High School Swim Team Update - Week of 12/28/20

Good evening everyone,

We hope everyone had a happy holiday and enjoyed some time to relax and be with family. Our team reminders and practice schedule for this week are included below. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Reminders:
1.) We are clear to return to competition as we return from the holiday break.
- Our first scheduled meet will be the league meet held on Saturday, 1/9. Our site has been assigned as Solon HS. Busses leave at 11:15 am, meet starts at 1:00 pm. Not all swimmers will be able to be entered. I will share an update about spectators when information is available.
- Diving will be held on Thursday 1/7 at Solon, time TBA. Must have 11 dives. There will not be a bus.
2.) Swimmers/divers, please join our team google classroom at the link included here. We will begin to use this resource to complete several team items and activities.
3.) A second round of the spiritwear store is running online at the link included here. The store will close on 1/6/21.
4.) Please make sure you are meeting attendance. We have the three practice options daily and anyone is welcome to attend mornings as needed. If you need to switch your afternoon time because of a conflict, please just let us know.

Schedule:
Mon 12/28 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:30-7:00 am
Mon 12/28 PM - Swim practice Orange Group 2:45-5:00 pm, Blue 2:45-4:30 pm, Green 4:30-6:00 pm
Tue 12/29 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:30-7:00 am
Tue 12/29 PM - Swim practice Orange Group 2:45-5:00 pm, Blue 2:45-4:30 pm, Green 4:30-6:00 pm
Wed 12/30 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:30-7:00 am
Wed 12/30 PM - Swim practice Orange Group 2:45-5:00 pm, Blue 2:45-4:30 pm, Green 4:30-6:00 pm
Thu 12/31 PM - Off Holiday
Fri 1/1 PM - Off Holiday

Team Handbook
Tentative Practice and Meet Schedule
Tentative Meet Schedule and Status
Mentorswimming.com

Have a great holiday and Go Cards!

High School Swim Team Update - Week of 12/21/20

Good evening everyone,

I want to start by wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday this week! Our practice schedule for the week is included below. We will have a morning option each day that we offer practice. If you need to switch afternoon sessions for a day, please just let me know so that I can make sure we have room. Whatever works best for your schedule.

We have been cleared for a return to competition starting after our holiday break. More information on that will come in the next update and be reflected on our team schedules. Thankfully our dual meet schedule is in great shape with the amount of space available at Spire.

We had some nice swims on Friday as we get back into training. Results and top times have been updated on the team website.

Schedule:
Mon 12/21 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:30-7:00 am
Mon 12/21 PM - Swim practice Orange Group 2:45-5:00 pm, Blue 2:45-4:30 pm, Green 4:30-6:00 pm
Tue 12/22 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:30-7:00 am
Tue 12/22 PM - Swim practice Orange Group 2:45-5:00 pm, Blue 2:45-4:30 pm, Green 4:30-6:00 pm
Wed 12/23 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:30-7:00 am
Wed 12/23 PM - Swim practice Orange Group 2:45-5:00 pm, Blue 2:45-4:30 pm, Green 4:30-6:00 pm
Thu 12/24 PM - Off Holiday
Fri 12/25 PM - Off Holiday

Team Handbook
Tentative Practice and Meet Schedule
Tentative Meet Schedule and Status
Mentorswimming.com

Have a great holiday and Go Cards!

High School Swim Team Update - Week of 12/14/20

Good evening everyone,

I want to start by thanking you all for your patience and help in getting restarted! Things have gone well, and we will continue to make safety our number one priority. Just to give an update, the numbers have been 3-6 (most often 4-5) swimmers per lane in the first practice group and 2-4 swimmers per lane in the second practice group.
- We run three dismissals with orange, blue, and green to minimize numbers and time in the stands.
- We use color markers, basically flat cones to mark where each swimmer should sit to make sure they are distanced in the stands.
- Swimmers keep their masks on until they go to enter the pool. We enter in groups to spread out.
- When we get out, we again use groups to move to go get towels and masks on.
Coaches will continue to monitor to make sure the swimmers follow those procedures. It is when the swimmers are transitioning to/from the stands, especially with their friends, that is our biggest concern. We brought in additional stands from the school to go behind the starting blocks further distance as necessary.

If you have a conflict with your practice group, please let me know and I will try my best to help work it out. If you can't attend the first practice group on a certain day, or it is easier for you to attend the second practice group every day, please let me know. We absolutely have the room to have swimmers swim during that time slot.

We did receive news over the weekend that the Winter Champs Invitational at Spire has been canceled. Many schools in the second wave of counties around Cleveland to go purple are now in the position we found ourselves in the past few weeks. We will put touchpads in and get some races and times on this Friday instead.

Our schedule for this week can be found below.
- We were able to pick up some morning time with one to two lanes.
- We also were able to set it to match our afternoon practice duration.
- If you attend the mornings, please, please, please, swimmers keep your distance from Lake Health members. Especially entering the facility. We want to try to prevent any members from complaining about our being there and sharing the main pool.
- If complaints happen, we run the risk of losing the morning option. During our afternoon times, they have basically cleared all the pools for us. They have made it abundantly clear to their members that we are in the main pool in the afternoon, and it is their choice to be there at the same time in the smaller pools (almost none are). In the morning, we share the main pool. We don't want to give any items for the members to complain about us. I know our swimmers have a reputation for being respectful, great students, and well behaved. However, with all the challenges and chaos of current times, I anticipate even seeing us could draw complaints. We just have to try our absolute hardest during the mornings to be under the radar.
- Coach Emily will be in the lobby when Lake Health opens to ask the screening questions and get your temp. If you are running late for mornings, still come through the front main entrance but check in with the front desk so they can get your temperature. They just need to know you are on the swim team.

Schedule:
Mon 12/14 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:30-7:00 am
Mon 12/14 PM - Swim practice Orange Group 2:45-5:00 pm, Blue 2:45-4:30 pm, Green 4:30-6:00 pm
Tue 12/15 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:30-7:00 am
Tue 12/15 PM - Swim practice Orange Group 2:45-5:00 pm, Blue 2:45-4:30 pm, Green 4:30-6:00 pm
Wed 12/16 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:30-7:00 am
Wed 12/16 PM - Swim practice Orange Group 2:45-5:00 pm, Blue 2:45-4:30 pm, Green 4:30-6:00 pm
Thu 12/17 AM - Optional/Make-Up swim practice at LH Wellness 5:30-7:00 am
Thu 12/17 PM - Swim practice Orange Group 2:45-5:00 pm, Blue 2:45-4:30 pm, Green 4:30-6:00 pm
Fri 12/18 PM - Swim practice Orange Group 2:45-5:00 pm, Blue 2:45-4:30 pm, Green 4:30-6:00 pm

Team Handbook
Tentative Practice and Meet Schedule
Tentative Meet Schedule and Status

If you have any questions, please let me know. Go Cards!

High School Swim Team Update - Week of 12/7/20

Good evening everyone,

I just met with the athletics director/department, and we have received good news from the administration and the county health department. Numbers in Lake County have declined, and we no longer meet the criteria for the purple level. We will come off the purple level after this second week of numbers not meeting the criteria.

I want to emphasize that we were not paused for any known cases/reported cases on our swim team. It was part of a larger pause to all school district extracurriculars because of numbers in the county. In addition, everything I see on swim news websites and from medical experts suggests that the virus does not survive in chlorine/well in pool environments. We will continue to follow the policies given to us in order to have a season.

In restarting HS athletics, the athletics director and administration submitted a plan to the county department of health that will result in some changes to our program. We will further decrease numbers/increase distancing in lanes and on deck using assigned groups and practice windows. You will receive a new practice group color indicating your practice time slot on the schedule below. I have attached a screen-shot that demonstrates the intended change. Please note that the plan we submitted was anticipating the max attendance during a practice time and not the actual attendance. While I would love to have 100% attendance, the actual will be and has always been less. When you receive your group email, if there is a conflict or you need help, please let me know. I have a small ability to make changes, but if we have athletes changing from both groups, we can definitely make accommodations. I have also tried to keep siblings together to ease transportation and logistics for families.

From the return to participate plan that was approved, competitions will be phased back in. From following the phases, if everything goes well, it would be the winter holiday. I do not have additional information on the return to competition or an exact date at this time.

Our schedule for this week is listed below. There will be no morning practices until we get the okay to return to them.

Schedule:
Mon 12/7 PM - Off
Tue 12/8 PM - Off
Wed 12/9 PM - Orange Group 2:45-5:00, Blue 2:45-4:30, Green 4:30-6:00
Thu 12/10 PM - Orange Group 2:45-5:00, Blue 2:45-4:30, Green 4:30-6:00
Fri 12/11 PM - Orange Group 2:45-5:00, Blue 2:45-4:30, Green 4:30-6:00

Team Handbook
Tentative Practice and Meet Schedule
Tentative Meet Schedule and Status

If you have any questions, please let me know. Go Cards!