DCC Swim & Dive Team Update
Hello DCC Dolphins!!
Thank you to those who have registered their swimmers & divers for the 2020 season. We have about half our athletes joining us again this summer. This will be the final email that will include the roster from last year. Our next email with details will be sent to just our 2020 team. If you have not registered yet please do so at dccdolphins.swimtopia.com You will not be charged any registration fees or league dues until we have had our first practices and are up and running which could be early June. (Even if the automated system says 'you have been charged' I assure you have not. I will personally enter these transactions in June.) You can cancel your registration at anytime without penalties. This number of participants allows us to tell the leagues how many kids we have on our team and how we will re-structure our practices to stay in compliance when the Government gives us our new Self-Distancing Guidelines. We hope that we will know these new guidelines sometime in late May, maybe even early June.
- If we are permitted to have a team, the 2020 Swim & Dive Team will be different from anything we are used to but we will get your kids involved in our sport in which we can still have a lot of fun, learn new skills, and get some much needed energy out! :)
- We were supposed to begin our season this Monday, but maybe this delay to our season was a blessing because our water is too cold to swim or dive anyway. As of today our pool temperature is 69 because of the cold front this weekend. Our kids are usually chilly the first day of Swim & Dive Team practice and the water is usually 78-81 degrees. We do not have a pool heater so we'll hope for the warm weather to start warming up the pool water.
- We had a meeting with ASA (Atlanta Swim Assoc) this week. We will have the final details by the end of May as to how our season will be run this year. Here is an idea of what our new swim team season could look like in compliance with social distancing guidelines set by the state and federal governments:
- No coaches in the water (In the beginning or the entire season depending on the guidelines) * A note for younger swimmers: this is probably not the year to 'try-out' for swim team as a 6 and under. They will need to be a strong enough swimmer to make it across without any help. Please keep this in mind.
- We will not have any items such as kick boards, pull buoys, or noodles in the water. Nor will be able to hand out any Lost & Found Goggles. You will need to wear your own goggles. Basically no 'sharing' to keep the kids from touching as many items.
- We believe the new guidelines will allow groups of just 50 people to be in one gathering. This will mean that we will have a 'Drop-off' system in place and certain children will be practicing at certain times. Maybe shorter practices with less children than a typical practice in each lane swimming opposite directions. Dry land workouts going on deck at the same time too. ALSO to meet with social distancing guidelines we probably will not be able to have the siblings that are not on the team or parents on the deck so that we can have our Swimmers & Divers on deck and practicing.
-Parents will probably 'Drop Off' swimmers with goggles and caps on at the front gate and a coach or myself will check them off the list and send them to their correct area. This includes divers to who are practicing at the same time as swim team but in smaller groups. Siblings will be on the same diving board and we will sanitize the railings in between rotating the kids. Keep your towels in your car and have them ready for your child when the coaches walk them back out the gate. It will likely be late May/June so it shouldn't be too cold by this point. Hopefully hot.
- We will not see any meets this summer with 2 teams on deck and 400+ people yelling and cheering. This summer we are considering the option of 'virtual' meets and will lean hard on the honor system for each team to time their swimmers and judge their divers. We have a meter pool so we will swim against other pools that have meter pools, not yards. Also these 'meets' will take place on our own time schedule each morning during our practice time as the coaches will time swimmers in their events and enter the times into HyTech. By that Friday of the week of the meet we will exchange the data and the computer will let us know who won the meet and if any of our swimmers broke any records. Divers are the same, they will be judged by our coaches in individual events each morning and scores will be exchanged at the end of the week. We will still have ribbons, just not the donuts and large gatherings after a meet. We will come up with other fun ideas to replace this. Not sure about Championships this summer. Probably not going to be going to Ga Tech.
-Our hope is to have 2 weeks of practice and then 3-5 meets and we will be finished at the end of July, all done before August. This will all depend on when we are allowed to begin our season....
-You are welcome to purchase a suit if you need one this summer. Please email me and I will send you the link and our contact for ordering a suit or towel. This can wait a few more weeks for now...
-We will have a complete detailed email for all of you once we get the green light from the Government to begin. Staying safe is our number one priority.
- All of our Swim & Dive Team Coaches are excited to see everyone again one day soon!
Thank you for your patience and as we hear new details we will be in touch with you.
Please let me know if you need anything else. We are all happy to help.
Stay Safe!
Take Care,
Bridget Turner, DCC Aquatics Director
Coach Kevin Kadzis, DCC Head SWIM Coach
Coach Ansley Christensen, Head DIVE Coach
