Lower School Fall Sports
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Welcome to the 2015-2016 school year!
My name is Theresa "Smitty" Smith, 4-8 grade Athletic Director.
Karriem Stinson is my assistant and works on the Bucknall campus daily. He is on the BKN campus specifically for the BKN student athletes and parents. He's happy to help you with any of your BKN sports questions, and can be reached at karriems@harker.org
In order for your child to participate on an after school sports team you must register them online. Kim Cali with BEST will send out an email during the summer detailing how to sign up for sports and BEST activities. You have the option at that time (between Aug 10 and Aug 21) to sign your child up for a fall sport or for any sport that you know they might want to play during this school year.
We must also have a signed Athletics Participation Release form on file (form located on parent portal under lower school forms and then lower school athletics). Please sign and return to Karriem Stinson if you have not done so already.
The Harker coaches hold practices daily Mon-Fri from 3:45-5pm. It is mandatory your child attend on all Tues, Wed and game days, EXCEPT SWIMMING. They should not have conflicting activities on Tues and Wed (Tues/Thur swimming), and must attend all games on the schedule (there are a few Saturday games during basketball season). Swim practice is mandatory on Tues/Thurs (not Tues/Wed).
Tues Sept 1st is the first day of Lower School fall sports practices for swimming, softball and flag football. The LS students have until Fri Sept 4th to make it out to their first practice in order to be included on the team. We will not accept anyone after Sept 4th. The Fall season ends on Oct 14th. Boys basketball and girls soccer start on Mon Oct 19th.
There will be a mandatory Fall parent sports meeting on Tues Sept 1st at 5:00pm in the BKN gym. You will have the opportunity to meet your child's coach, ask any questions you might have, get a hard copy schedule, hear about the sports program 4th-12th, etc.
Your child is only allowed to participate in one sport at a time.
Below are the specifics for each Fall sport...
Swimming
Swimming for grades 4 and 5 starts daily at 3:45pm and runs until 5:00pm. This is swim team, not swim lessons! Your child must be able to make it up and down the pool w/out grabbing the wall in order to participate on the swim team. Both our G4 and G5 swimmers can compete in the meets.
Equipment: swimmers will need a bathing suit (one piece for girls), a pair of goggles and a towel. Harker will supply the swimmers with swim caps at no charge.
Schedule: the swim schedule will be out in late August.
Flag Football
Flag football for grades 4 and 5 starts at 3:45pm daily and runs until 4:45 (G4) and until 5pm (G5).
Equipment: cleats with rubber tips (no metal spikes), flags and a mouthguard. The mouth guards are available at the bookstore and will be charged to your account ($1.25). The flags will be borrowed and returned daily and are kept by the coaches.
Schedule: the 5th grade flag football schedule will be out in late August. The name of the 5th grade team is the Junior Varsity B team or JVB. The 4th graders do not compete in games.
Softball
Softball for grade 4 starts at 3:45pm and runs until 4:45. Practice is held on the Harker Bucknall campus. A few G4 girls may be added to the G5 travel team, and will play in games, but the majority of the G4 girls do not play in games.
Softball for grade 5 starts at 4:15pm and runs until 5:15pm. It is held at the Harker Blackford campus on Tues/Wed and at BKN on M/Th/F. There will be a 4:05 shuttle to Harker BLD on Tues and Wed for practice. Parents can pick up at Harker BLD at 5:15 or players can take the 5:25 shuttle back to BKN by 5:35pm.
Equipment: cleats with rubber tips (no metal spikes), a softball glove and we encourage a helmet with a face guard for G4. The G5 girls (and those G4 girls who make the travel team) on the travel team may also want to get a pair of batting gloves (optional) and their own bat (optional).
Schedule: the softball schedule will be out in late August. Due to numbers we usually combine some of our 4th and 5th graders together to complete a full team for the season. This season, due to the fact the LS girls are practicing at the MS campus, we are adding G6 girls to the team as well. The name of the team is Junior Varsity A or JVA.
