Welcome to the Sunnyvale Rockets-Jr. PeeWee Blog! This Blog will be used throughout the 2014-2015 Season to assist in effective communication between Coaches, team and parents. We will work to update frequently with important events and reminders.
Great job today to the Junior Pee Wee ladies! Their stunts are starting to look amazing!
Uniforms were handed out today at practice!
Certification Reminder:
We will NO LONGER be meeting at 5:15 for carpools due to low participation in needing rides. This means EVERYONE is responsible for meeting at Santa Clara Fairgrounds tomorrow by 6AM. Do NOT be late. Any late arrival will receive Start Jump Punishment Tuesday at practice.
For specific details such as what to wear, please read previous posts.
Parking is 5 dollars Cash.
Team Bonding:
This will follow right after Certification. Due to a later start than usual for being certified, this team bonding will go until roughly 1pm. We will be providing a light lunch as well as a light breakfast.
I highly suggest to bring something comfortable so that they are able to run around for activities we will be doing.
JAMBOREE CHANGE
The time for the game SUNDAY AUGUST 1st will be at 4pm @ Menlo Atherton High School
Arrival times will be 3pm! Please do not be late.
I do want to apologize that this change is a big difference from originally being 10am, but please be understanding that I am solely the messenger. As a volunteer Head Coach, I too have to adjust to all the changes on this schedule including work and school schedules. I am understanding if previous plans were made (only for this game) but do keep in mind that Pop Warner only allows 3 absences from games or your child will not be able to compete.
WHAT TO WEAR at Jamboree:
Skirts with game tops. GAME TOPS NEED SPORTS BRAS UNDER.
Low Cut Socks with White/Black Shoes. The same shoes used for Certification. I highly suggest to purchase some black or white shoes that are comfortable for running in because they will be what the girls are expected to wear at all games.
Hair in High Pony Tails.
Game Entrance for spectators is 10 Dollars. Girls will get in for free
Side Note:
I just want to commend the girls again for the progress they are making. They amaze me everyday and I know that this work extends through the parents for all their help and continued help with making this a successful season. I feel that we are headed in the right direction and the possibilities are endless. Keep up the great work!
First, I want to start with thanking everyone for sticking around for the League Meeting although it was cancelled last minute. I greatly appreciate that!
We reviewed many points during circle up that are found more in depth in previous posts so please read below if you need a refresher.
Items worth reviewing:
Mandatory Certification!!! Santa Clara Fairgrounds: Address: 344 Tully Rd, San Jose, CA 95111 Carpools Meet at Fair Oaks Park (where we practice) at 5:15am. Cars will head out by 5:30am. If you are running late PLEASE call me prior to 5:15am. If you are choosing to meet us there, you NEED to be there by 6 AM Wear: Black cheer shorts, White Shirts, Black or White low cut shoes, Hair in high pony tail or buns. PLEASE WEAR YOUR WARM UPS TO CERTIFICATION OVER YOUR BLACK AND WHITE CLOTHES PARKING IS 5 DOLLARS PER CAR. HIGHLY ENCOURAGE CARPOOLING, ESPECIALLY SINCE BONDING WILL TAKE PLACE RIGHT AFTER CERTIFICATION.
TEAM BONDING!! Location: See E-mail
When: Right after Certification. Pick up time will be 12:30pm Feel free to bring any items such as small snacks or sides. Keep in mind we have 2 peanut allergies! This is a GREAT opportunity for the girls to spend quality time with girls on their team. In my 18+ years of experience within all different fields of cheer, it is much more enjoyable for all (parents, children and coaches alike) when they invest time into the relationships that connect to cheer. We will be providing breakfast as well as coordinating small activities. This is a CHEERLEADER only event. Sorry parents! But we will be planning a family get together in the near future.
NEW INFORMATION
GAME SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 1ST- JAMBOREE Girls arrival time is 8:30am in Menlo Atherton High School. Exit is Middle Field RD off 280. For parents, game starts at 10am. Girls NEED to arrive ON TIME in order to cheer at the game. Failure to attend games will result in 3 demerits. I want to note that if a child misses more than 3 games throughout the entire season, they will NOT be able to compete. I am aware that this information was relayed a little last minute, so PLEASE communicate with me immediately if there is a problem. I need sufficient notice to excuse any absences.
PRACTICES FOR NEXT WEEK: No Monday- For Labor day We have a new location for practices ! Ortega Park. This will also be enclosed in e-mail sent out. Practices will be: Tuesday- Ortega- 6-8:15pm Thursday- Fair Oaks Park: 6-8:15pm Friday- Ortega- 6-8:15pm NO PRACTICE SATURDAY Next week starts our 3 day weeks of practices, dropping us to 6 hours a week. This means we will be expecting the girls to review at home on days off and to come ready to work to make up for the extra hours. Also note that games will be starting on a weekly basis. I will try to get more information ASAP on locations, dates, and times. Practices from here on out will be Monday, Wednesday, Friday. This is due to location. They will ALL be at Ortega Park starting the week of September 9th.
UNIFORMS: Uniforms are IN and we will be handing them out at tomorrow's practice (FRIDAY AUGUST 30th). In order to receive your child's uniform, a parent or guardian WILL need to sign off that they received what they ordered. We will be available for signatures before practice and after practice. If your child is getting picked up by another parent please e-mail me so that we can make other arrangements. Buyout Reminders: If you did not purchase/sell 4 or more tickets for the fundraiser, a 60 dollar mandatory buy out will be due no later than September 3rd at practice. Failure to pay the buyout will result in your child sitting out. Practice is STILL mandatory and this is not a valid excuse for your child to not attend practice. I am not a huge supporter of girls sitting out for punishment, but I do feel it is the best way to approach this issue. This buyout and fundraiser was mentioned since the 1st week of practice and the due date was August 19th. September 3rd is more than enough time for the funds to be collected. As always, Contact me if there are any questions in regards to this.
Here are some IMPORTANT updates that were discussed at practice
Certification: See more information below. We asked about who will be needing a carpool and who will be wanting to drive. I mainly requested for girls to ask parents and come with an answer for practice Thursday. There will most likely be a parking fee. By carpooling we SAVE money. I like to save money so carpooling is a great option.
Team Bonding: I want to make this mandatory. It is in place of practice time on Saturday. Your coaching staff will be providing a breakfast which the girls may help cook depending on how we are going to go about it. Girls are more than welcome to bring food to contribute. Suggestions for items include fruit, juices, or small items that girls can snack on throughout (chips, vegetables, etc) Please remember we have a couple NUT ALLERGIES. Do not bring anything that may contain nuts.
Lay out for Saturday's Schedule.
5:15am- Meet at Fair Oaks Park
5:30am- Leave Fair Oaks Park to meet at Fairgrounds
6:00am- Arrive at Santa Clara Fairgrounds (If I have a parent that volunteers for small snacks/fruit for the girls that would be AWESOME)
Certification occurs some point between 7-9am. If we all get there early and are prepared, we can make this nice and smooth.
9:15am (If we finish on time) Leave Fairgrounds for Team Bonding (Address will be e-mailed)
9:30/9:45am Arrive at Team Bonding
945am-12:30pm- Team Bonding activities including breakfast I HIGHLY encourage participation at the Team Bonding. It is HUGE that I am allowing a team bonding instead of a practice. The coaching staff has discussed that practice might be a bit much for the girls after certification, but a team bonding is perfect. It creates the opportunity for the girls to come together and really see themselves as a TEAM.
Game: Sunday there IS a game. It is our FIRST game. Attendance is MANDATORY to ALL games. Failure to attend games or to show up late will result in demerits earned. I was asked a great question last night if the information will always be this late. I wish I could say no, but it really does happen quite often. We do our best to get the information out, BUT it changes so frequently and because we are working with other leagues for games, it is practically out of our hands. Please bare with us and know that I am keeping you as informed as I can.
Uniforms: This season for games we will be wearing our skirts and game tops. We are hoping to have these ready Saturday. Jackets will be MANDATORY to bring to all games. We may be collecting uniforms after all games so that girls do not have pieces go missing.
Practices Next Week: After Labor day, practices shift to only 6 hours a week as opposed to 10. That means only 3 days instead of 5. Awesome! But that also means less practice time, so we need to make sure those practices are just as effective. The schedule for next week will be TUESDAY, THURSDAY, AND FRIDAY. The location MAY be at an indoor facility so please stay up to date. NO MONDAY AND SATURDAY. This is JUST for next week. It is set up to give you Labor Day off to spend with the family. Practices after next week will be released on Friday. I am waiting to hear about locations for remainder of the season. Commend on Hard Work: These girls are working hard at practice and out of practice. It is not going unnoticed! I am very proud of these girls and could not ask for a better bunch this year. They impress us everyday (even if we have to push them to get there). That goes all way through to the parents. Thank you for getting your daughter out there and being on top to make sure they succeed. We really are teaching skills and helping build character to make them successful in all that follows cheer. Everyone, Keep up the great work!
I wanted to Provide the girls a Chance to check out this video. I will eventually be showing this video at practice, but I want them to see what cheer really entails and that they are on their road to success.
This movie STILL gives me the chills. I have provided you with the wording for it, because I LOVE it. It still motivates me on the daily.
Life is tough. That's a given. When you stand up you're going to be shoved back down. When you're down, you're going to be stepped on. My Advice doesn't come with a bunch of bells and whistles. It's no secret, you'll fall down, you'll stumble, you'll get pushed, you'll land square on your face. Every time that happens you get back on your feet as fast as you can. No matter how many times you need to do it. Remember this:
Success has been and will be continued defined as getting up one more time than you've been knocked down. If experience has taught me anything, it's that nothing is free and living ain't easy. Life is hard. REAL hard. INCREDIBLY hard. You fail more often than you win. Nobody is handing you anything. It's up to YOU to puff up your chest, stretch your neck, and overcome all the difficult, the nasty, the mean, the unfair. You want more than you have now. PROVE it. You want to be the very best there is, get out there and earn it. Once you decide that, you will know where it is you want to be. And you won't stop pushing forward until you get there. That's how winners are made. At the end of the day, success is what we ALL want. We all want to win. And the race WILL be one. There is no question about that. So Come on! Get out on top. Run Faster, Dream Bigger, Live better than you ever had before. This is in you! You can do this. Do it for yourself. Prove it to yourself.
Reminder of Dates to Keep up with. Please DOUBLE CHECK to make sure these are the same dates that you have, some of them have changed.
August 31- 6am- Certification- Fairgrounds
September 15th- Cheer Jamboree- This is a performance to make sure that they are placed in the proper level for competition- Pioneer High School- Plan for All day
October 5th- Invitational Competition- Saturday- Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View- Plan for all day. Release time will most likely be around 6 pm, start time may be as early as 7 am
November 9th- Conference Competition- Qualifier for Regional Competition - Saturday- Santa Clara Convention Center- Again Plan for all day from early morning to past 7pm- We will also be planning for pizza/food afterwards
November 29th- Regional Competition- Black Friday- Santa Clara Convention Center- Plan for all day with Pizza/food afterwards
December 9th-13th National Competition- TBD- Disney World, Florida.
If for some reason you will not be able to make ANY single competition or date posted above, I need to know NOW. Please e-mail or call ASAP as these are MANDATORY events. These are the events that your girls work for day in and day out.
Also a reminder, Games will be every weekend, most likely every Saturday. As soon as I get better dates, I will post those.
Stay updated with this Blog as it will be our main communication method from here out.
Certification is HUGE! If your daughter does to come and complete certification, she will NOT be allowed to cheer for the season. No ifs ands or buts.
In order for this to be a smooth process we will be asking everyone to meet at the Santa Clara Fairground at6am.
I believe there is a parking fee so in order to avoid this, we will be doing Carpools from Fair Oaks meeting at 5:15AM. Rides will be leaving by 5:30 absolute latest. Please be on time as we will leave earlier if I do not get any phone calls for being late.
Do NOT plan to let your child out at the gate and have them find us on their own. If you are planning on dropping off your child and returning, Coach Jackie or I need to see your face and your child's face. I will NOT have my girls roaming around trying to find the team.
Any child to arrive later than 6am at the Fairground will receive punishment at the following practice. Please plan ahead to make sure you have time to find the team. Certification is a mandatory Pop Warner event and we need to comply with their regulations.
What: Certification
Where: Santa Clara Fairgrounds
When: 5:15AM Fair Oaks Park for those needing rides 6:00AM meeting at the Fairgrounds
Clothing: Black Cheer shorts, White Shirts, Black or White low rise Shoes with White socks.
This will be substituting practice for Saturday, August 31st.
*I will be Making it a Priority to start posting More to this Blog for those of you to reference. I will try to touch on anything discussed at Circle up on this Blog. PLEASE use this as a a resource. PLEASE save this to book mark to check regularly. Hello all,
Hope everyone is doing well! I just wanted to touch on a couple important things. Many of these were discussed at the parent circle up last night.
Pick ups: Parents need to be on the field for pick up. This is for safety reasons. That means, please don't have your kids meet you at the car. This brings me to the next point.
Practice Times: School has started and we'll be ending at 8:15 every night. To make this work, breaks will be a bit shorter. This means smaller to no snack. Please make sure your child is fed prior to practice to allow work out. Next Thursday they'll be doing the big family group circle up and we want all of our girls out there. Pick up will be a little later because of this family circle up.
After Labor Day: Labor Day is the first week of September. We are waiting to hear about where our practice location will be. Once it's Labor Day, we cut back to practices 3 days a week. Because it is difficult this year to find a facility, the dates are not set in stone. I am crossing my fingers for Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, but don't quote me on that because it will depend heavily on when is available.
Homework: Please remind your child it is their responsibility to complete homework prior to practice. There is plenty of time prior to practice for them to work on their homework.
Buyouts and Fundraiser: This is a MANDATORY fundraiser and it was due last Monday. If you did not turn in money for tickets, you MUST pay the buy out which is $60. This fundraiser and buyout money is what the league uses to cover expenses for the program. This includes the lights for the field, the building facilities, practice gear, banquets, trophies, etc. It is not cheap. The league helps pay for it. Please bring the money/orderforms at practice TONIGHT.
I appreciate the work the girls have putting on the field. They are really making headway. We still have A LOT of work to do to make them National Champion ready, but I am confident that I can see the determination. Keep up the great work with getting your child out there on time and ready to work.
Just a couple of reminders that were sent out through e-mail from Team Mom Terri!
Uniform Balances: For many of you, this was paid and due August 1st. For some, the date was communicated a bit late, but AUGUST 15th is the absolute last day to turn in remaining balances (unless you've already spoken with Arlene the treasurer). Failure to turn in balances by August 15th WILL result in athletes sitting out from practices. This has to be done to ensure everyone is being treated fairly and so we are not dealing with money once games and competitions start. This is not new to everyone. I appreciate everyone's corporation.
FUNDRAISER: Raider's fundraising is due by August 19th. This is next Monday. Please make sure to either sell the required 4-6 tickets, or have money for the buyout which is 60 dollars. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact Team Mom Terri, Coach Jackie, or myself. It is important that we have participation. The money raised goes directly to YOUR CHILDREN! It is not cheap to make sure we have proper equipment.
Cheer Bows: Team Mom Terri will be working on putting together bows on Saturday August 17th morning during practice. Come mingle with other parents while helping out the team!
Pool Party: After practice on August 24th (Approx 1pm-330pm) We will be having a pool party/team bonding event. This will include a small lunch and of course a lot of fun! There will be some team building activities as well as SWIMMING! The weather has been pretty nice so it should be a great turn out. More details to come including location.
Certification: Certification will be Saturday, August 31st at the Fairgrounds. I will be handing out a flyer as soon as I get more details. Plan for an early morning! Certification is Mandatory! FAILURE TO ATTEND RESULTS IN BEING DROPPED FROM THE TEAM. DONT LET YOUR DAUGHTERS HARD WORK GO TO WASTE! It is conducted by Pop Warner organization and is not in Sunnyvale's control. We follow what they tell us to do. I'm sorry that they had given us a different date mid preseason, but nonetheless it was originally scheduled for August 31st and I was not told about any vacations.
Vacations: Practice is mandatory. If you have a vacation planned that is scheduled BEFORE September 1st, I need to know about it IMMEDIATELY. I do not want to hear about it the day before, I need AT LEAST 3 days notice. This helps plan the practices accordingly. Failure to give me 3 days notice will result in 3 demerits for an unexcused absence. Once September hits, vacations will not be clarified as an excused absence. This is because games start, jamboree, and competitions routines begin.
Sick Days: I need to know a minimum of 1 hour before practice if your daughter will not be at practice. Failure to notify me (via text, email, voicemail, phone call etc) will result in 3 demerits for an unexcused absence. I understand that people get sick, but there is no reason I should not hear about it BEFORE practice.
Injuries: Your daughters are working hard at practices. It is natural for them to feel a little bit of discomfort. It is important for them to be able to recognize serious injury from soreness. We strive to get them out of the comfort zone, it is what you're paying for after all! Please make sure to take care of injuries properly. This includes icing the, elevating them, resting them, bracing them, etc. If a child is complaining about a hurt part on their body and then goes and runs around when they're not at practice, this is not a serious injury most likely. If your daughter does go to the doctors to have a viewing of an injury MAKE SURE TO GET A DOCTORS NOTE! Doctor visits are not cheap. Obtain a note that says that they can or cannot participate in all activity. Try to make it as specific as possible. If they can participate in jumping, stunting, stretching, etc that is what we're looking for. Many of these children do not do a lot of physical activity in the off season. That means they're going to hurt at least a little!
On a side note! Thank you everyone for being so cooperative with everything! We are off to a great start! Keep practicing your girls at home in front of the mirror they can see what we see and they can correct motions. I'm proud of every cheerleader on our team!
It's finally come! We are two practices in and I could not be more excited for the team this year. The girls are ready to work hard and are up for the challenge. Just wanted to give a couple updates.
Certification date is between August 24th and August 31st. This is a MANDATORY event the girls need to attend. Certification is part of the Pop Warner process and failure to attend will result in not being able to participate for the season. If for some reason it is not possible to attend you need to communicate this with me immediately so that we can address the situation. Whichever date certification does not fall onto, there will be practice from 945-NOON
Calendars: I e-mailed out soft copies of the calendar for the month of August. If you did not receive the e-mail please let me know so that I can add you to my team mailing list. I plan to give out hard copies of the calendars on Monday August 5th. At this moment I do not know the set schedule for September-November. We are waiting to hear back from the facilities in Sunnyvale. There is a bit of delay, but once I hear I will let everyone know.
10 Conditioning Hours: It is important that all girls attend practices and are not late. These conditioning hours are in effort to move onto stunting and tumbling. Pop Warner requires minimum of 10 conditioning hours for athletes to participate in the more physical activities.
Games: Plan for games to be on Saturdays. Reminder. This year the organization is not allowing excessive absences from games. Games are mandatory events for the athletes to attend. Plan schedules accordingly.
Important Competition Dates:
Jamboree: September 8th at Pioneer High School.
Invitationals: October 5th Location TBD
Conference: November 9th at Santa Clara Convention Center
Regionals: November 29th at Santa Clara Convention Center
Nationals: 2nd week of December
BBQ: SATURDAY AUG 3 from 1-330HOT DOGS * BURGERS * NACHOS * POTLUCK ITEMSCOME JOIN US FOR A LEAGUE WIDE BBQ! FOOD IS ON US FOR FAMILIES AND ATHLETES.WE ARE SHOWING UNITY IN COMING TOGETHER TO WELCOME IN THE SEASON!
