long running practice schedule of Monday through Thursday from 7 to 9 pm (yes, PM) and Saturdays 11 am to 1pm.  Right now, diving is up in the air, no pun intended, pending a hire by the district.

Remember, to participate in ANY sport for the Glendale Union High School District you must have completed and turned in all of your clearance paper work which includes a completed physical card.  For more information regarding athletic clearance, please go here http://thunderbird.guhsdaz.org/athletics/Athletic_Clearance/.

While no prior competitive swimming experience is required, if you have little or none you need to be there as early in the tryout process as possible.  If you do not get cleared through the office to compete until a week or two into the season, you are damaging your chances of making the squad.

Spread the word to you neighbours and friends. We're always available to address your questions or concerns.

Free sports physicals are available for the 2010-2011 school year

04.26.10 - If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity, the information is listed below. This is even available to incoming students. Mountain Sky ID is acceptable and if you are not an incoming student from Mountain Sky, please contact the Thunderbird school office.

Remember, to participate in ANY sport for the Glendale Union High School District you must have completed all of your clearance paper work which includes a completed physical card.

For more information regarding athletic clearance, please go here http://thunderbird.guhsdaz.org/athletics/Athletic_Clearance/.

Free Athletic Physicals for the 2010-2011 School Year Saturday, May 1st at 9:00 Sunnyslope High School 35 W. Dunlap Avenue Thunderbird Students must be in line at 9:00 AM Free Transportation from the bus bay loads at 8:30 AM Must sign up by Thursday April 29th to ride bus School I.D. required Physical permission form required with parent signature Can drive themselves, but must be in line with those who rode the bus at 9:00 AM If not in line at 9:00 AM may return at 3:00 PM In order to participate in athletics for the 2010-2011 school year students MUST have had a physical since March 1, 2010 AND complete an Athletic Packet.

2009 News Archive