Wheeler Athletic Handbook 2013-14

Girls Varsity Lacrosse 2013 SENE Champions 5th Consecutive Title

The 2013-2014

AthleticsHandbook

Contents Athletic Team Participation Policies Upper School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Middle School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Driving Policy for Wheeler Athletes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Athletic Department and Faculty Coaches . . . . . . . 6 As part of our school-wide mission to conserve paper and energy resources, additional athletic information, schedules, game highlights and honors can be found at the Athletics section of the Wheeler School website: www.wheelerschool.org/athletics

Practice Policy for all levels Students who wish to play on an Upper School fall varsity team must attend all scheduled practices prior to the opening of school. Coaches notify teams of specific starting date and times of practices. Mandatory practice times for winter and spring sports are announced by the individual coaches and the Athletic Department at the end of the preceding semesters.

Attending practice is vital to the success of the team and teaches the value of discipline, time management and commitment to others. Absences because of illness or for religious reasons are understood, but athletes should notify coaches prior to all absences. Games and practices are scheduled by the Athletic Department and are held five times a week after school. Athletes and their families should note that a commitment to an athletic team sometimes requires weekend obligations.

Upper School Team Participation Policy

Directions to The Wheeler Farm Athletic Facilities 640 Prospect St., Seekonk, MA 02771 — From the east: Take 195W to Mass. Exit 1 (114A N). Turn right.

Go through lights and follow to a fork in road bearing right onto Arcade Ave. Look for golf course on left and continue to next light. Go straight, crossing Rt. 44. At end of Arcade, turn right onto Rt. 152N and go 1 mi., bearing right onto Walker St. Follow Walker St. to end where it intersects with Prospect.

Turn left.

From the west: Take 195E to Mass. Exit 1 (Rt. 114A N). Turn left

Transportation Policy Students are transported by school bus to practice at The Wheeler Athletic Facility in Seekonk, MA. Buses leave at the conclusion of the school day. Practices end by 5:30 p.m. Buses leave at the conclusion of practice and return to School. Parents are free to pick up their students at the conclusion of practice or games at the Farm if they so desire.

In the interest of safety, parents should discuss family pickup procedure for away games ahead of time and should inform the Athletic Department of any alternate carpool arrangements.

Anyone — athlete or spectator — driving to the Farm is asked to obey the neighborhood speed limits and parking regulations.

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Varsity Level The Varsity is comprised of the more highly-skilled athletes who represent the school at its highest competitive level. A commitment to the team is expected for players at this level.

Such commitment is shown by attendance at practice five days a week. Occasionally, there are games and practices on the weekend. While the ultimate goal of varsity athletics is to play hard and win, these athletes are taught the values of sportsmanship, teamwork, and respect for their opponents and officials. It is the coaches’ prerogative to play those they feel can most help the team. Playing time is not necessarily equal among players. Some athletes will get significantly more playing time than others depending upon game situations. It is not guaranteed that every player will participate in each athletic contest.

Junior Varsity Level Junior Varsity teams also take competition seriously, play hard to win, and learn the value of athletics. To insure a strong athletic program, this level must concentrate on developing and grooming athletes for the varsity. As with the Varsity, it is not guaranteed that every player will participate in each athletic contest. However, playing time is fair, although depending on numbers on the team, not necessarily equal among all players.

Absences because of illness or for religious reasons are excused, but athletes are expected to attend all scheduled practices.

Regardless of the level, the coach will take into consideration attendance, skill level, and attitude when submitting a lineup and substituting.

Middle School next page — 2

Middle School Team Participation Policy As a result of a collaborative effort between the Athletics Department and the Middle School, Wheeler has created a program to best suit the developmental needs of our student-athletes with 6th grade development plus 7th and 8th grade A and B team offerings.

The most important element, one that closely follows the philosophy of education in the Middle School division, is the creation of development teams, where numbers allow, for all 6th graders. These 6th grade development teams will allow the department and all coaches to identify and develop young athletes, nurture their passion for Wheeler sports, and create a strong solidarity among student-athletes in the same grade. All these things said, we are not unaware of the challenges of having athletes with different skill levels on one team. We are also aware of the need to have excellent coaching at this level, coaches who are skilled at meeting the different needs and unique learning styles of young athletes, much like our homeroom teachers meet the many needs and learning styles of their students during the school day.

While 6th graders will be playing on development teams where numbers allow, 7th and 8th graders will play at either the B or A levels depending on their skill, enthusiasm, and desire to learn.

These teams will strive to be competitive with other schools’ programs and develop the athletes’ overall abilities and attitude.

Playing time at these levels will vary. Athletes on development teams will experience playing time close to equal. B team athletes should expect playing time in all contests. On A teams, more highly-skilled athletes will have more playing time. Of course playing time at any level depends on attendance at practice and an overall positive attitude during the season.

An important note concerns Middle Schoolers playing Upper School sports. For many reasons, from the time commitment of Upper School athletics (and the impact on academics) to the concerns over mixing older students with Middle Schoolers, the Athletics Department and Middle School have decided to not allow Middle Schoolers to play up, so to speak. We want to build team and divisional solidarity and make the Middle School program as strong as it can be. As is the case when philosophy meets reality, there will be exceptions to this rule, the clearest of which is when a student is repeating 8th grade and possesses the skill and size to compete productively for a high school team.

Wheeler Athlete Driving Policy 1. Driving to and from athletic practices and home games is permitted when a contract has been submitted and approved.

Contracts are accepted for Seniors in good standing and for other students who meet the geographic requirements as stipulated in the Driving Contract.

2. Athletes not returning to Wheeler after practice or a home game may drive other athletes home, so long as they respect the geographic restrictions stated in the Driving Contract.

3. No athlete may drive to an away-game. When games are scheduled for evenings or Saturdays, the coach, with the approval of the Athletic Director, may allow athletes to meet them at the game site.

4. At the conclusion of an away athletic contest, athletes are expected to return to Wheeler with the team. However, exceptions may be made if an athlete leaves the game site with his or her parent, or previous arrangements have been made in writing to leave with another player’s parents.

Note: Athletes who live far from Wheeler should find alternatives to driving to school if they wish to go directly home from an away-game.

Athletic Facilities at Wheeler

The Health & Physical Education Center on our Hope Street Campus opened in 1999 and includes a basketball court, locker rooms, trainer’s room and a fitness training center. Nearby at the 120-acre Wheeler Farm in Seekonk, are two field hockey/ lacrosse fields, cross country trail, four soccer fields, a baseball field, a softball field, eight tennis courts, and an outdoor, competition-level track and field.

The 32,500 square-foot Van Norman Athletic Field House at the Farm opened in 2001 and houses three basketball courts (convertible to indoor tennis/volleyball courts), locker rooms, indoor batting cage and a training room.

Athletic Trainer Wheeler is fortunate to have on its Athletics Department Staff, a fulltime Athletic Trainer. The School has two facilities for athletes who need evaluation, care and training programs.

One room is located next to the Fitness/Weight Room in the Health & Physical Education Center at Wheeler while a second trainer’s room with whirlpool room is located inside the Van Norman Field House at The Wheeler Farm Athletic Complex.

If a student has an athletic injury the Athletic Trainer is available on campus to students from 10:30-2:00 and then he is available at the Wheeler Farm athletic facilities from 2:306:00PM during the school year.

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Wheeler Athletics Online Find directions to every game!

Physical Education & Athletics Staff Monica Aleixo (ext. 156) monicaaleixo@wheelerschool.org Physical Education/Girls MS Basketball/Girls Varsity Soccer

Directions to games can be found on the Wheeler website (or the Wheeler mobile app). Go to the homepage and pull down the ATHLETICS tab where you will see the link for Opponent Directions. Select a venue from the drop-down menu and you will see written directions as well as a link to Google maps.

Stephanie Bissett (ext 255) stephaniebissett@wheelerschool.org

Game Cancellations are posted on the ATHLETICS page as soon as a decision is made. If you sign up for Notifications (see below) you can receive a text or email when a game cancellation is made.

Wally Davis (ext. 240) wallydavis@wheelerschool.org

Jean Carlson (ext. 241) jeancarlson@wheelerschool.org Director of Physical Education Department/ Middle School Field Hockey Physical Education/Girls’ MS Basketball/Boys MS Soccer/ Boys’ Varsity Tennis

Jon M. Donahue (ext. 155) jondonahue@wheelerschool.org Director of Athletics

Eric Stein (ext. 240) ericstein@wheelerschool.org Asst. Dir. of Athletics/Boys’ JV Basketball/Health Education

Nathan Withington    (ext. 239)

Scores and highlights plus the season schedules for every team can be found at www. wheelerschool.org/athletics. In addition members of the Wheeler community may subscribe to RSS feeds specifically for Athletic News. Team pages have videos, message boards, photos, schedules and more.

Parents of athletes and athletes can also sign up via the website for NOTIFICATION phone texts or email announcements of games, schedule changes, cancellations and scores. LOGIN and MY NOTIFICATIONS will appear on the left column under your login name after you login with your password.

Load the free Wheeler mobile app to your smartphone by visiting this URL and copying to your homescreen. http://www. wheelerschool.org/mobile When using the mobile app for directions, click on a game bar and you will see a gold VIEW MAP bar. Click that bar for GOOGLE Maps. There are also written directions provided.

Follow us!

Facebook: www.facebook. com/wheelerathletics Twitter: @WheelerWarriors 5

Physical Education/Girls Var. Soccer/Girls Var. Basketball/ Girls Var. Lacrosse

Athletic Trainer natewithington@wheelerschool.org Faculty Coaches Sam Abeshouse MS Cross Country

Martyn Hollands Boys Varsity Soccer

Cali Almy MS Girls Lacrosse

Sean Kelly ‘02 Boys Varsity Basketball

Mike Blecharczyk Boys MS Basketball

Peter Lau Girls’ Varsity Tennis

Francois Bourbeau Linda Leonard Boys Varsity Ice Hockey MS Girls Soccer JoAnn Donahue MS Field Hockey MS Softball

Viennia Lopes MS Field Hockey

Dorothy Garfield MS Softball

Bob Schmidt MS Baseball MS Boys’ Basketball

Richard Gilder Boys Varsity Lacrosse

Page Stites Cross Country

Kim Gustafson Cross Country

Bob Sullivan MS Baseball

Kristin Heynen Swimming

Tom Wharton Cross Country

Offices for the Physical Education Department and the Athletics staff are located in the Health & Physical Education Center on the main campus of The Wheeler School. The staff can be reached through the main switchboard at 401-421-8100 or at their individual extensions.

Daily Athletic announcements are at Extension 855.