Dear SHAQ Families,
Happy end of the school year to our athletes and newly minted stay at home teachers!! Congratulations to all of our graduating seniors and to our 8th graders moving up to high school in the fall. As we move into summer, this is the latest information we have on the return to action for our athletes. The Tam district has stated that all school facilities will remain closed until July 5th at the earliest. This includes pools, gyms, and fields at the Tam district campuses. They have not stated that facilities WILL open on July 5th, simply that they are currently closed until that date. With this current information, and the hope that pools will be open on that date, our goal is to begin training for all of our age groups on Monday, July 6th. How that training will look, how many kids per practice, how many practices per week and what the new protocols will be are yet to be determined. Since this date is still 4 weeks, away, we will be able to see how reopening protocols have been implemented at other pool sites and learn from other districts who were able to open earlier.
For the next four weeks we want to help inspire and lead our kids to be active and to be creative. As our social bubbles start to broaden and the beaches, parks and trails open up, we want to encourage kids to safely utilize these areas for themselves. Most kids also have a friend, or friend of a friend who has access to a backyard pool, lagoon, or waterway. We want kids to help each other in their efforts to regain the leg muscles, movements, and ball skills affiliated with water polo. We have begun posting and will continue to post polo workout/drill videos at SHAQ Water Polo Videos. Please bookmark this page and check back often for new videos. Coach French has posted 36 and counting Dryland Workouts for our kids to follow, and will be posting his whereabouts as he leads some outdoor conditioning sessions. Coach Sophie will also be posting Swim Workouts as some of the community/neighborhood pools will be opening for lap swim. She will also post open water workout ideas for those able to utilize Aquatic Park and other areas in the bay. Coach Mark will be posting Backyard Pool Workouts for kids to utilize at home with family and friends. All these workouts can be found on our SHAQ website as well.
In addition to these physical activities, we want to encourage our kids to be creative, curious and learn new skills. These last few months have provided us with an opportunity/excuse to tap into new parts of our personality and try out some new things that we may not have been aware of. Whether it is learning an instrument or engaging in creative writing, art or film making, we want our kids to use these times to push themselves in ways they may not have thought of before. Coach Swanny will be posting creative assignments on the SHAQFLIX page for the kids who want to keep their minds and imaginations active.
We know that in regards to water polo, we will eventually be back to our normal routines and the normal practice schedules that we once had. Right now, that return to aquatic normalcy seems like a spot in the distance that we can't quite reach, but know that we are moving in the right direction. Hopefully we can keep our SHAQ community engaged, active, creative and inspired until we do return to water polo normalcy. And who knows, maybe along the way we will learn something new about ourselves, improve some aspects of ourselves, pick up some good new habits, or shed some of the old bad ones. We are in this together and want the best for our kids that have given so much to the sport we love.
Keep checking the SHAQ Website for new content and workouts/drills. We will continue to update you on any new information we receive from the district regarding the facilities opening up and the registration process for our return. Stay active, stay creative and we will see you all very soon....
All the best,
From all of the SHAQ coaches
Check community pools for possible lap swimming
Other Swim Locations