Good afternoon,

I hope everyone has enjoyed their well-deserved 5 day weekend! I can't believe it's almost over. We had a great meet against Arcadia on Thursday! The girls won 94-89 and the boys only lost by 2 points (86-84)! There was some great racing even though many of you are physically exhausted, but that's what makes you stronger mentally. We have a quick turn around with another meet on Tuesday, so keep that mental toughness; your bodies can do it, be sure your mind knows it can too!

This week's character quality is LOVE. Pinnacle swim & dive has always been about family. Families love and care for one another. Families make each other feel like they belong, that they are not alone. They are devoted and committed to making the family a better unit by meeting others needs first before their own. Most importantly they are compassionate and not self-seeking, they do what's best for the family/team. That's why I am proud to be a Pioneer. This week, focus on loving one another by being caring, devoted, and compassionate toward your teammates!

"Love is patient. It is kind. It does not envy, does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrong. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

Notes for this week:

- HOME Meet on Tuesday against Horizon. I mentioned earlier that this will be a double dual meet, in which there will be two meets running at the same time. I will explain more in detail before warm-ups. Please note below that our Kneaders fundraiser was changed to October 20th due to the NHS induction the same night. Parents: We will need help with timing again!! I am unsure of how many timers PV will be providing. Please be there 10-15 minutes before the meet starts at 4 pm so that we can assure the meet will start on time! Thank you in advance!
Athletes: Please wear your team t-shirts (true grit) all day on Tuesday! Meet in the usual spot after school.

- Mandatory practice will still be on Wednesday!

PV has another meet this week on Thursday, so we will have to practice later than usual. We will practice from 6:00 - 7:30 pm. Please bring shoes for dryland...we will do dryland before getting in the water. 

- Brophy/Xavier Swim Invite is this Saturday at Brophy (on campus). Please be at school by 6:30 am. Bring a folding chair, snack, water, sunscreen, etc.
The following athletes will be attending: Kennedy, Ally, Gabby, Zoe R, Grace R, Jess W, Jesse A, Lexi, Hayley, Emily F, Mickaela, Rachel R, Paris, Kelsie, Kaitlyn, Elisa, Isabel, Casey, Nicole, Faith Steele, Sam B, Ryan N, Blake, Danny T, Jack, Max, Hunter, Ryan K, Aaron, James, Matthew, Danny T, Ryan C, Sam F

Good luck to our divers competing on Friday!

Notes from Boosters/parents:

- BRAVO!!!! We had a great response to the Krispy Kreme Fundraiser. Due to your commitment we are able to purchase the 3/4 zip up jackets for the athletes. The coaches and captains will be collecting sizes this week. (Please check with your athletes to see if monies or cards have been returned to Mrs. LaPorte.
We have four families that have not turned them in. Also, we have about 50 extra cards if anyone is willing to sell).

- Next week, Oct 7th, is our Senior Meet and we will be celebrating our seniors with a pizza party after the meet. The cost will be $5.00. Please bring your money to practice and give it to Casey Allen by 10/06/15.

- Dropbox: Here is a link to a website where you "drop" (upload) any photos you have been taking throughout the season. There is a folder for this season. https://www.dropbox.com/en/login Username: carol.schroedl24@gmail.com Password: PHSSwim14

- Banquet volunteers: If you can help with any of these, please contact Carol at carol.schroedl24@gmail.com
*someone to gather Senior questionnaire answers for the program, and forward them to me all together. (We have the template saved from last year)
*someone to email senior parents to collect photos of their child for senior slide show. After collected forward them to me unless a senior parent would like to do the senior slide show themselves.
*someone to pick the cake up from Costco

Save the Dates:
Wednesday, Oct 7, Home Meet vs Campo Verde ( Senior Meet, Pizza Party )
Tuesday, Oct 20 ( Date Change ), KNEADERS, All you can eat French Toast fundraiser ( after meet against Chaparral )
Thursday, Oct 29, PASTA PARTY ( info coming )
 riday, Oct 30, DISTRICT MEET Saturday, Oct 31, Last Chance Invite Friday, Saturday, Nov 6 & 7, SWIM & DIVE STATE ( qualifiers )
Monday, Nov 30, SWIM & DIVE BANQUET ( info coming )

See you at the pool, Coach Paige

Update 9/20/2015

Good evening!

Congratulations to all those who participated in the Wolves invitational yesterday! There were many best times and most importantly, there was fantastic effort in our racing. The official results have not been posted online yet, but if you download the app "Meet Mobile" you can find all the team/individual results. Our girls team placed 2nd overall, behind Desert Vista. Our boys team came in 10th overall, which was a four spot improvement from last year! If scores were combined, Pinnacle swim and dive would have come in 3rd place. Great job! I am looking forward to our next invitational on October 2nd (diving) and 3rd (swimming) at Brophy.

Notes for this week:

Regular practice times on Monday-Wednesday, 4:45 pm - 6:30 pm.
Bring dryland shoes on Tuesday.
Wednesday is a mandatory practice for everyone.

AWAY MEET ON THURSDAY! It will be against Arcadia at El Dorado Pool (Address: 2301 N Miller Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85257) Everyone will be attending.
Since there is no school on Thursday, please plan to be dropped off at school NO LATER than 2:20 pm so that we can leave on time. The bus will take us back to school. Wear your POLOS! This is going to be a very competitive meet! Yesterday, our girls team only beat them by 23 points yesterday and our boys only beat them by 10 points.
No practice Friday!

Next Tuesday, 9/29, we have another home meet against Horizon (this was changed from the original schedule). It will be a double dual meet, which means we will run 2 heats of each event (1 for each meet). I will talk to the PV coach about splitting the need for timers, since we are both "hosting." I was informed that this is also the NHS induction night. Please let me know if you will be attending that.

Update from Boosters:

BRAVO!!!! We had a great response to the Krispy Kreme Fundraiser. Due to your commitment we are able to purchase the 3/4 zip up jackets for the athletes. The coaches and captains will be collecting sizes over the next few weeks. (Please check with your athletes to see if monies or cards have been returned to Mrs. LaPorte. We have a few families that have not turned them in. Also, we have about 25 extra cards if anyone is willing to sell).

See you at the pool!

Coach Paige

Character Quality of the Week

Webster's definition of Hardworking is, "using a lot of time and energy to do work".

That is a very simple definition for such a meaningful word. I believe it is one of the most important qualities that we will discuss. Hardwork is more than just earning your way to successes and victories; it's the journey of getting there, no matter how long it takes. Laziness and complacency will not help you achieve your goals. What you put in, is what you will get out.

As a distance swimmer, I remember finishing an 8,000 yd workout feeling absolutely exhausted afterward yet so euphoric. I gained more than just physical endurance and strength…I gained character. Those types of workouts gave me the confidence to complete the 1000 yd freestyle, 200 yd fly and 500 yd freestyle in a two hour time frame during my college dual meets. In return, I contributed points to our team score. Even if I didn't get the personal best time that I wanted (long term goal), I was helping put my team in a position to win the meet (short term goal).

Whatever your task is, big or small, put your whole heart and soul into it. I promise you will be rewarded. Sometimes it may not be in the way you want it to be, but it will strengthen your character and give you hope.

"Ability will get you there, but character will keep you there."

Coach Paige

Weekly Update - September 13, 2015

There is A LOT of important information in this week's update so I am going to get straight to business and send out another email later about the character quality of the week :)

1) 1st HOME MEET is this Thursday, 9/17, 4:00 pm start time.
This will be a TRI meet against Scottsdale Christian Academy and Coronado, which means each team will get 2 lanes in each scoring heat. Since our team is so large, and I want everyone a chance to race, I will be providing extra exhibition heats of most events (more than usual).

WE NEED PARENT HELP! ( send email to klaporte@pvlearners.net if able to help ) - 12 TIMERS (so far...Jamie Roberson, Kristen Bolar, Kelly Neill, Sara Elich, Laura Fitzgerald, Ken Reinstein, Marie Hughes, Janiece Oebker, Jim Oebker) - HEAD TIMER - RUNNER ( picks up score cards at each lane, at end of each event ) - 1-2 parents for set up and take down - Need 2-3 sports pop-up tarps to borrow for meet 

**IMPORTANT** practice schedule changes:
There are 3 home meets at the pool this week between all three of the schools that share it. This means that we will have move our practice time to a later time slot on Tuesday and Wednesday. We will be sharing the pool with another team from 6:15pm-8:00pm, just for those two days! Because of our size team, we may not be able to share the pool with other team on Wednesday and get an effective workout in...so, I am going to encourage the club swimmers to practice with their team on Wednesday afternoon. HOWEVER, there will be a MANDATORY team meeting at the start of our practice around 6:15 pm to discuss the upcoming meets.

2) WOLVES INVITATIONAL For the divers, it is Wednesday 9/16 at Chandler High School For the swimmers, it is Saturday 9/17 at Chandler High School. We will be leaving school at 6:15 AM! Chandler HS: 350 N. Arizona Ave. Chandler, AZ
There are three PDFs attached to this email. The 'Wolves entry report by team' is a list of all athletes attending. Pinnacle is on page 57-58. You can check this list to see if you are going and what events you will be swimming. The other two documents are a psych sheet (where you are seeded based on times) and a timeline for the day. We will be done around 1:30 pm. For those of you going: please bring a folding chair, plenty of snacks and drinks, towels, extra goggles (just in case), and lots of Pioneer pride!

3) FUNDRAISING!!
** Krispy Kreme $$$ is due this WEDNESDAY, 9/16** We need all cards sold to meet budget ! ( Check with employers, churches, clubs, grandparents, etc... ) Money needs to be returned to Mrs. LaPorte in the College Center

4) SAVE THE DATE: Tuesday, 9/29 from 5-8 pm (this will be after our meet against Horizon which has been changed to a home meet!)

TEAM FUNDRAISING DINNER AT KNEADERS ( Hayden & Northsight ) All you can eat cinnamon french toast $5.59 All of it returns to PHS swim & dive! Invite your friends and family! Hope you are having another great 3 day weekend!

Coach Paige

Weekly Update - 7 September 2015

Happy Labor Day!

I hope everyone enjoys their day off...we have lots coming up in the month of September :)

The coaches and I are so proud of how noble everyone was at Thursday's meet. We were very impressed at how you honored the opposing team through great sportsmanship, as well as saying thank you to the bus driver and your coaches. I was personally ecstatic about all of the personal bests! When you stay focused in your training, you can do outstanding things!

This week's character quality is Trust. Trust is something that is not earned immediately, it takes time to become worthy. But when trust is established (in a relationship, a team, a classroom), it brings great harmony to that group of people. Most importantly, make sure you are trusting yourself. During practice, trust your body that it can endure more pain that you could ever imagine and that your body knows that correct technique (after practicing it over and over again). On a meet day, trust that your training has put you in a position to excel and reach new limits. lastly, trust your teammates and your coaches that they will be by your side every step of the way! This week we have a meet against two of the best teams in the state, Brophy and Xavier. For the swimmers, I will be organizing the line up (a little differently than last week) to give us the best opportunity of winning, which means not everyone will be able to swim. I want to remind you that this is a very competitive team and our goal is to put ourselves in a position that will give the best results. Having said that, this is a learning experience and in order for new comers to grow, they need to be competing. At meets against smaller schools, such as last week, most swimmers will be swimming at least one individual event. No matter what the line up looks like, your coaches expect everyone to be at each meet supporting one another and cheering the team on!

We will ALL meet in the same location (E building) after school for the buses to pick us up at 2:30 pm. On Thursday, wear your new navy blue t-shirts (not polo) to school/meet (If you have not received it yet, I will pass them out at practice on Tuesday).

Location: Brophy College Prep...4701 N Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85012

Important Upcoming Dates:
September 14th: No school, NO practice
September 16th: Krispy Kreme monies are due to Mrs. LaPorte in the college & career center. You can turn them in sooner than that.
Also, the diver will be competing at the Wolves invitational!
September 19th: Wolves Swimming Invitational, more details to come. This will be a selected group
September 23rd-25th: No school...we WILL have practice on Wednesday the 23rd because we have an away meet on Thursday the 24th!!

Go Pioneers!!!

Wow! What a FANTASTIC first meet last night against Sandra Day O'Connor (still waiting on final scores). The coaches and I saw some great racing against our opponent and each other! We are so proud of you and many have come so far in just a few short weeks. We still have the whole season ahead of us!

My favorite part of the whole meet was seeing the camaraderie and the way you cheered for your teammates; you guys did a great job of having Pioneer spirit! On that note, please make sure you that you are keeping that spirit alive until the very end...the very last 400 fr relay. That means waiting to change and waiting to go home with a parent until the meet is over. We are a team! Go Pioneers!

TONIGHT: We will be done with practice around 6 so that you can attend the team BBQ at Grace's house! 

Address: 5453 E. Danbury Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85254 (it's about 5 min from the pool)

MONDAY: NO PRACTICE!

See you later!

Coach Paige