I just finished a letter to go home to parents, so if you haven't gotten it yet, here it is! Complete with links to the forms I'll need from every player. The season starts SO SOON! :D
Attached:
The Community Connections Form
The USAU Medical Form
(I need both of those filled out and returned to me in hard-copy)
February 20th, 2014
Dear Ultimate Frisbee Parents/Guardians,
The students are so eager for the Ultimate Frisbee season to
start, and honestly, so am I, which is why I'm already writing this
letter to you in February.
First a little news. While we've lost our beloved Dave
Bennett, many people have stepped forward to volunteer their help.
And good thing, too(!), because we're restructuring the program this
season. Instead of a Mixed A Team and a Mixed B Team, we'll be
separating out into what we're calling
Varsity Boys, Varsity
Girls, and Mixed JV. This season we'll also be playing mostly
teams within our “Region”, which includes St. Johnsbury Academy,
Lyndon Institute, BFA Fairfax, Spaulding, and ourselves. Each of
these other schools also plans to have a Varsity Boys, Varsity Girls,
and a Mixed JV Team, so that every time we travel or they come here
all three teams will have someone to play!
Nolan Benoit, who worked with the girl's team last year
will be our Varsity Girl's head coach, and
Olivia DeJohn will
be the head coach for the Mixed JV Team. I know that Nolan and Olivia
are both really excited for the season and I'm so thankful for their
help. Also helping out again as volunteers, will be
Leah Fury,
Bill Magill, Sean Prentiss, and
Aly Johnson-Kurts.
The other big piece of news is that just a couple weeks ago a
gathering of high school Ultimate coaches and players presented to
the Vermont Principal's Association to ask them to sanction Ultimate
as a state-wide varsity sport. They approved our request, which means
we now go into a two year “exhibition period” and if we have nine
schools that fund Ultimate in their school budgets at that point, and
all the other details of compatibility have gone well, then we'll be
the first state in the country to make Ultimate Frisbee an officially
recognized varsity sport! This is a huge step for us, and I'm so
thankful for the participation of
Julian Kelly, Alex Stetter, Ian
Browning, and Kia Hanron in that presentation!
Transportation: This year we have a more complete budget
through Community Connections (and next year through MHS), in which
we accounted for bussing to our games on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Two
events may be tricky to cover: the St. Johnsbury Invitational and
States. While parents are certainly encouraged to drive to each of
these events, I believe between the coaches and coaching assistants,
we should have all the drivers we need. If you plan on coming anyway
to either of these events it would be good to know, for the purposes
of our planning.
Paperwork:
Since this year we are still funded through Community Connections,
we'll need every student to fill out a
Community Connections
health form (attached to this sheet), even if they did one last
year.
The VPA hasn't taken over yet, and until they do we'll still need
students to be members of USAUltimate at http://www.usaultimate.org/.
-If your student is new to Ultimate: Your student will need
to set up a USAUltimate account. It may take 24hrs for their
database to assign your student's account a number, so when you can't
proceed right away that's probably why. I'll need to get that USAU
number from your student – an email is probably the easiest way to
let me know. Having a “current” account costs $35 (I think),
they'll need to sign a waiver online, and they need to fill out the
youth medical form (attached to this sheet) and give it back to me.
-If your student played Ultimate at MHS last year: Chances
are I have your student's USAU number, but if I don't I'll let them
know on a case-by-case basis. Regardless, your student will need to
to re-up their account (this costs something like $35 and you'll need
to sign a waiver online), and they'll need to fill out a youth
medical form (attached to this sheet). Lots of the information may be
the same as the Community Connections form, but I still need both. If
the $35 is a hardship, please let us know because we do have
scholarship money available.
Shirts: While your student could simply borrow a jersey for
the season, with a $20 deposit, students may also buy their jerseys.
This year jerseys will cost $35. Checks may be payable to Community
Connections, put Ultimate Jersey in the memo line.
We plan on camping again this year for the
St. Johnsbury
Invitational and so we may ask families to help out with the
camping fees, and students should also bring money for snacks for
that event, but we'll send along another letter as that time gets
closer.
Important Dates
Spring Sports Parent Meeting: March 19
th at 6pm at MHS.
This will be an opportunity for parents to get their student's
paperwork and memberships up to date.
Tryout Dates
For Boys: 6pm-7:30pm March 10-11, 13-14, 17-18, and 20. Please
make at least three of those dates.
For Girls: TBD
