We are officially up and running. Panther Football started yesterday with 98 registered athletes and the rest (Cross Country, Volleyball, Girls Soccer, Girls Swim/Dive, Slowpitch softball) start on Monday with another 365 athletes. That's 461 athletes and 41 coaches ready to go for Fall Sports.

New Announcements:

• Today our first episode of the Wenatchee Panther Pod (Podcast) is available for you to enjoy. You'll get to hear my voice for a minute and also the voices of 3 football players, Coach Mitchell and Mike Penning, the assigner for officials in our area. Link
• Monday the 24th is Wenatchee High School "back to school day" which means students come to WHS to get their ASB card / picture taken, pick up their yonder pouches, chrome books, etc. We also know that the 24th is a practice day for our 460 athletes.
  • As an athlete, you are welcome to come to the back to school event anytime. You do NOT have to come with your grade as posted.
  • Those of you that are "sports only" students, you do NOT need to come to the back to school event to get an ASB card. Parsons will use your sports photo taken on August 29 to create you a "sports only" card that will get you into athletic events for free. These cards will be given to your coach to give you when they are ready.
• SWAY - Concussion Baseline testing - thank you to those athletes that were able to make the assigned baseline testing appointments. We have a make up today (20th at 1:00pm in Main Gym).
  • Those athletes not able to attend a baseline appointment will be communicated with / pulled from practice to complete the assessment.
  • We have a few non-contact sports remaining to schedule.
  • Once we get all athletes tested, we will only baseline test 9th graders and Juniors each year unless the AT would like to baseline an athlete again due to medical reasons. 
  • We are very thankful that our community is supporting our interest in serving our students in concussion management. We trust SWAY and the healthy roster system. It meets regulatory and data security standards, is FDA cleared. The platform is fully HIPAA- and FERPA - compliant for secure student-athlete health data handling. SWAY is a Class II medical device for balance and cognitive testing, aligning with clinical consensus standards. The baseline tests allow our athletic trainers to support students with a suspected head injury take a follow up assessment and review the data to support the return to play process.
• Alternate practice locations - I have created a back up plan for all of our sports practices in the event we must be flexible due to air quality or other factors. Your coaches will do the communication as needed and these decisions are typically made between 12-1pm daily. No information to you means things are going forward as "usual".
  • We use the attached guidelines when determining accommodations needed for practices.
  • I also use a variety of air quality sensors (airnow.gov, department of ecology primarily) and I have a handheld air sensor I can use as another resource. 
  • Please note, as a parent / athlete, if you have any concerns about air quality, make decisions best for your student-athlete.

Reminders - Announcements made in weeks previously:

• Fall Sports Kickoff - Saturday - August 29 - Schedule for the day.
  • Sports Pictures - wear your uniform
  • All Sports meetings - kids / parents / coaches - Main gym - 9:00am
  • Sport specific meetings - 9:15-10:00am
  • New to high school sports optional meeting with BJ - 8:20am - New Commons
  • Boosters will be near the gym beginning at 8:00am
    • Join Booster Club
    • Pick up some swag
    • Say HI
  • YES for Wenatchee will be near the gym beginning at 8am
    • Learn about the bond
  • ALL ATHLETES + A PARENT - these sport meetings are required. If you can not attend, your sport coach will offer a make up !

Click here for "This week in Panther Sports”

For those of you new to this, this document is your chance to see a few more details about events for next week and a peek into the following week. You'll be able to see what times kids are dismissed from class and what time the bus is leaving as well as a few other details!

Have a great weekend.

BJ