Hello Crestwood families,

Thank you so much for all of your cooperation and patience over our first week of practice this season. Your swimmers worked so hard, and we are so proud of them!

Attached to this email, you will see that we have updated practice and lane assignments. Please look carefully at these lists so that you don’t miss any changes we have made.

We must remind you that bathroom usage at practice and meets should be limited to EMERGENCIES ONLY. Please, encourage your child to use the restroom at home before coming to practice.

We are going to try to use kickboards this week at practice. If your child has their own kickboard, please have them bring their kickboard to practice this week. For those swimmers who do not own a kickboard, we have numbered the kickboards at Crestwood to let kids use for the season. We have a limited number of boards, so please only have your child take one of ours if they do not have their own. Please remember to bring your kickboard to practice everyday along with cap and goggles, an extra set of cap and goggles, a mask, and a water bottle.

Our first virtual swim meet will be next Monday, July 6th. We have included some meet information below to give you some idea of what meets will look like this year.

Meets:

• The 11 & older swimmers will most likely compete between 8am-9:30am, and 10 & unders will swim from 9:30am-11:30am. We are still in the process of finalizing this decision, but we will give you an update with a solidified decision by the end of the week.
• In previous seasons, the GDSA enforced certain rules regarding caps and suits worn at meets. For the 2020 season, swimmers may wear whatever cap they want. However, we do still ask that swimmers wear a one piece swimsuit.
• Relays
  • The following policies on relays were brainstormed by the GDSA as a whole and should be consistent across the league. They are intended to ensure that relays can be done safely, and will be very different from what swimmers are used to. We will go over this information with the swimmers at practice this week so that all team members understand how the new rules work.
  • 2 relays teams will be run at a time and each one will use 2 lanes
  • Takeoffs will happen in alternating lanes
• Kickboards will be used for social distancing behind the block when lining kids up for their events
• We ask only ONE parent or guardian spectator attends per family to help maintain social distancing
  • If one parent or guardian is volunteering, the other may spectate from behind the fence where other parents will spectate.
• Please maintain social distancing while using the bathrooms and try to keep bathroom usage for EMERGENCIES ONLY, just like during practice. If possible, wear a mask in the bathrooms.
• There will be no changing in the bathrooms at meets, same as during practice.
• Spectators
  • Please stand behind the fence only while your child is swimming their event to allow for each parent or guardian to watch their swimmer(s) swim while still maintaining social distancing
  • When your child is not swimming please use social distancing in the grass that is not behind the blocks
  • You must wear a mask
• Attendance will be taken for all swimmers, spectators, and volunteers who enter the front gates
• There will be no physical ribbons given out this season, however there will be an end of year certificate for each child with their best times from the season. This decision was made with health concerns in mind, as the ribbons change hands a number of times.
• Volunteering
  • 1 timer per lane and 1 head timer (MUST HAVE IMMACULATE PENMANSHIP- this is so that the computer scorer can read names and times and there is no question about what a number or letter might be. )
  • One parent to help one coach in the bullpen to line kids up and double check that the correct swimmer is in each lane. The bullpen parent will also most likely be taking attendance.
  • Volunteers will have to wear masks at all times
• Officials and coaches will also wear a mask

We will be needing minimal volunteers this season, which is why our volunteer signups looked different. We will be selecting volunteers by availability and if they are able to work the entire meet or just one session. Our hope is to have every family volunteer at least one time during our virtual season.

Thank you to the families that have already put your availability in for the meets. We ask all families to update or change your volunteer availability for all meets by Monday, June 29th. This will give our volunteers time to contact and confirm the jobs are assigned and covered. We understand that plans change and we will need to make adjustments.

If you are attending the officials training this week, please complete your availability for all meets by Monday, June 29th. Thank you to those that are attending training this week!

As always, feel free to reach out to the coaching staff with questions and concerns. We look forward to another successful week of practices!

Coach Claire Leibold

Coach Carter Caldwell

Coach Abby Tharpe