Swim Meet Line-ups

For the month of December we have a very busy meet schedule - 8 meets in 3 weeks.  This will have an impact on line-ups, including how and when they are created.  We will do our best to inform all swimmers that are competing at least 24 hours prior to a meet.  ALL swimmers and divers are scheduled to compete at the Ned Reeb Meet on Saturday 12/10, also all swimmers will compete at our home meet on 12/16.

Please scroll through  this email for a schedule and more information for our first three meets.

Team Pictures Thursday after school

Team pictures will be this Thursday after school at the Liberty YMCA.  Please wear your team suit.  Both coaches will have extra order forms handy at practice this week.

Team Pasta Party this Thursday

The team is holding its first team pasta party of the season on December 1st. Details are:

DATE: Thursday, December 1
NEW TIME:  6:00-9:00 pm

PLACE: The Rissmeyer’s

1781 Hardin Lane

(north of Home Road off Liberty Road)

740-362-4122

DIRECTIONS: From the YMCA -

Left on Liberty Rd

Stay on Liberty Rd past Home Road for 2 miles

Right on Hardin Lane to 1781 Hardin Lane

Please go to the correct driveway - 1781


We are looking for a few donations of cookies or brownies.  if you can bring a plate of either, please let Coach Baxendale know this week.

Earn a Boathouse Jacket

Our jacket incentive is back!
Anyone that sells all 10 of their raffle tickets and turns them in to Coach Karr by 12/25 will be able to pick out a Patriot Swimming Boathouse jacket from our current supply.

Upcoming Meet Schedule

Friday 12/2 vs. Dublin Scioto
at Dublin Recreation Center
5600 Post Road
Dublin, OH 43017

• The bus will leave at 5:00 pm from the school athletic entrance.  We take attendance promptly at 5:00 and depart immediately after attendance is completed.  The bus does not wait for late athletes!
• The meet begins at 6:30 pm.  Parents show your school spirit by wearing ROYAL and sitting together.
• Diving will be held at this meet.
• We hope to announce the line-up Wednesday or Thursday.

Saturday 12/3 Hilliard vs. Olentangy

at Hilliard YMCA 

4515 Cosgray Road

Hilliard, OH 43026

• NO diving
• The bus will leave at 4:15 pm
• The meet begins at 6:00 pm.  Parents show your Patriot Pride by wearing ROYAL and sitting together.
• The format of this meet allows 2 entries per team, per event.  We will be taking a small team of about 12-15 girls and 12-15 boys.

Tuesday 12/6, at New Albany

7600 Fodor Road
New Albany, Ohio 43054

• The bus will leave at 3:45 pm
• The meet begins at 5:00 pm.  Parents show your Patriot Pride by wearing ROYAL and sitting together.
• Diving will be held at this meet.

IF you are not in a line up for a meet, you are not required to ride the bus.  However, you are welcome on the bus if you need transportation to cheer on your teammates.

All athletes competing in a meet are required to ride the bus to and from competitions.

Club Swimmers November Calendar Due

All club swimmers must turn in their SIGNED November calendar on Thursday, 12/1 at Coach Baxendale's room. Please remember to pick up your December calendar at this time.

Thanksgiving Break Schedule

All Varsity and JV swimmers will practice from 8:45-11:00 am on Wednesday & Friday. No practice Thursday, Happy Thanksgiving!

Pasta Party Parent Volunteers Needed

We still need parent volunteers for the pasta parties. This is a fun way to get to know the swimmers and divers and other parents. Hosts and volunteers contribute food and supplies and prepare and serve the pasta dinners to the team. The open dates are as follows:

• Friday, December 16 after home meet - host and 3 volunteers needed
• Friday, January 6 after home meet being hosted by Carol Brubaker - 1 more volunteer needed
• Thursday, January 19 before Westerville South meet being hosted by Michelle Hoppman - 1 more volunteer needed
• Friday, January 27 before OCC's being hosted by Cynthia Rosi - 3 volunteers needed
• Friday, February 10 before Sectionals being hosted by Pat Choban - 3 volunteers needed
• Friday, February 17 before Districts being hosted by Cynthia Rosi - 3 volunteers needed

Please contact Carrie Clay at Carrie.L.Clay@gmail.com or call 614.329.3908 if you can help.

First Team Pasta Party 12/1

The team is holding its first team pasta party of the season on December 1st. Details are:

PASTA PARTY FLYER

DATE and TIME: Thursday, December 1 – Starting at 5:30 pm

PLACE: The Rissmeyer’s

1781 Hardin Lane

(north of Home Road off Liberty Road)

740-362-4122

DIRECTIONS: From the YMCA -

Left on Liberty Rd

Stay on Liberty Rd past Home Road for 2 miles

Right on Hardin Lane to 1781 Hardin Lane

Please go to the correct driveway - 1781

Swimmers & Divers please join our Facebook group

Our captains have asked that all team members join the team Facebook group. Just friend request Ashleigh Rissmeyer and she'll add you.  Or search under liberty patriots swim & dive 2011-2012. Thanks!

Bundle up

Cold winter weather is finally here so it is time to bundle up. All students must leave practice wearing shoes, pants, a coat and (if their hair is wet) a hat. 

Let's stay hydrated

All swimmers should now be in the habit of bringing their own water bottle to practice. Between the heat and the hard work, the athletes are sweating quite a bit. Most need to replace with about  16 ounces of water per hour of practice.

Team Calendar

We keep our team events up to date on a Google Calendar that you can easily follow & load onto your smart phone or PC. Simply head to our Calendar on our team website: http://www.libertyswim.com/Calendar.htm and click on the Google logo in the lower right hand corner of the calendar. This will direct you to add the calendar to your google account. Google accounts are free (a gmail account is not required).

Schedule Reminder

Parents & Students we have a few very important events this week:

Wednesday, 11/16

• REQUIRED Winter Sports parents meeting at the OLHS theater at 7 pm. OHSAA is requiring parents to sign in at this meeting.
• Our Swim & Dive Boosters meeting will immediately PRECEDE the Winter Sports Meeting and will begin at 6:30 pm (this is a change from our previous post).
• Senior Pictures for the Winter Sports Program are at 2:45 in the gym.

Thursday, 11/17

• Babysitting at Tyler Run, Wyandot Run, Liberty Tree & Indian Springs.
• All parents are required to work once, students must fill 3 shifts.

Morning practice countdown

Only 18 pre dawn practices to go this season :)

Meet Date Correction

The Delaware County Classic will be swum on Thursday 12/22. Please correct your calendars - the meet schedule we handed out incorrectly listed this meet as Tuesday (during school). The website will be corrected shortly, the google calendar is now correct.

Congratulations Alex Clay

Alex is a Senior Diver and Captain on our team. On Wednesday last week she signed with Stanford! Go Cardinal and congratulations to Alex!

Team Suits are arriving

Team suits have begun to arrive from our order placed at the TEAM meeting. The coaching staff will hand these out throughout the week. Please try on your suit before removing any tags. Suits that don't fit can be exchanged if all tags are still intact. NIKE suits fit differently than Speedo!

Babysitting Volunteers Needed

Swimmer requirement: Three 2-hour shifts

Parent requirement: ONE 2-hour shift

Each year our team provides babysitting at 4 Olentangy Elementary Schools during Parent Teacher Conferences. This is a great fundraiser that helps fulfill our budget needs and provides a great service to community families. This year we ask that all swimmers & divers participate in 3 babysitting time slots and each parent help supervise once. There are 2 fall dates and 2 'spring' dates that you can choose from. Currently we are in great need for volutneers in the following positions:

• Liberty Tree
• Coordinators for each school
• A Coordinator to shadow Stephanie Blaine this fall and take over for her next year.

Please take a look at the schedule included in this week's team email and let us know where you can help!

Interested adults & divers should email Stephanie Blaine directly at blaine.stephanie@yahoo.com

Click here for a link to the Fall Babysitting assignments to date: Fall Babysitting PDF

Required Parent Meeting

The OHSAA Winter Parent Meeting for ALL Winter Sports (MIDDLE SCHOOL & HIGH SCHOOL) will be Wednesday, Nov. 16th at 7:00pm in the Theater. Attendance will be taken.

All families are required to have one parent in attendance at the OLHS Winter Sports Meeting and at the Swim/Dive Booster meeting immediately following.

PARENTS - your help is needed!

Parents we need your help to help the season be successful for everyone! Babysitting at conferences helps raise the majority of our booster budget needs for the year. This year the boosters will pay for JV training time, meet entry fees into invitationals, team caps, team t-shirts, a Diving Coach for competitions, senior night, senior gifts, much of the banquet costs and we HOPE an overnight trip for the varsity team this year.

WE NEED (CRITICAL): A parent volunteer to shadow Stephanie Blaine this year and take over babysitting next year.

Notes from Tryouts

First and foremost all of our swimmers have put in a superb effort at tryouts. Everyone has managed to impress the coaching staff in one way or another. I understand that for many the try out process has been very challenging and stressful. On Friday I set aside about 15 minutes to work separately with any swimmer that was new to me or new to swimming - I really enjoyed that time to see what they can do. On Monday, I had the opportunity to speak with some of our new swimmers and returning JV swimmers in a small group setting. They asked wonderful questions about the entire process this year and were very involved in our Q & A session.

On Tuesday morning we will have the tryout results available to all swimmers during our 6:45-8:30 am practice.

The tryout process included the following evaluations:

• Friday - a short training set that tested freestyle skill and conditioning.
• Monday - Time Trials: the swimmers chose two of three 100's to time (from 100 back, 100 br or 100 fly), all timed the 50 free to test speed and (in case I needed a tie breaker) I had several swim the 200 IM. The swimmers NISCA power points in the 3 events (two 100's and the 50) were added to a point score from their 10x100 set to create an overall point score and team ranking.
• Tuesday morning - we will continue to evaluate swimmers not ranked in the top 30 for spots on the JV squad.

Team Gear is arriving!

Kastaway swimwear reports that our suits are already in stock. If you have not ordered your required team suit and bag, please call Kastaway's Worthington store at tel:(614) 781-9040. The store is located inside Worthington Natatorium at Thomas Worthington HS.

Fee FAQ

I have had a couple of questions about the fee requirements for swim & dive. Fees are the same for all athletes, Varsity, JV & Dive: $75 pay to play, a uniform requirement (approx $100 for the meet suit and team bag) plus our team fundraising requirements.

Practice Schedule is Official!

We have an APPROVED practice schedule! Please read through the following changes and information for our team this year (divers are not affected by this information):

• We will have two groups this year: Varsity & JV. Placement into groups will be determined by performance at tryouts on Friday (11/4) & Monday (11/7), due to a club swim meet this week-end we may need to extend tryouts into Tuesday mornings practice.
• 11-4 to 11-8 practice/tryout schedule is as follows:
• Friday 11/4: 3:00-4:30 (returning swimmers will be excused at 4:00)
• Saturday & Sunday – OFF
• Monday 11/7: 3:00-5:30
• Tuesday 11/8: 6:45 AM to 8:30 AM
• We are cutting to 30 total (girls & boys combined) Varsity swimmers.
• The 3 schools will provide a JV squad for 30 total swimmers from all schools.
• Our regular training schedule will begin after tryouts, on Nov. 9

Varsity Practice Schedule
Monday, Wednesday & Friday 3:00-5:30 pm
Tuesday & Thursday 5:25-6:40 am (YMCA doors open at 5:15, we are in the water promptly at 5:25)

JV Practice Schedule
Monday & Wednesday 3:00-4:00 pm
Tuesday & Thursday 5:25-6:40 am (YMCA doors open at 5:15, we are in the water promptly at 5:25)

Try Outs

Try outs will assess the following:

On Friday: general swimming knowledge & skill, current level of conditioning.

On Monday (& possibly extended to Tuesday): timed swims in high school competition events, current level of conditioning and overall speed.

I will be meeting with each individual swimmer during practices to discuss tryout results and training schedules. These meetings will take place during practice Tuesday morning and Wednesday afternoon.

Club Swimming/Swimming Out

New this year, club swimmers will be required to have one contact with the team each week. A contact is a practice or meet. With this new requirement, I will be reviewing each club swimmers request and making recommendations as to which Liberty practice(s) to attend.

Swimmers that train with their club must be able to prove their club attendance on a weekly basis. Individuals need to be prepared with a plan on how to best achieve this.

Tryouts begin Friday, November 4

We will have tryouts for all interested swimmers on Friday and Monday.  Fridays tryout will run from 3-4:30, Monday from 3-5:25.  We are awaiting administration approval on our training schedule and roster numbers and hope to have more information on Weds or Thursday.

Babysitting Volunteers Needed

Each year our team provides babysitting at 4 Olentangy Elementary Schools during Parent Teacher Conferences. This is a great fundraiser that helps fulfill our budget needs and provides a great service to community families. This year we ask that all swimmers & divers participate in 3 babysitting time slots and each parent help supervise once. There are 2 fall dates and 2 'spring' dates that you can choose from. Currently we are in great need for volutneers in the following positions:

• Liberty Tree
• Coordinators for each school
• A Coordinator to shadow Stephanie Blaine this fall and take over for her next year.

Please take a look at the schedule included in this week's team email and let us know where you can help!

Interested adults & divers should email Stephanie Blaine directly at blaine.stephanie@yahoo.com Swimmers can sign up at practice this Friday.

PASTA DINNER VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

We are in need of more volunteers to host and help with the team pasta dinners this year. While anyone is welcome to host, we normally ask senior parents to take on this responsibility and other parents to assist. Volunteers provide the food, drinks, paper plates, plastic utensils, cups, napkins, cooking and serving for the evening. Please look at the schedule included in the weekly team news and let Carrie Clay (Carrie.L.Clay@gmail.com or 614.329.3908) if you are able to volunteer. Please provide the date, whether you will host or help, your email and your phone number.

Thank you! We are hoping to provide fun and nutritious dinners to cheer on the team.