When we return to swimming.

So USA swimming has put out guidelines. Almost 2 weeks ago, the state allowed for "water sports" to resume - noting that boat ramps were never closed, and boating and kayaking and such was never restricted. The context of that executive order was "venues." It was about venues being allowed to operate. It did specifically prevent some. It also specifically allowed others, such as bowling alleys, and "Water sports." Note this applies to "rest of state" areas, whereas there are 5 regions where the local health department has authority to veto the rest of the state decisions, and operate on a delayed timeline. My county of residence is part of a local health department. My kids swim in an adjacent county which is "rest of state." Other pools in surrounding counties opened up. Gyms opened up pools for lap swimming. We (kids' club team) presented the USA plan, the executive orders, our team's plan, etc. Noting our plan involves two groups at opposite ends of the pool, one swimmer per lane, and one (masked) coach per end of pool. Coaches wear masks, devoted entrance separate from a devoted exit, diretly to the pool, wiht no entry into the building, at large. No dice. Local health department - who does not have the authority granted that the 5 large ones in the state have - has said that "water sports" only means boating, which again, was never closed. But this is a city owned pool, so the city won't open, even though the private lap pools are operating. Almost a week ago, more guidelines came out. WATER PARKS are now allowed to open. WATER PARKS!!! Furthermore, guidelines SPECIFICALLY ABOUT POOLS were stated. And they are slightly more lenient than the plan we put in place. We sent all of this information. And they are now just ignoring us. I have not checked wiht my local gym (again, Knox county, under its own delayed timeline) to see if their lap pool is open. But Knox did do something last week, as the local open water group will be resuming workouts this coming Thursday. I've been in communication with them, but as they will have to limit group size, they aren't accepting people new to open water swimming (which includes me, and I fully agree with their position!). This really sucks. This is a county of 70,000 people, a city of 29,000. 36 cases total, one fatality. Among the lowest rates in the country. And we get nothing, not even the decency of a response. Sad thing is, if we don't do something very, very soon, the team, which is 70 years old, may not make it through this. We should be able to weather this, but at this point, it is as best we can tell, just laziness on the part of some local government folks. I wonder how many other teams out there are like that.

So USA swimming has put out guidelines. Almost 2 weeks ago, the state allowed for "water sports" to resume - noting that boat ramps were never closed, and boating and kayaking and such was never restricted. The context of that executive order was "venues." It was about venues being allowed to operate. It did specifically prevent some. It also specifically allowed others, such as bowling alleys, and "Water sports." Note this applies to "rest of state" areas, whereas there are 5 regions where the local health department has authority to veto the rest of the state decisions, and operate on a delayed timeline. My county of residence is part of a local health department. My kids swim in an adjacent county which is "rest of state." Other pools in surrounding counties opened up. Gyms opened up pools for lap swimming. We (kids' club team) presented the USA plan, the executive orders, our team's plan, etc. Noting our plan involves two groups at opposite ends of the pool, one swimmer per lane, and one (masked) coach per end of pool. Coaches wear masks, devoted entrance separate from a devoted exit, diretly to the pool, wiht no entry into the building, at large. No dice. Local health department - who does not have the authority granted that the 5 large ones in the state have - has said that "water sports" only means boating, which again, was never closed. But this is a city owned pool, so the city won't open, even though the private lap pools are operating. Almost a week ago, more guidelines came out. WATER PARKS are now allowed to open. WATER PARKS!!! Furthermore, guidelines SPECIFICALLY ABOUT POOLS were stated. And they are slightly more lenient than the plan we put in place. We sent all of this information. And they are now just ignoring us. I have not checked wiht my local gym (again, Knox county, under its own delayed timeline) to see if their lap pool is open. But Knox did do something last week, as the local open water group will be resuming workouts this coming Thursday. I've been in communication with them, but as they will have to limit group size, they aren't accepting people new to open water swimming (which includes me, and I fully agree with their position!). This really sucks. This is a county of 70,000 people, a city of 29,000. 36 cases total, one fatality. Among the lowest rates in the country. And we get nothing, not even the decency of a response. Sad thing is, if we don't do something very, very soon, the team, which is 70 years old, may not make it through this. We should be able to weather this, but at this point, it is as best we can tell, just laziness on the part of some local government folks. I wonder how many other teams out there are like that.