Weekly Update 11/2/2014

Hello!

I can’t believe it’s finally that time…the official last week of the season! This Friday and Saturday (Nov. 7 & 8), Pinnacle swim and dive qualifiers will be competing in the Arizona D1 State Championships. I have sent in entries today and the psych sheet will be posted later in the week. It is going to be a fun and fast meet! The coaches are so proud of all the hard work put in by everyone this season. Many best times were achieved, new state qualifiers, and lots of smiles.

For the very few that will continue to train this week, practice will be from 5:30-6:30 pm every day. As we get further into the week, it may even be shorter than that (45 min or so). Thursday is a MANDATORY practice for all state qualifiers. We will be discussing information about the weekend and getting in the water to do some relay starts.  

For those of you that are not swimming this weekend, first of all, congratulations on a great season! We would love to have you come and support your teammates at the state meet this weekend! It will be held at Skyline High School (in Mesa) and start time of 2:30 pm (on both days).

Reminders:

PARENTS – attending State this weekend!  It will be extremely crowded, so I would plan on arriving early to secure a seat.  Entrance to meet  each day is $10 per adult and $6 for students with IDs. No coolers or chairs are allowed on deck. Hopefully, you will all be able to sit together!!

 Our team banquet will be held on Tuesday, December 2^nd at 6:00 pm at the Grayhawk Country Club. Remember to RSVP! Family and friends can bring money to Kelly LaPorte in the College and Career center.

GO PIONEERS!

Coach Paige

Weekly Update 10/19

Hello everyone!

I hope you are having a nice and relaxing mid-October weekend. It almost feels like Fall! This week is a busy week for Pinnacle swim & dive…

WEDNESDAY: we will NOT be practicing for our usual mandatory practice. Instead, we will be at the Tatman home having our annual team pasta party, 6:00-9:00 pm! Make sure you sign up to bring something! I reattached the sign up link to this email. I can’t wait to celebrate with you all!

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0C4BA4AD2CA75-potluck/22049069

Wednesday is also the district meet for the divers. Good luck divers!

THURSDAY: our LAST dual meet of the season! Boy, has time flown by. This meet will be against Notre Dame at McDowell Mountain Ranch (off Thomson Peak Rd). Remember, it is our superhero theme meet, so dress up as DC characters (batman, superman, wonder woman, green lantern, etc.)!!  You can wear your superhero gear to school (as long as school appropriate)!  We will be leaving right after school.

FRIDAY: PVUSD swimming invitational at Foothills Recreation Center. Only 33 swimmers will be travelling to this meet (see list below) and they will be excused from 6^th and 7^th period. We will meeting in our usual spot in the gym and will be leaving at 12:15 pm (right after lunch). THE WHOLE TEAM WILL WEAR POLOS! We probably won’t be back to school until about 5:30 pm, so pack accordingly. It is going to be a fast and fun meet! This is a state-qualifying meet, so for those of you that are close to consideration/automatic times, it will be important to stay healthy this week and have a positive attitude! Each and everyone of you are capable of achieving your goals and your coaches and teammates want to do everything to help you get there! Go Pioneers!

Samantha Fazio Ally Yancy Gabby Lizzul Julie Gibson Isabel Whited Grace LaPorte Hayley Hill Megan Klander Victoria Toris Kelsie Lane Zoe Rosin Jessica Williams Kennedy Forbes Paris Wierenga Faith Lauinger Grace Robinson Katrina Bearup

Jake Shaneyfelt Mitchell Tatman Steele Forbes Noah James James Hughes Ethan Klein Ryan Klein Aaron Apel Ryan Neill Danny Tatman Alex Broda Mike Headley Samuel Bolar Samuel Francis Cole Pallas Scott Mangiapane Blake Carter (alternate)

After the district meet on Friday, there is only the last chance meet (AMDG) on Nov. 1^st at Brophy. I will be speaking with individual athletes about attending this meet.

Wednesday, October 29^th will be our last practice as an entire team. We will be voting for captains for next season. 

THURSDAY, November 6th will be a MANDATORY practice for ALL state qualifiers. Practice time TBA. 

Our team banquet is December 2^nd, make sure you RSVP to the evite that Carol Schroedl has sent out. Carol, thank you so much for all your help!

Coach Paige

Weekly Update 10/12/2014

Hello!

I hope those of you who went to the Homecoming dance had a wonderful time! And thank you again to the Fazio family for hosting the t-shirt party in their home this afternoon! 

Things coming up this week:

Wednesday: mandatory practice. The last few Wednesday’s have been great, let’s keep it up!

Thursday: Last home dual meet and senior recognition night! After the meet, we will have a team dinner and celebrate our seniors at the pool! Please bring $3 to practice this week (by Wednesday) for pizza. Thank you to the senior parents who are organizing it!

Other important dates:

Oct 22^nd: Team pasta party at the Tatman house. More details to come on what to bring!

Oct 23^th: Last dual meet against Notre Dame at MMR. Theme meet: DC superheroes!

Oct 24^th: PVUSD meet at Foothills Recreation Center. There will be a select number of athletes that will attend (like an invitational). These athletes will be leaving after lunch on that Friday (excused from 6^th and 7^th period) for a 1:00 pm warm up and 2:30 pm start. I will be sending in entries by the end of this week.

Parents, we were assigned two lanes for timers so if there are four of you that would like to time, it would be much appreciated!  

Nov 1^st: AMDG last chance invitational at Brophy

Nov 7-8^th: AZ D1 State Championships. 12:45 pm check in, 2:30 pm start (both days)

SAVE THE DATE!! Our team banquet will on December 2^nd at 6:00 pm at the Grayhawk Country Club (same location as last year).  An evite will be sent out soon for parents/guests that would like to attend.

 Coach Paige

Weekly Update 10/5/2014

Good afternoon! 

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships." --Michael Jordan

Yesterday was a very successful day for Pinnacle! Girls came in 2^nd to Xavier and the boys came in 6^th! Several best times were achieved and most importantly, there was great racing! And that is what this sport is all about. A special shout out to the boys on the 200 and 400 free relays who dropped 3 seconds in both races and received considerations times! This is the best they have done during this part of the season.  There are still quite a few swimmers that are so close to consideration/automatic times…we have two more opportunities to do so at Districts and the Last Chance meet. Please talk with me, Jenny or Kyu about how we can help you achieve your goals, as well as meet our team goals of being a top 5 team in the state. I am so proud of all of you and the hard work that you put in, along with being such smart students. Don’t ever forget that you have a team, a pioneer family that cares about you and supports you!  

Reminders:

MANDATORY PRACTICE, Wednesday

Our Saguaro dual meet is on Thursday at Chaparral Pool. Remember that this will be more like an intersquad meet, since their team is so small. Also, don’t forget to email me an event or two that you would like to do. This is a great opportunity to try something new!

NO PRACTICE this Friday. I’ll be at the homecoming game, hope to see you there!

T-SHIRT PARTY:

This will be a fun, annual, team-bonding event! The captains and coaches would like everyone to attend!

When: October 12^th

Time: 12-3 pm

Where: Captain Sam Fazio’s house

6702 E Running Deer Trail (off Dynamite and Scottsdale Rd., Saguaro Highlands gated community, gate code 5555)

**Please bring $5 to practice on Wednesday for the t-shirts and give it to one of the captains!**

Lastly, the last dual meet (Oct 23) is going to be another theme meet. The meet will be Marvel superheroes vs DC superheroes. Notre Dame will be Marvel characters and we will be DC characters (Superman, Batman, Green lantern, Wonder Woman, etc.). I am letting you know now so that you can plan for a costume! While you are at the t-shirt party this Sunday, you can brainstorm, as a team, creative ways to be the DC superheroes. This week, at school, is the homecoming spirit week and Thursday is superhero day, so you could get stuff to wear for both days!  You are all superheroes in my book :)

Coach Paige

Weekly Update - September 28, 2014

Hello!

“Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens. Not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst…a spark that creates extraordinary results.” – Unknown 

I hope everyone had a GREAT and well deserved 4-day weekend! It should have been a great time to relax and refresh for this last month or so of high school swimming and diving. Despite both losses at Boulder Creek on Thursday, everyone still had great swims in what may have been their “off” events. I have a few things to remind you of for the upcoming week. 

Brophy/Xavier Invite on Saturday, October 4^th:

First of all, wishing our divers the best of luck, who will be competing in the invite on Friday!

For swimmers, please arrive at school on Saturday at 6:25 am. It will be warm again on Saturday so please bring lots of water, snacks, sunscreen, and a chair. You can bring a fast suit to wear but remember to bring your team suit to warm up in. The coaches saw some great racing at the Wolves invite, so let’s continue to keep in that race mode! We should be done by mid afternoon.  

The following is a list of those participating on Saturday:

Mitch  Steele Noah James Ethan Ryan K Ryan N Aaron Mike Blake Hunter Jake Alex Sam B Danny T Scott Cole Sam F.

Sam F. Ally Gabby Zoe R. Isabel Hayley Megan Jess Kelsie Samara Lexi R. Grace L. Paris Zoe H. Kennedy Grace R. Faith Katrina

Parents:  bleachers are limited with no shade. $5 admission fee. Also, we will need a few parents to help volunteer with timing. I have created a sign up table below, by hour, so that one parent doesn’t have to sit there the entire meet. Please hit “reply all” to this email so that everyone can see the current sign up sheet. Thank you for all your help and support!

Hour	Parent Timer
9-10 am
10-11 am
11-12pm
12-1 pm
1- to end of meet

Other things to know for this week:

• Practice TIME CHANGE just for TOMORROW, Monday Sept 29^th from 4:45-6:15 pm.

• We will do dryland Tuesday and Thursday this week

• Mandatory practice on Wednesday (as usual)! I have another fun circuit planned that will continue to spread us out and allow you to maximize your quality of work, as well as gain team camaraderie :) 

•  NO dual meet this week!

 See you on deck tomorrow!

Coach Paige

Weekly Update - September 21, 2014

Hello!

I have a plethora of information to share today but first I would like to say how proud the coaches are of everyone for their hard work and Pioneer spirit! We had two very successful meets this week! Thursday, the girls won against Arcadia and the boys had some great swims! Congratulations to both of our divers for winning each of their events!

Yesterday was the Wolves Invitational in Chandler and despite the hot and muggy weather, we had some PHENOMENAL swims from everyone. This was a qualifying meet for the high school state championships and there were many automatic and consideration times swam. Our divers Kaitlyn and Blaise, both qualified for state this week too! I am still waiting for final team scores. We have three more opportunities for athletes to qualify for state and a lot more work ahead of us including improving our technique and race strategies. Looking forward to another great month of racing!

HOUSEKEEPING:

Mandatory practice change to TOMORROW (Monday) due to the holiday weekend. We will practice from 6:30-8 pm.

Reminder: dual meet on TUESDAY this week against Boulder Creek in Anthem. Everyone will be traveling and we will be meeting in the usual place after school. Wear your polos!

We will have practice Wednesday but NO PRACTICE this Thursday or Friday. Enjoy your four-day weekend!

Parent volunteers needed for senior recognition night (Oct 16^th) and banquet (TBD). Please let me know if you are interested. Thanks!

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

Practice change for Monday, September 29^th. We will be practicing from 4:45-6:00 pm.

NO PRACTICE, Friday October 10^th, which is the homecoming football game.

Thursday, October 16^th, last home dual meet (Senior night)

Wednesday October 22^nd, from 6-8 pm, Pasta party (no practice)

Thursday, October 23^rd, last dual meet at Notre Dame.

Friday, October 24^th, PVUSD meet, time TBD (most likely after school)

On a last thought, 

“Believe you can and you are halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt.  

Have a great week :)

Coach Paige

Fundraising

Fellow Parents/Boosters:

We have done a great job of getting all the dues in.  The season has started strong in and out of the pool.

We did budget for more fundraising than has developed so far, however.  The consequence will be that any shortfall in that area will simply reduce the scholarship funds available for graduating seniors.  Hopefully, Captain Mike Headley's attached note below can inspire and inform more activity before the season winds down in November.

Thanks as usual for your support.

Todd LaPorte
Treasurer




Dear Parents,
On behalf of the team captains, I would like to thank you for being supportive and helpful at our swim meets! I know the swimmers all love it when they have friends and family show up to cheer them on! 
I also wanted to touch base with you about fundraising. As captains of the swim team, we are responsible for raising money for the team to cover certain costs that arise throughout the year. Normally we host fundraiser at restaurants, which we will still be doing, but they normally are modest in their results for the team. So as I talked about at the beginning of the year meeting, there is the way to donate to get deductions for your taxes. Anything would help the team out to making this a better year than any other! If you have any more questions about donating just send an email to Treasurer Todd LaPorte and we will help you the best we can!
Thank you, 
Michael Headley 

Weekly Update 9/14/2014

Good afternoon!

We have our 3^rd dual meet against Aracdia High School on Thursday. It is at El Dorado Pool which is located near Thomas and Miller (2301 N. Miller Rd
Scottsdale, AZ 85257).  Again, everyone will be traveling to this meet but not everyone will be swimming. We will meet in the usual location. Please wear your polos to school! Make sure you bring your swim stuff because we will warm up together (hopefully we won’t be late this time!). Also, the coaches would like to see more spirit and enthusiasm during the meet, while your teammates are competing.

This Saturday, we have our first swimming invitational in Chandler. Divers will be competing during the week. We wish the best of luck to Kaitlyn and Blaise! The following swimmers will be attending the meet on Saturday:

Aaron

Katrina

Sam Bolar

Alex

Lexi C.

Blake

Craig

Kennedy

Steele

Julie

Hayley

Mike

James

Noah

Megan

Ryan K

Kelsie

Grace L.

Faith

Gabby

Scott

Ryan N

Lexi R.

Grace R.

Zoe R.

Danny

Mitch

Victoria

Jake

Isabel

Paris

Jessica

Ally

Austin

Cole

Sam Francis

Sam Fazio

Please meet at the school at 5:45 am. It is going to be a VERY long & hot day. Come prepared with the following: a chair, a to-go breakfast (if you don’t want to eat when you wake up), water/Gatorade, brown bag lunch, lots of snacks and sunscreen. There will be a snack bar so bring cash as well! You may bring a racing suit, as long as it is FINA approved (we can ask an official). Also, no bikinis and no deck changing. Meet starts at 9:00 AM and probably won’t finish until late afternoon. Parents, if you would like to attend (highly recommended), it is located at Chandler High School.

Other reminder: progress reports come out this week and I will be checking grades. If you need any help, please come me and I will help you or direct you to someone who can. Academics come first! 

We are having an EXCELLENT season so far. The coaches are seeing small (or big) improvements every week! This week’s meets are a chance to set the tone for the state championships in November. Have fun and be confident in your abilities to compete like you never have before! Your coaches and your team believe in you! Go Pioneers!

Coach Paige

Weekly Update 9/7/2014

Hello!

We had a great meet last Thursday with a win for both the girls and boys. Your coaches saw great effort and some exciting personal bests! A shout out to our divers, Kaitlyn and Blaise, for placing 1^st and 2^nd, respectively! A HUGE thank you to all the parents who volunteered to time, set up, and clean up. You are very much appreciated!

Reminders for the week:

The rest of the apparel and caps will be coming this week. The coaches will pass them out on Wednesday.

PICTURE DAY is this Wednesday, September 10^th. Please arrive around 5:30 pm to take individual pictures. We will take the team picture after those have finished. Remember to wearyour team suit!!

The Brophy/Xavier dual meet is this Thursday at Brophy/Xavier. Again, the team will meet in the gym right after school. Wear your polos to school! We probably won’t arrive back to school until 6:30 or 7 pm (depending on traffic), so please make sure you are planning ahead with your homework. The whole team will be travelling to this meet, even though there are a limited number of spots for competition. The coaches are very excited to have the entire team there to support one another and represent the Pioneer family! This is going to be a very special dual meet because Brophy and Xavier have been great competitors for the past several years. Thursday will also be a good gauge of where we are at and what we still have to do to prepare for the rest of the season leading up to the state championships.

Parents, if you would like to attend, here is the address:

Brophy Aquatics Facility, 4701 N. Central Ave, Phx, Az 85012 (The aquatics facility is located in the NE corner of our campus)

Lastly, remember attendance is an important factor in getting better and establishing our line-ups for meets.

Looking forward to another great week! Go Pioneers!

Coach Paige

Weekly Update 9/1/2014

Hello!

It’s an exciting week for Pinnacle Swim & Dive! We have our first dual meet against Paradise Valley High School on Thursday!  The entire team will meet in the gym (E building) hallway and leave together right after school (around 2:30 pm). We will have snacks and water waiting for them before they board the bus. We should be arriving at the pool for warm up no later than 3:00 pm. We will be selling smoothies from Tropical Smoothie Café for $3.00, so invite your friends, family and neighbors to enjoy a smoothie and the first meet of the season!

Thank you to all those parents that volunteered to help with our home meets. The following are signed up for Thursday:

Lane 1: Sara Elich & ?? (Could not read handwriting)

Lane 2: Michele Sapero

Lane 3: Ken Reinstien

Lane 4: Nancy Lizzul & Tara Lauinger

Lane 5: Michele Fazio

Lane 6: Amber Kelly & Cheryl Johnson

• We still need a few more timers so that we have 2 per lane.

• Carol Schroedl has volunteered to help set up. If we could get one or two more to help with that, it would be much appreciated!

• Ken Apel will be our official for both meets, thank you! I will need someone to help with the score sheet (Ken or I can give you a quick run down before the meet starts).  

• Lastly, we need a runner to pick up timing sheets throughout the meet for the scorer.

If you are interested, please reply to this email. Again, the coaches and athletes are so grateful for all the parent support!

Reminder: Buses will be taking athletes back to school from the pool. However, if you plan on taking your athlete home from the meet on Thursday, you need to have a release form signed and turned into me beforehand. I attached a copy for you to print or you can find them on the Pinnacle athletics page. 

This WEDNESDAY: We are planning on receiving our t-shirts, caps, and swim suits by Wednesday, so if you can, please be there 15-20 minutes early (6:15ish), so that I can begin passing them out in an orderly fashion. Divers, you can either come back to pick them up or I can put them aside to give to you on Thursday.

Happy Labor Day! I hope you enjoyed the long weekend.

Go Pioneers!

Coach Paige

URGENT - AIA FEES DUE

Good evening!

I was informed by the the PHS athletic director (AD) that the $200 sports fee are due by this WEDNESDAY, 8/27. It is crucial that you pay the fee by this date or the AD will not let athletes in the pool. You may pay through the webstore online or write a check to PHS and bring it to the Finance office.

PRACTICE CHANGES:

• Fridays will now begin at 6:00 pm and go until 7:30 pm (7:00 pm on home football game days).
• NO practice next Monday, Labor Day.

Coach Paige 

Weekly Update 8/24/2014

Good morning!

I hope everyone is having a fun and relaxing weekend.  The amount of hard work being put in and out of the water has been great! Let’s keep it up! On Wednesday, I was very excited to see the team, as a whole, looking so strong and powerful. I’m sure Andrew can say the same for the divers! All the small details count towards achieving individual and team goals; whether it is giving 100% (not 95%) on fast swims or focusing on doing a perfect turn/dive. These first few weeks of the season are a crucial time for making sure technique and speed are a high quality.

A couple of things for the good of the order:

• Picture day CHANGE…Instead of having our picture day this Wednesday, we will be having it on Wednesday September 10^th. Please come to the pool at 5:30 pm to take individual pictures and then we will follow up with the team picture.

• We have 4 Invitationals (for limited swimmers and divers) scheduled for the following dates:

Wolves Invite at Chandler High School:

Boys Diving: Tuesday, Sept. 16th

Girls Diving: Wednesday Sept 17                                                                                        

All swimming: Saturday September 20th

Brophy/Xavier Invite at the NEW Brophy Aquatics Facility (really excited about this!):

All swimming and diving: Saturday October 4th

AMDG Invite at Brophy Aquatics Facility

This is on November 1st

More information on this one to come!  

District Meet - TBA

• We have 13 families who have still not paid the booster fee. Make checks payable to Pinnacle Swim & Dive Boosters. I am checking with the finance office for unpaid sports fee ($200). All fees are due by September 2^nd or you are in jeopardy of not competing on September 4^th.

• ATTENDANCE: In the first couple of weeks, I have noticed everyone is still sorting of their schedules and routines, but starting this week I must receive communication, in advance, from every swimmer regarding any practice they miss. To achieve our individual and team goals, I expect attendance at every practice.

See you on deck!

Coach Paige

Follow Up from 8/17/2014 Meeting

Hello!

Thank you again for taking the time (on your Sunday afternoon) to meet as a team! A lot was covered in a short amount of time but hopefully I cleared up any questions you may have had. If not, please don't hesitate to keep asking!

For those of you that were not able to make it today, I have attached a copy of the packet that was passed out. Athletes, fill out the "tell us about you" sheet and give it to any of the coaches at practice. (see Coach Paige's email),

Also attached, FOR EVERYONE, is the permission slip for athletes to leave with their parents after meets. Please print, sign, and bring back to me sometime this week. Thank you!

Fourth form down on the link below

http://www.pvschools.net/Page/3184

Fee reminders:

• $140 booster fee is due Sept 2nd to Mrs. LaPorte (if it wasn't turned today)
• $200 AIA sports fee (tax credit) is due by the end of this week to the finance office or online (see the link in the packet)
• Any donations to the team can be made on the school webstore under Tax Credit Donation Athletics (Swim Donation) for additional tax credit! 

Webstore Link

Pinnacle HS Webstore

Suit fitting/t-shirt fitting this Wednesday! Try to be there around 6:00 to start trying stuff on. 

Have a great week! 

Important Dates

August 20th - Suit fitting & the last day to join!

August 27th  – Team picture day

September 2nd- ALL fees due (booster & AIA)

Dual Meet Schedule:

September 4th, HOME vs PVHS 

September 11th @ Brophy/Xavier

September 18th @ Arcadia

September 23rd @ Boulder Creek

October 9th @ Saguaro

October 16th, HOME vs Liberty (Senior Meet!)

October 23rd @ Notre Dame

Invitationals:September 20th, Wolves Invite (Chandler High School)

TENTATIVE…
October 4th, Brophy/Xavier Invite (New Brophy/Xavier pool)

November 1st, AMDG Last Chance Invite (New Brophy/Xavier pool)

District Meet is TBD

Coach Paige 

Athlete and Parent Team Meeting - August 17, 2014

Good Morning! Happy Saturday morning ☺
We all made it through the first week of school and practices! I’m very encouraged by the team’s enthusiasm and camaraderie…and it’s just the first week!

A couple of reminders for TOMORROW:
•1pm in the school auditorium. Parents and athletes are required to attend! If you have already talked to me about not attending, I will send you information!
•Remember each family is encouraged to donate a box of healthy snacks and a case of water for meet days. You will be putting them in a storage room located in the auditorium as you come in.
•Bring a checkbook for the booster fee.

Athlete reminders:
•PLEASE bring water/Gatorade to practices! It is still very hot and sticky and it is very important to stay hydrated.
•Practice is not optional, it is mandatory; we will have practice EVERY Friday. I know it’s the start of the weekend but the season goes by very fast and all the time that we get in the water is very precious!
•Equipment: start bringing equipment bags if you have them! We have kickboards and a few pull buoys for the team to use. However, I would highly recommend purchasing your own pull buoy and a pair of fins. You can get them at most sports stores or SkiPro.

I will answer any questions you may have tomorrow. I look forward to see you all at the meeting!
Coach Paige