Former Blackcat AD Lupe Florez has passed away. Coach Florez was a tremendous supporter of our swimming program. He will be greatly missed.
The 2014-15 season ended without a team or coach. Bay City HS was not present for the 2015 district championships. Coach Florez made certain that Bay City would have a team the following year, bringing yours truly out of retirement and expressing 100% support for BCHS swimming & diving.
He also allowed us to add a junior high program. Lupe attended our district meet in Victoria as a volunteer timer. He was genuinely impressed with our kids at that meet - one in which we had a freshman, Hannah Sliva, win the 500 free.
A memorial service is schedule for Saturday, December 9, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.:
Friday will be a travel day. Check-in and Olympian/English Channel swimmer Michelle Weber's clinic will be Saturday. Sunday we'll swim our Mile "Waves" and then head home.
There are high school and club programs from Texas that race in this open water event. It falls on the same weekend as our homecoming in Bay City.
I plan to swim in both the Age Group & OZ Waves. Y'all have several options and could race in as many as four (4) different Waves!
If we have any athletes who'd like to attend, please let me know ASAP!
After digging through the "archives", I found a checklist Steve Lochte shared with us about fifteen years ago. I don't think he'll mind us using it. Use this for either a Mo-We-Fr, or a Tu-Th-Sa schedule:
Below are a few videos to help you learn proper technique.
Penguin:
Chair:
Legs up:
Superman:
Regular, streamline, and flutter kicking should be self-explanatory.
Another Celebration of Excellence will be hosted by the BCISD Trustees on Tuesday, May 16. Our juniors and seniors who have been named to the Academic All-State and Academic All-America teams will be recognized.
Our regular schedule for optional off-season practices in May will change now and then (see above). We'll usually swim from 5:00 to 6:15 on Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday.
Looking for options to buy suits, caps, googles, etc.?
Susan & Terry Matherne have a place on Selkirk Island and own Texas Swim Shop in Houston. They take very good care of us. Call them at 713-723-0910, visit their site here, or send them an email
SwimOutlet is another excellent vendor for us. Link to their home page is here
Need a drag suit for practices that's practically indestructible? Visit the Agon site here
Team Canada 400 Medley Relay Bronze 1992 Barcelona
(l to r: Tewksbury, Cleveland, Gery, Clarke)
Tuesday evening, 3-time Canadian Olympian Jon Cleveland will speak to our BCISD Trustees about aquatic facilities.
HS athletes & parents, our meet at Ft. Bend ISD will now include Bush HS as well. I'll get travel info out on Thursday.
JH athletes & parents, our schedule is still in the works!
The Southeast Texas Middle School Championships is scheduled for Thursday, January 20th in Rosenberg. We're working with several Houston-area schools to put together some dual and tri-meets to swim between now and then.
HS athletes & parents, our Saturday trip to Katy is off!
St. John XXIII was to host their invite at the British School, but that building is tied up with an all-day event. Instead, SJXXIII will travel to us for a dual meet. Coach Abbott and I are putting together an alternate format, since we'll be swimming a standard dual meet on Thursday evening in Ft. Bend ISD.
It doesn't make much sense to do the same thing two days later, right?
We'll have our BCJH athletes join us for Saturday's meet. Swimmers will be Time Trialing their choice of events in between some high school races. Mrs. Button will have her divers doing a short list as well.
Monday
JH & HS Normal Practice Schedule
Tuesday
HS Normal Practice Schedule & Ft. Bend Travel Info
Regular School Board Meeting (6:00 p.m.):
Aquatic Center Design & Considerations - Jon Cleveland, Myrtha Pools
Wednesday
JH & HS Normal Practice Schedule
Thursday
BCHS vs. Bush/Hightower/Sweeny at Ft. Bend ISD (5:30 p.m.)
2019 Blue/Gold Alumni (l to r): Bobby Button, Keith Hill, Neal Holden, Kory Ashcraft, Blake Holden, Andrew Medina
Alumni News
Blackcat Hall of Famer Keith Hill ('92) is the 2021 United States Masters Swimming 45-49 200 meter Butterfly National Champion! Hill held off the top seed to win the title yesterday by just .27!
Going into today's final session, Keith has earned medals each time he's hit the water. He and his teammates from New Albany, Ohio won the 200 medley relay and are in 4th place in team standings.
We're hoping Keith and many of our alumni can join us for this year's Blue/Gold/Alumni meet on Saturday, October 23rd (9:00 warm-up, 10:00 start) as we kick off the 2021-22 season.
We had a short athlete/parent meeting last week for our junior high program. Full practices officially begin on Monday, October 18th. We'll run some shorter practices this week, so pay close attention to the schedule below! Also, make sure athletes are "green" in RankOne, meaning all paperwork (physical, medical history, etc.) is up to date!
Note: Junior high athletes who are in a sport - remember that you are committed to that sport! Keep going to your practices and giving all you've got to your coaches and teammates! Swimming will be here after football, volleyball, cross country, etc. Take care of business and finish what you started!
If you know 7th & 8th graders who would like to swim/dive for the Panthers this year, but missed out on the meeting, please share our sportsYou code (below) with them so they'll be able to get in touch with us ASAP:
3HJZ-USQS
Grades
I'll be getting together with any athlete who didn't pass all classes in the first six week grading period.
Since the Blue/Gold/Alumni meet is an exhibition (scrimmage/practice), eligibility is not an issue for that date. However, anyone with a failing grade on their report card will not regain eligibility unless they're passing all classes at the next progress report date.
If we're striving for A's & B's in ALLclasses, we should NEVERbe worried about JUSTpassing, should we?
Want to be an Academic All-American someday? Start getting high A's NOW! Seniors can earn Academic A-A honors based on their first seven (7) semesters of high school work, so get busy on your school work so you can earn that special plaque. We've had three (3) in just the last four years!
Pumpkins
Please remember to ask Mrs. Button about the potentially pleasant pumpkin painting project.
This Week
Although students have the day off Monday, many are in town!
Friday, high school athletes agreed on a morning workout that should produce the best practice turnout. If weather puts a damper on that plan, I'll be at the pool in the afternoon with Mrs. Button for diving practice, so that will serve as a make-up for the swim practice if schedules permit.
Junior high athletes should feel free to join us for either time.
Hall of Fame coach Nort Thornton is hospitalized with a heart issue. Thornton coached the powerhouse California Golden Bears and numerous Olympic medalists came through his club and college programs in 70's, 80's, 90's, & 00's.
When we do a head-up, high-tempo breaststroke set, it likely had its origins out west in Coach Thornton's program!
Retired Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek - another Hall of Famer with a similar resume - tweeted out his support:
Nort! We are PULLING for you! 8 x 50 :45 breast fins &pads chin up. Move it ! Jon
Much of the heart rate work done in our program - and around the world - is based on Coach Urbanchek's "color charts" that simplify things for us less gifted coaches...
We got called for a false start on the Denny Pursley Podcast Episode. Since we're old-school guys, we went with the old rule book and got back up on the blocks for another shot at this. If you prefer platforms other than YouTube, visit us at Anchor.
We got to talk to one of our sport's all-time great coaches, Dennis Pursley!
Check out his Career at a Glance. from the 2018 'Bama Swimming Media Guide:
Pretty danged impressive, right?!?!
Pay close attention starting around 24:30, as I'd been sharing how proud I was of our 2021 group with Denny, and the way we came through this season of uncertainty and ups & downs.
