Spfld Newsletter/Practice Schedule June 27-July 4, 2022
Academy Bullets Springfield - Stronger Together!
Practice Schedule – June 27-July 4
The single most important factor for continued improvement is consistent practice attendance!
Monday – June 27
Bee Bees – No practice
IncrediBullets – No Practice
Bronze – 5:15-6:15 pm at Nelson Center
Silver I -5:15-6:45 pm at Nelson Center
Silver II – 5:15-7:15 pm at Nelson Center
Gold – 5:00-7:15 pm at Nelson Center
Tuesday – June 28
Bee Bees - 5-5:40 pm at Eisenhower
IncrediBullets – 5:00-5:45 pm at Eisenhower
Bronze – 5:00-6:00 pm at Eisenhower
Silver I - 5:30-7:15 pm at Eisenhower (Dryland 5:30 pm, Swim 5:45 pm)
Silver II- 7:45-8:45 am at Nelson AND 5:00-7:15 pm at Eisenhower (Dryland 5:00 pm, Swim 5:30 pm)
Gold - 7:45-8:45 am at Nelson AND 5:00-7:15 pm at Eisenhower (Dryland 5:00 pm, Swim 5:30 pm)
Wednesday – June 29
Bee Bees – No Practice
IncrediBullets – 5:15-6:00 pm at Nelson Center
Bronze - 5:15-6:00 pm at Nelson Center
Silver I – 5:15-6:45 pm at Nelson Center
Silver II - 5:15-7:15 pm at Nelson Center
Gold - 5:00-7:15 pm at Nelson Center
Thursday – June 30 - Fundraising Through Fitness Event (See event details below)
Bee Bees – 5:30 pm at Eisenhower
IncrediBullets – 5:30 pm at Eisenhower
Bronze – 5:30 pm at Eisenhower
Silver I - 5:30 pm at Eisenhower
Silver II- 7:45-8:45 am at Nelson AND 5:30 pm at Eisenhower
Gold - 7:45-8:45 am at Nelson AND 5:30 pm at Eisenhower
Friday – July 1 - Water Slide Friday
Bee Bees – No practice
IncrediBullets – No Practice
Bronze - 5:15-6:15 pm at Nelson
Silver I – 5:15-6:45 pm at Nelson
Silver II - 5:15-7:15 pm at Nelson
Gold - 5:00-7:15 pm at Nelson
Saturday – July 2
Bee Bees – 9:15-10:00 am at Eisenhower
IncrediBullets – 9:15-10:00 am at Eisenhower - Starts and Turns practice
Bronze – 9:00-10:00 am at Eisenhower - Starts and Turns practice last 45 minutes of practice
Silver I – 8:45-10:00 am at Eisenhower - Starts and Turns practice last 45 minutes of practice
Silver II - 8:00-10:00 am at Eisenhower - Starts and Turns practice last 30 minutes of practice
Gold - 8:00-10:00 am at Eisenhower - Starts and Turns practice last 30 minutes of practice
Sunday – July 3
Bee Bees – No practice
IncrediBullets – No Practice
Bronze – No Practice
Silver I – No Practice
Silver II - No Practice
Gold - No Practice
Monday – July 4 - Happy Independence Day/ 4th of July!
Bee Bees – No practice
IncrediBullets – No Practice
Bronze – No Practice
Silver I – 8:30-9:30 am Dryland at Lincoln Park/Nelson Center (with treats after practice)
Silver II - 8:30-9:30 am Dryland at Lincoln Park/Nelson Center (with treats after practice)
Gold - 8:30-9:30 am Dryland at Lincoln Park/Nelson Center (with treats after practice)
Practice Changes This Week
Wednesday, June 29 - Bronze practice added 5:15-6:00 pm at Nelson Center
Thursday, June 30 - Fitness for Fundraising Event - 5:30 pm See details below.
Monday, July 4 -
Bee Bees, IncrediBullets, Bronze - No Practice
Silver I, Silver II, Gold - Dryland Practice 8:30-9:30 am at Lincoln Park/Nelson Center
Paint the Street Event - Wrap-up
Wow.. what a fantastic day for our Bullets’ swimmers. Thank you to everyone for attending the Paint the Street event last Saturday. I think our group had the most fun of everyone there and our incredible team spirit was on display for everyone to see. A very special thank you to the Guillotte family for buying tacos for all our swimmers and families - what an incredible gesture! Thank you also to Addison Wherley for being our artistic leader for the project…Our wonderful painting would not have come out as well without your guidance!
Be sure to join us in future events we host/attend so you too can be a part of the fun!
Reminder - Swim Meets Added to the Schedule
The following meets have been added to our summer schedule and we hope everyone takes advantage of these meet opportunities These meets will provide all of our Springfield Bullets’ swimmers additional opportunities to swim in low pressure meets in Springfield (intrasquad meets) and in Decatur (Turbo Turtle meet August 15). We encourage all of our Springfield Bullets’ to swim in as many of these meets as they can. REMEMBER - Meets are in important component for your swimmer and for our team as a whole.
July 5 - Intrasquad Meet at Eisenhower Pool Warmups 5:00 pm Meet Starts at 5:30 pm - Click HERE to register.
July 12 - Intrasquad Meet at Eisenhower Pool Warmups 5:00 pm Meet Starts at 5:30 pm - Click HERE to register.
July 26 - Intrasquad Meet at Eisenhower Pool Warmups 5:00 pm Meet Starts at 5:30 pm - Click HERE to register.
August 14 - Turbo Turtles End of Summer Meet at Decatur Country Club Warm-ups 8:00 am Meet Starts at 9:10 am - Click HERE to register.
Water Slide Practice - Friday, July 1st
On Friday, June 17 we will have a special water slide practice at Nelson Center. Swimmers will be allowed to use the water slide the last 15 minutes of their scheduled practice time. Be sure to attend practice on Friday - This was a huge hit when we did this a couple weeks ago,
Special Starts and Turns Practice - Saturday, July 2nd at Eisenhower Pool
We are running a special starts and turns practice on Saturday, June 25 at Eisenhower Pool. We hope our swimmers will take advantage of this great opportunity, The schedule is as follows:
IncrediBullets – 9:15-10:00 am at Eisenhower - Starts and Turns practice
Bronze – 9:00-10:00 am at Eisenhower - Starts and Turns practice last 45 minutes of practice
Silver I – 8:45-10:00 am at Eisenhower - Starts and Turns practice last 45 minutes of practice
Silver II - 8:00-10:00 am at Eisenhower - Starts and Turns practice last 30 minutes of practice
Gold - 8:00-10:00 am at Eisenhower - Starts and Turns practice last 30 minutes of practice
Fundraising Through Fitness – Thursday, June 30th at Eisenhower Pool
This year’s Fundraising Through Fitness event will take place on Thursday, June 30th at Eisenhower Pool. We will start activities at 5:30 pm for all practice groups and will have treats for all the swimmers when they finish. Everyone should have received an email at the beginning of the month describing this event. I have included it below for your reference.
In 2020, rather than having our customary Swim-A-Thon fundraiser, we created a new event called Fundraising Through Fitness ! This event was a rousing success and really sparked our team members into action with the goal of assisting our swim club. We are planning some fun activities and cool prizes around this event for the kids, so we hope to see you all there!
While the COVID-19 pandemic is hopefully moving towards its conclusion, it’s impact still has a lingering effect on the Academy Bullets Swim Club. Due to our inability to host traditional meets, decreased membership numbers due to facility limitations, and increased pool rent, we have made some very hard decisions over the past 12 months - such as cutting pay for our coaching staff - to keep kids in the pool and offer as much programming as possible to our membership.
The Fundraising Through Fitness event will be held the last week of June after the Nashville Summer Sizzler. The exact date depends on each individual site and will be posted in the next few days on your site calendar. Fundraising Through Fitness is like a walk-a-thon where swimmers collect pledges for doing a certain number of rounds of their dryland exercises in a given time period.
FAQ’s-
How do supporters pledge? Donations can be made online starting June 8, 2021 (there is a $3.95 online processing charge) or can be given to you via cash/check payable to Academy Bullets Swim Club.
Each swimmer can set up an online profile for our Fundraising Through Fitness event and send emails from their page. In the next few days, you will receive additional emails with instructions on how to set up your swimmer’s online profile. There are two ways for people to support you:
1. Pledge a certain amount each round completed.
2. Pledge a flat amount regardless of how many rounds the athlete completes (recommended).
What are the Prizes? There will a prize for every swimmer who participates in Fundraising Through Fitness . There will be additional prizes from the Academy Bullets Swim Club for swimmers who collect a higher level of pledges. These prizes can be found below:
Tops 3 Donation Earning Families across the whole team
1. $300 in Speedo Gear
2. $200 in Speedo Gear
3. $150 in Speedo Gear
Top earning family at each site - $ 100 in Speedo gear (Top 3 earning families are exempt from this prize level.)
$600 = Speedo Parka (with team and name customization)
$450 = Speedo Backpack/Duffel Bag
$300 = NEW Speedo Hoodie
$200 = Speedo T-Shirt
Swimmers will only qualify for the highest-level prize above that they achieve.
All participants will receive a Bullets push-pop.
What do we do on the day of Fundraising Through Fitness? Swimmers will attend a time with their practice group. This information will be provided by each individual Head Site Coach in the next few days. Swimmers in IncrediBULLETS & Bronze Team will have ten (10) minutes to complete as many rounds of the dryland routine as possible. Swimmers in Silver 1 & Silver 2 Team will have twenty (20) minutes to complete as many rounds as possible. Swimmers in Gold, Senior, & Elite Teams will have thirty (30) minutes to complete as many rounds as possible. Athletes may take breaks as needed. We want this to be a fun event for the kids.
General Schedule for Fundraising Through Fitness
1. Dynamic Warm-up (15 minutes)
2. Short Team Dryland Session (15 minutes)
3. Fundraising Through Fitness Activity
IB & Bronze Silver 1 & 2 Gold, Senior & Elite
# Rounds in 10 min. # Rounds in 20 min. # Rounds in 30 min
10 Jumping Jacks 10 Jumping Jacks 10 Jumping Jacks
10 Squats 10 Squats 10 Squats
10 Lunges 10 Lunges 10 Lunges
10 Side Jumps 25 Side Jumps 25 Side Jumps
4. Post Fundraising Through Fitness treat as groups finish (i.e. popsicles or other pre-packaged treat).
What is the minimum Family Requirement? As stated in all registration materials and on the online registration for the LC season, each family is required to collect $100 in pledges. Those families who do not reach the minimum level of pledges will have the remainder billed to their account in August.
When are the Pledges Due? July 14, 2021. All money should be turned in or processed online by July 14, 2021 at 11:59 pm.
What if we can’t attend our scheduled time for Fundraising Through Fitness? We can work with swimmers who are unable to attend their assigned time for their group. Please let your Head Site Coach know if you are unable to make your time but would still like to participate.
If you have any questions about this event, please contact Bill Schalz ( b.schalz@academybullets.com ) or Kelly Capen ( k.capen@academybullets.com ).
With your continued support, Fundraising Through Fitness will help to ensure that we can continue to offer programming for our athletes and have the Academy Bullets Swim Club be the place to be for your children.
REMINDER - Stay Hydrated - Bring Water Bottles to Practice
It is always important for our swimmers to stay hydrated but I want to remind everyone of the urgent importance during the heat we are currently experiencing. All swimmers should be bringing water bottles to practice each day filled with cold water. Please put your name on the water bottle so it is easily identified by your swimmer. Also, no sharing of water between swimmers as we don’t want to share any potential sicknesses.
Reminder - Safe Sport Training Through USA Swimming – Online Courses
THANK YOU to those of you who spent a few minutes and took the Safe Sport Program classes for parents & athletes. We greatly appreciate your support in helping us educate and protect our members.
WE NEED MORE HELP FROM EVERYONE
If you have yet to take the below courses, please take a few minutes and do so now. We need to have a minimum of 10% of both to even be in consideration for membership in the Safe Sport Recognition Program. Currently, we are about 20 parents and 20 swimmers SHORT of achieving this goal. We can't do this without your help and support.
PLEASE follow the instructions below. I know some of you have taken similar courses before - officials and athletes 18 and older that have taken Safe Sport or APT (Athlete Protection Training). This is something different and those courses do not transfer over for this recognition program.
1. If you are an athlete member - GO HERE. The course is called "Safe Sport for Minor Athletes Online Course".
2. If you are a parent - GO HERE. The course you will want to take is called "Parent's Guide to Misconduct in Sports".
2. If you are a current registered member, there is a link for you. For those not members, you will need to CREATE AN ACCOUNT on the
USA Swimming Learn platform.
3. Please fill in all of the required personal information and be sure to select “ILLINOIS SWIMMING” as your LSC and "Academy Bullets
Swim Club" for your club.
4. Select “Courses” on the top taskbar.
5. Click the “Parent’s Guide to Misconduct in Sport” or “Safe Sport for Athletes” box and follow the directions until completion.
6. If you are a current member of USA swimming, whether a parent or an athletes, please use your login information and navigate to
the Safe Sport Training Area for these exercises.
Thank you to everyone for your help with this matter! It is extremely important and we hope that everyone will take the time to make the Academy Bullets Swim Club a safe place for all. Please let me know if you have any questions. Go Bullets!
New Swimmers Always Welcome - Invite Your Family and Friends to Join Our Team
Know anyone that might be interested in joining our Bullets’ family? We accept new swimmers throughout the year and right now is a great time to join. Please pass our information on to family and friends and have them fill out our new interested swimmer form HERE . They can also get information from our new swimmer information sheet HERE We always accept new swimmers.
We also are hosting new member tryouts/placements every Thursday at 6:00 pm at Eisenhower Pool. If they cannot come on Thursday, please have them contact me by email at j.skeels@academybullets.com to arrange for another day/time.