Sophomore/Varsity Parents,

Welcome to week 8! A much needed return home after 3 tough games on the road.

Practice this week:

• Monday-Thursday: 3:30pm-6pm
  • Note: due to anticipated weather on Tuesday, practice may end earlier.
• Saturday: ALL players are to report for 8:30am-11am

Friday (Varsity Dads/Mentors Night):

• This Friday night we are honoring our varsity dads/mentors.  Varsity dads are invited to attend our pre-game dinner (3:50 in the cafeteria), pre-game meetings (immediately following dinner), and our team walk-in (approximately 7:10pm).
• Please RSVP to me if you plan on attending dinner.  If only attending meetings and/or the walk-in, then no RSVP is needed.
• Please consider wearing your son’s white jersey that night.

Saturday (JV Game):

• We are playing a JV game vs. Libertyville, 9am at home

VOTE FOR JOEY STUTZMAN!:

Joey Stutzman has been nominated by the Chicago Tribune High School Sports Prep editorial team for the COUNTRY Financial Athlete of the Month – October challenge.  It’s all happening NOW and polls are open, so please vote for Joey at this LINK

BEAT LIBERTYVILLE!

Sophomore/Varsity Parents,

The season is not slowing down! It’s week 4 and the Chicago Bears have already broken our hearts (even worse that GB won), and we have another home game before hitting the road for 3 consecutive weeks.

Practice this week:
· M-Thurs 3:30-6pm.
· Saturday – TBD. We are trying to schedule a home JV game for Saturday morning. There are some things out of our control, such as if ZB has a JV team and if we can get a crew to officiate. I will send another email once I know more. Either way, practice/JV game will be in the morning.

Senior Parents: Thank you to those who filled out the evaluation of your son’s Attitude and Effort. Hopefully, your son had a conversation with you after you rated him. I asked the seniors to write a reflection on that experience. Most of our seniors recognized a deficiency in their own Attitude and Effort, which is that they tend to not put forth their best effort in areas of life they deem unimportant, uninteresting, or a weakness. I challenged our seniors to make their weaknesses their strengths and to have the best Attitude and Effort for all endeavors they despise the most.

Parent Volunteers: Thank you to our parent volunteers! Concessions, team meals, etc, …I know firsthand the great deal of effort by our parents to enhance our players’ game-day experience. Friday Night Lights in LZ are second to none – so thank you!

BEAT ZION!

Sincerely,

Luke Mertens
English Teacher/Head Football Coach
Lake Zurich High School
Twitter: @LZHSFootball
Instagram: @LZHSFootball

Soph/Varsity Players

Thank you for the tremendous support at Fremd. It felt like a home game!

This week we will have practice 3:30pm-6pm M-Thursday. Please note that 6pm is when practice ends, so pickup, depending on the individual’s sense of urgency to change, is approximately 6:15. Also, please pickup only at the new main entrance of the school.

Friday is our first home. Please help out! As you well know, many hands make light work … and we need many hands this Friday night to make our home opener run smoothly. There is a variety of things you can do on game days: 50/50 Raffle, Game Day Operations, Concessions, or Game Day Home Program Sales. Here are the sign up links:

Concessions: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080d4ba5ad2aa20-2017

Game Day Operations & 50/50 Raffle & Programs:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080945a8ac2ba6fc1-game

This Saturday’s schedule:
· Sophomores -8:30am-11am
· Varsity – 9am-11:30am

Monday (Labor Day) – surprise! It will be a day off! Happy Labor Day…enjoy family time. Lucky for the players, I have a boat and limited time to enjoy the water J

Finally, here’s a link to an interesting article on how vitamins impact our moods: http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/how-vitamins-play-a-role-in-your-mood/sports-fitness

OLD WAYS DON’T OPEN NEW DOORS…BEAT MONTINI!

Join us in supporting our LZ Bears on Home Game Days!
We are looking for volunteers to sign up for Field Setup before the game and Tear Down after the game.
We also need volunteers to help us sell 50/50 Raffle Tickets and Game Day Programs.
Please sign up on SignupGenius at this LINK!
Thank you for helping to make this season great!!!

Friday Night Lights on the Road, Week 1:  Lake Zurich at Fremd

Are you ready for some football?  The 2017 season is only a few days away! Go support our Bears as they meet the Fremd Vikings and cheer them on to a victory!

Friday, August 25
Sophomore:  Bus leaves at 3:45 p.m. / Game at 5 p.m.
Varsity:  Bus leaves at 4:30 p.m. / Game at 7:30 p.m.

After game at Scoreboard Bar & Grill:  Please join the parents and fans at Scoreboard Bar & Grill (84 N. Old Rand Road) after the game for food, drink and socializing.

Saturday, August 26
Freshman A:  Bus leaves at 7:45 a.m. / Game at 9 a.m. @ Fremd

Directions (from LZHS): LINK

GO BEARS!!!

Soph/Varsity Parents,

Hard to believe we have a game in one week! Have a busy day tomorrow. Here’s our schedule for Friday:
3:00-4pm – Positive Coaching Alliance workshop w/players & coaches in PAC
4:30-5:30pm – Pre-season meeting & decal ceremony w/parents in PAC­­
5:30-5:45 – Sandwiches provided to soph/varsity players
6:30-7pm – Freshman Blue/White (freshmen will have practice time in the stadium before actual intrasquad begins at 6:30pm)
Freshman team fed at concession
6:00 – 6:50pm – Varsity practice on back grass fields
7pm-7:10pm – WHOLE PROGRAM picture in stadium. This may be tough to organize, but we’re going to give it a try.
7:15-7:40pm – Soph/Varsity (intermixed) Blue vs. White
7:40pm-8pm – SPECIAL TEAMS (soph vs. varsity)
8pm-8:30pm – Program Social (parents welcome to come down to field to talk with players/coaches & grab a hot dog at concession)

We have practice on Saturday morning (7:45am-10am).

We also have our Senior Mother-Son on Saturday (11am-1pm) in the cafeteria. If you’re a senior mom who hasn’t RSVP’d yet, here’s the link to the evite: http://evite.me/MsDXahPs1N

Finally, starting next Monday, all practices will be “after school” times (3:30pm-6pm) b/c although the students don’t begin until Wednesday, teachers start tomorrow L.

OLD WAYS DON’T OPEN NEW DOORS…BEAT FREMD!

Sincerely,

Luke Mertens

LINK

 

2017 QUARTERBACK CLUB SPONSORS

PLATINUM
Culvers of Lake Zurich
The Janke Family
The Fitzgerald Family/Yaskawa Company
The Lake Zurich Flames
The Panico Family
Jimmy Johns Lake Zurich

GOLD
The Coleman Family
The Maskalunas Family
Menner Chiropractic
Poeta’s Italian Market
Timothy Grant Jewelers
The Enters Family
Lake Zurich Tire & Auto Goodyear
Bella Lukes
Home Depot- Lake Zurich
Wickstrom Auto Group

SILVER
Be Safe Driving School
Beelows
Cool Sculpting
The Zanicelli Family
Minuteman Convenience Center- Lake Zurich
Marriott Lincolnshire
Apple Storage
The Andrews Family

BRONZE
Arlington Computer Products
The Stutzman Family
Enzo & Lucia Ristorante
Bacchus Nibbles
Broken Earth Winery
The Dwyer Family
Tylt
Todd Gagliano
Master Motor Rebuilder
Lukes Construction
Almost Home
Consume
BBQ’d Productions
Scoreboard Bar and Grill
Epic Float

BEARS CONTRIBUTORS
The Haidu Family
Dr. Jeff Sima
Cathi Volante
Melon Ink
ZaZa Salon
DiPiero’s
Laura Stahley
Kori Babb
Mike Nichols
Christian Wollard
LZ Volunteer Fire Deprt
Welcome Home
Dog and Suds
Kelly and Jamie Stone
Feeling Mulish
Studio 111
Arlington Park
Cinespace Chicago
Total Fitness
Silpada
Posh Pup
The Gallus Family
Orchard Prime Meats
Pure Barre -Kildeer
Core Power Yoga
Salon Lorrene
Debbie Pepper
Destefano
Squeaky Clean
Koffee Kup
The Class of 2018 Basket Donors
The Class of 2019 Basket Donors
The Class of 2020 Basket DonorsThe
The Class of 2021 Basket Donors
Lake Zurich Poms
Lake Zurich Cheer
Moore Orthodontics

Sophomore/Varsity Parents,

Welcome to the official start of the football season!  I have not written recently because our QB Club had a lot of info to communicate, and I did not want to flood your inboxes.

Summer camp was a complete success! The final 2 weeks of camp saw much activity, including a training session with the Army National Guard, pretty fly costumes by the coaching staff, and a dance competition between the Blue and White teams.  I use the term “dance” loosely based on the competition, which the White team won BTW.

Monday is the official start of the FB season.  Please understand that practice is mandatory.  The only excused absences are sickness or a family emergency.  I hope neither of these happen; however, if they do, please be sure to email me directly.  A player missing practicing w/o an email or phone call from a parent is considered an unexcused absence.  One unexcused absence will result in a 1-game suspension.  Two unexcused absences will result in dismissal from the team.  Your son has decided to join a team, and it is now time for him to honor his commitment with a 100% of his presence.

Each player was given a practice calendar for the weeks of Aug 7 & 14, which can also be viewed online at: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ps5roa6pc80c0f6jg893ljijvc%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Chicago

 

• Some calendared events I want to highlight:
  • We now move to a 6-day per week commitment (M-Sat)
  • Tuesday 8/8 – soph/varsity teams will be volunteering at Feed My Starving Children in Libertyville, 12-2pm.  Players will be bussed to/from FMSC.  For pickup purposes, we should be back to LZHS by 2:30-2:45.
  • LZHS has established a three year partnership with Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA), a national non-profit developing “Better Athletes, Better People”.  On Mon 8/14, PCA will host a workshop for parents, 6pm-8pm.  On Friday, 8/18 PCA will host a workshop for our players, 3:30pm-4pm.
  • LZHS will be eliminating pledge card night and replacing it with individual sport team pre-season meetings. Our pre-season meeting will be Friday, 8/18, 4:30pm-5:30pm. Decal ceremony and Blue/White intrasquad scrimmage will follow our pre-season meeting.
  • Saturday, 8/19, senior Mother-Son Brunch, 11am-1pm. Be looking for the Evite soon!

OLD WAYS WON’T OPEN NEW DOORS…BEAT FREMD!

Luke Mertens

Lake Zurich High School

English Teacher/Head Football Coach

Twitter: @LZHSFootball

Instagram: @LZHSFootball

Mama Bear Spirit Wear (and families, too) Here is the link to Football Spirit Wear.  Anyone can wear and order these items.  Please note the deadline to order is July 24th (one week from today).  This is to make sure you have the order by the first game. http://lzqbclub.com/downloads/mama-bears-spiritwear-order-form-2017-club-pub-1/ In addition, the LZQB website has been re-organized.  It has a calendar, which should help with organizing events, it has all the forms, including sponsorship and spirit wear, news, coach Mertens’ posts, pictures and much more. Let me know if you have any questions.GO BEARS!!!