Rain Athletics 2015-2016 Half Year Information Packet Dear Rain Athletics Family, Thank you for your interest in Rain Athletics! Whether you are returning for another season or joining us for the first time, we are so thankful and excited that you are choosing to be a part of Pittsburgh’s most innovative cheerleading experience. At Rain Athletics, we pride ourselves on offering the best cheerleading coaching available within our city and beyond. We believe that it is our responsibility as coaches to help your child reach their full athletic potential while fostering a learning culture where teamwork, strong character, and a sense of personal responsibility are of utmost importance. AllStar cheerleading is one of the most physically, emotionally and mentally demanding sports available for young athletes. At Rain Athletics, it is our goal to show our kids that everything in life is earned, and through hard work, dedication, and discipline, every goal is within reach. We are so excited for this upcoming season and all that it has to offer. We will now proudly be operating out of two locations, allowing us to offer the Rain Athletics experience to two different areas of Pittsburgh! As we grow bigger, we grow stronger, and together we are unstoppable. Let It Rain, The Rain Athletics Staff Frequently Asked Questions 1.) What is half year? - Half year competitive cheer is a popular alternative to full year competitive cheer. Half year cheer offers the same experiences as full year competitive cheer, all while maintaining a more manageable practice schedule, and a much lower financial commitment. 2.) How many competitions do half year teams attend and how many of those are outof-state competitions? - All of Rain Athletics half year teams will attend 4-5 competitions per season. Of the 4-5, one of these will be an out-of-state competition. (Washington, D.C will be the location of the out-of-state event). 3.) How many practices will half-year teams have per week? When will they be? - All half-year teams practice once per week and all practices are mandatory. Additionally, half-year teams will practice early mornings on Saturdays. 4.) How long does half-year run? - Half-year tryouts will be held in late October, allowing team practices to start in November. Half-year teams will run five full months (November-March). 5.) What if I have never done allstar cheer before? - You are in luck! Half-year is a great way to “test the waters” of all-star cheer. No experience is necessary! Because of it’s less strict commitment levels, you can get a better feel of what will work best for your family. We encourage half-year teams to those looking for less commitment, with the same amount of fun. Table Of Contents Practice Information (Attendance, Practice Wear, Absences, Injuries) Competition Information (Competition Attendance, Competition Packets, Competition Schedule) Communication & Contacts (Communication Medias, Team Parents, Gym Contact Information, Weekly Email) Financial Information (Tuition, Past Due Accounts, Online Account System) Extra Curricular (Private Lessons, Classes, Pro-Shop) Gym Policies (Gym Policies, Lobby Policies, Competition Policies) 2015-2016 Price Sheet Team Placement & Registration Checklist Practice Information Attendance: Rain Athletics takes attendance very seriously. All practices are mandatory. The only way we can assure success is by having full team practices every practice. Excessive unexcused absences may result in permanent removal from a team. Additionally, all practices the weeks of competitions are absolutely mandatory. If for some reason your athlete does not attend, they will be replaced for that competition. Practice Wear: Half year athletes will not be required to purchase gym practice wear. Those participating on half year teams will be required to wear all black to all practices. Additionally, those interested may purchase gym practice wear from the pro-shop (given it is available) and wear it to practices. Absences/Absence Forms: All planned absences are to be reported ahead of time. In the event of a “day of” illness, please submit an absence form. Athletes with high fever, stomach issues, or contagious rashes are encouraged to stay home. To submit an absence form for vacations, sick days, religious or school events, or any other activity: 1: Go to www.rainathletics.com 2: Select the “Rain Schedule à Absence Reporting” tab. 3: Fill out and submit the form. If you do not receive a response, your request was approved. If you do receive a response, we will either try to come to a negotiable solution, or if the practice is absolutely mandatory, we will deem the absence as “unexcused” and encourage you to make other arrangements to attend the practice. Injuries: In the event an athlete would become injured mid-season, they will be temporarily removed from their team until Rain Athletics is presented with a “release” form/note from a certified doctor. Athletes will not be placed back onto teams until they are able to tumble, stunt, and jump to the level to the level of the team they are on or to the level they were performing before the injury. Practices: Rain Athletics staff and athletes take great pride in the routines that we put on the floor. Great routines are a direct reflection of the work put in. Athletes will be pushed and conditioned, sometimes as hard as they can go. While practices can be tough, all Rain Athletics staff members are taught the proper way to efficiently run a practice, using each minute wisely. All Rain Athletics staff members are certified through the USASF and know the proper and improper way to train athletes. Competition Information Competition Attendance: All competitions are mandatory. Absences for competitions need to be submitted 6 months before the event, and are subject to review. Any absence request submitted within 6 months of a competition will be declined. Failure to attend competition without approval will result in immediate removal from the program. Rain Athletics teams generally practice on the Friday nights of away competitions either at the competition venue, or at a nearby gym. These practices are mandatory, and this is a service Rain Athletics provides at no extra charge to you. These practices are also mandatory. Missing a Friday night practice will result in a charge to your account for the amount of the practice for the entire team. Competition Packets: Competitions packets are a useful resource we use to keep everyone on the same page when we go to competitions. Whether we are traveling out of state or heading to a local competition, we always provide our families with a very detailed competition packet with all of the ins and outs you should know about the competitions. Competition packets will include the following information: Competition location (city, state, and venue), admission costs, times of arrival, times of warm ups and performances, times of dismissal, event maps, link to event websites, and designated meet places. Competition packets are usually sent out on the Wednesday before the competition, but have gone out on Thursdays depending on when the event producer finalizes the schedule. Competition Schedule The finalized competition schedule for all teams will be released in early July. Half year teams will be attending one travel competition and 4-5 local competitions. Communication & Contacts Communication Medias: Rain Athletics uses a variety of different medias to provide families with communication. While some families may prefer email, other families prefer Facebook. Media Media ID Email [email protected] Twitter @rainathletics Instagram @rainathletics Facebook www.facebook.com/rainathletics Remind 101 We will release subscription information to our texting service later in the season. Used For This email is the email that will be used to send out all important information including weekly emails, competition packets, gym closings, responses to general questions or concerns. We utilize twitter to share fun pictures and videos, as well as positive and uplifting tweets from our athletes after practice and before competitions. You can also stay up to date with competition standings by viewing our twitter. We utilize instagram to share tons of fun pictures and videos of performances, practices, and new apparel. We use facebook in two different ways. You can “like” Rain Athletics to see all of our updates, pictures, and news. Additionally, we have a private group on facebook where you can discuss car pools, general questions, see fundraising updates and much more. Remind 101 is a one way texting service we utilize. This amazing service allows us to mass text specific teams or the entire program to inform everyone of important information such as gym closings, practices while we are away at competitions, and positive words after performances. Team Parents: Each year Rain Athletics elects one Team Parent to represent each team. Team Parents volunteer countless hours and monetary donations to make each teams’ experience that much greater. Please respect these outstanding parents who go above and beyond to make your child’s experience amazing. Team Parents will be your go-to when it comes to communication at away competitions. Please understand that while they may not know all answers, they will do their best to find all answers for you. We will do an election of Team Parents after registration. Communication & Contacts Continued Gym Contact Information: Gym Phone 412-896-1569 Emails regarding general questions or concerns [email protected] Emails regarding questions about your account [email protected] Mailing Address Rain Athletics 2218 Lebanon Drive Mckeesport, PA 15135 Elizabeth: 1000 Wide Drive Mckeesport, PA 15135 Physical Address Moon: 530 A Moon Clinton Road Coraopolis, PA 15108 For emails directed to a specific coach, please put the coaches name in the subject line of the email. We will then pass the email along to the coach, and pass along their response as soon as it is available. Weekly Email: Each Sunday evening we send out a “weekly email” with important information for the upcoming week. This could include fundraising deadlines, practice schedules, upcoming events or clinics, or contests within the gym. Each weekly email contains different information and we strongly encourage you to read through each email thoroughly. Online Calendar: The calendar available on our website is always up to date with the latest schedule. You can view and print the schedule directly from our website (www.rainathletics.com/schedule) Important Dates: Routine chorography for half year teams will be held in late November or early December. Set dates will be released when the practice schedule is released. Please plan for practices to be extended during chorography. Please try to avoid vacations, or absences the weeks of choreography. Rain Athletics will be closed July 1st-5th for summer vacation and will re-open July 6th. Rain Athletics is closed on all major holidays. Financial Information Tuition: All tuition is due on the 1st of each month. You are expected to pay tuition on time and in full each month. Please view the Rain Athletics Price Sheet for the amount specific to your team or level. This season, Rain Athletics will ONLY be accepting cash, cashiers check/money order, and credit card as forms of payment for monthly fees. Please do not submit any personal checks. They will be shredded and discarded. Please submit payments through the payment boxes located on the walls in the lobby areas, or directly to the front desk receptionist. Past Due Accounts: All tuition payments are due on the 1st of each month. Product fees are due on the 15th of the first three months of the season (June, July, August). All tuition payments are to be paid by the 6th of the month. Late fees will be applied the morning of the 7th of each month. All late fees are $25.00, and will not be removed unless the fee was added by the fault of a Rain Athletics staff member, or the fault of the online system. Once an account reaches 30 days past due, the athlete will not be permitted to participate until the account is brought up to date. Once an account reaches 60 days past due, the family will be removed the program, and will have to pay the past due balance as well as the contract buy out fee of $500.00. Online Account System: Each family within the program has an online account where you can view all charges and payments made to your account. Additionally, you can make online credit card or e-check payments from this account. After registration your username for your account will be your email, and we will assign everyone a temporary password of “ rainathletics “. Once you are in your account, please change your password. You may access your account by clicking the “Parent Login” tab on the homepage of the Rain Athletics website. Extra Curricular Private Lessons: Private lessons are $30.00 per 30 minutes. All private lesson fees should be paid to the front desk BEFORE the private lesson. You will not be permitted to take a private lesson if you have a past due balance on your account or if you cannot pay BEFORE the private lesson. If you are unable to make a private lesson, you must notify the instructor 24 hours before. All cancellations within 24 hours of the lesson will result in your account being charged for the lesson. Please notify instructors and front desk workers of your vacations as they do not have access to absence forms. Classes: Rain Athletics offers a wide variety of classes and open gyms. A finalized class schedule for both locations will be posted no later than June 1st. We are currently in the process of restructuring our class program to allow families to pay for individual classes or a class session through your online account. Please check the “Tumbling Information” tab on our website frequently to stay up to date with our new class schedule and system. Pro-Shop: We are constantly getting in new apparel for the pro-shop. Our inventory varies and some months we may have an excess of items, while other months the shelves will be empty. We will do a program shirt order before the first competition. Additionally, we will do our “Showcase Sale” again this year. Generally we do a “pre-order” on most items. The best way to assure you get an item is to pre-order. Again, sometimes we will have an excess of items and other times all items will sell the very first day we have them. The Rain Athletics name and affiliated team names may not be used for any item not approved by Rain Athletics owners. The Rain Athletics name and logo are trademarked and should not be duplicated, printed, or manufactured in any way shape or form without the consent of an owner. If there is an item you would like to see with the Rain Athletics logo, please let us know. If there is an item you wish to see in the pro-shop, please feel free to email your ideas to [email protected]. We take every idea into consideration, and have gotten some of our best product ideas from helpful parents. Gym Policies Gym Policies: - No parents are to enter the gym area at anytime without permission from a coach or staff member. - Under no circumstances should a parent contact a coach through their personal cell-phone or Facebook. If you have questions or concerns with a specific coach, please email [email protected] and we can either get you an answer or schedule a meeting. - Please allow yourself 24 hours to assess all situations before contacting the gym. Most of the time situations look a lot different after a few hours. We will always gladly talk about any concern or issue you have, but we insist on doing so after you have had ample time to assess the issue. - We will have a lost and found box in the lobby. We will clear the box out each Friday and take all clothing items to nearby homeless shelters. Please make sure your athletes leave with what they brought. Lobby Policies: - Please dispose of all trash in waste bins - Children are not to be left unattended. When an athlete is done with practice, they must either sit in the lobby while they wait for their parent, or wait with their parent. At no time is it acceptable for athletes to be running or rough housing in the lobby or cubby areas. - Lobby talk will not be tolerated. All conversations in the lobby should be positive, or they should not happen. Parents are not permitted to talk about any other athlete except for their own unless it is in a positive manner. We take this very seriously. - If you have a question about where your athlete is on the floor, why they are or are not flying, why a coach is running a practice a certain way, or any other practice related question, please email [email protected] - If the Rain Athletics staff feels any of these rules have been broken, we reserve the right to close the lobby completely, or ban parents from sitting in the lobby. Competition Policies - Parents and athletes should never approach an event official regarding scoring or placement concerns. - Show sportsmanship even when others do not. - Athletes are to remain in uniform until dismissal. Athletes are permitted to wear warm ups overtop of their uniform while they wait for dismissal. - No UGG boats or other shoes should be worn while wearing your uniform. - No cell phones are to be in the waist band of skirts. Rain Athletics 2015-2016 Price Sheet Half Year For: Due Date: Amount: Registration DUE AT REGISTRATION $50.00 November Monthly Fee November 1st 2015 $180.00 December Monthly Fee December 1st 2015 $180.00 January Monthly Fee January 1st 2016 $180.00 February Monthly Fee February 1st 2016 $180.00 March Monthly Fee March 1st 2016 $180.00 The monthly fees for half year include: uniform, bow and makeup, coaches fees, choreography and music, and competition fees. This all inclusive pricing does not include shoes, practice wear, or warm ups. Checklists Team Placement Checklist: - General Waiver - Team Placement Form ________ ________ Registration Checklist: - Registration Form ________ - Credit/Debit Authorization Form ________ - Registration Fee ________ - Code Of Conduct (signed) ________ - Financial Commitment (signed & notarized) ________ IMPORTANT All forms will be available on our website, www.rainathletics.com, within the next few weeks. For those who do not have access to a printer, we will have plenty of copies available at team placements and at registration. All financial commitment forms must be notarized. We will have a notary on site at both locations who will notarize your form FREE OF CHARGE.
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