Here are the basic travel plans for National Qualifier in Sioux City this weekend:
Charter Bus Company: CIT
Pickup at Lincoln at 8:30
Pickup at Roosevelt at 9:00
You must be present at 8:50 for the bus pickup in the north parking lot. This is a quick load and hit the road. No one is to be in first block classes--you are all excused. Don't think this is a normal charter and we can wait--we can't wait. Please--while I know we have a couple of students demanding "seat" time at Central--this is not the trip to fit in an extra class. Our bus is rolling at nine. If a parent has an issue call Strong ASAP.
The truth is that if you want to qual, you need to be with us on the bus and let us do our thing correctly. Arriving just before the tournament causes registration issues, a chance of missing warmups, confusion, etc. Plus it means your student is not mentally prepared to compete.
Hotel:
Holiday Inn-Downtown Sioux City 701 Gordon Dr Sioux City, IA 51101
(712) 277-9400
Saturday return could be late. We will have students call once we have a legit idea of arrival times.
Parents: Please do NOT call your student about arrival times Saturday afternoon or evening. They
will call you! We don't want cell phones accidentally ringing during final rounds. Don't panic--we
have lots of adults on site-your student is safe. We will advise once we hit the road, plan for dinner, etc.
Right now I am expecting to leave Sioux City at about 8pm. It could be earlier and it could be later.
Four years ago the bus arrived at 3:30am. We had a bunch of debate backs that involved our kids to
deal with in the qualifier. While that is unusual-it can happen. But hopefully we are back somewhere
11 and 12pm.
WEATHER: We are paying attention to a potentially large winter storm that is expected to strike Sioux
City on Sunday.
IF weather becomes an issue--we will make the appropriate plans for the circumstances
we are facing. We have a professional driver and an experienced weather forecaster on the bus (Strong).
Again, kindly let us do our thing without bothering us on Saturday with your concerns about the weather.
We will be checking the weather models hourly if need be.
I share this because of what happened to Dowling coaches in Minnesota two weekends ago when a parent
went nuts over the "ice storm." There was no ice storm during the tournament nor on the way home...
we all arrived 5 hours ahead of the precip! If the forecast becomes something the tournament can't
deal with--it will not be held this weekend.
If the forecast changes while in progress--we will work with the NFL on how to handle because
once the tournament starts-it isn't suppose to end without final rounds. But we will deal with it.
Under no circumstances will we deliberately endanger students--even if we have to spend another night and ride the storm
out. But be sure your student brings a winter coat just in case!!
Thanks-Strong.
