While swim clubs across the United States do their best to return to some semblance of normal amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, some remain unable to get back in the door of their home facility.
The Indiana Swim Club, based in Bloomington, has been unable to return to their usual training area due to restrictions from the local school district in which their pools are located.
The club normally practices at Bloomington North and Bloomington South High School, but Monroe County Community Schools officials have not allowed any outside groups to use school facilities due to concerns over COVID-19.
ISC president Jody Madeira has been working with officials to try and get the club access, including submitting a four-page COVID-19 safety plan, as several other districts have been reopening facilities for swim clubs.
“The administration has said that ‘guests’ are not allowed, even though they are allowing spectators for outside sports for football and soccer and even indoors for volleyball,” Madeira told SwimSwam. “They argue that it is all that they can do keep students who are currently attending schools safe (mostly because of the athletic teams).
“But they also owe a duty to improve conditions for all students in terms of facilitating community participation, as well as to assist those who will be participating in middle school swimming seasons, and they are also hurting opportunities available to future athletes.
“They also cite CDC guidance as well as guidance from local and state public health officials—but the same guidance is applying to all of these institutions, so it’s unclear how these guidelines are expansive enough to allow other districts to commence practices but suggest that we should be locked out.”
The club is set to meet with MCCSC officials on Tuesday, where Madeira hopes to get some clarification on what needs to happen in order for them to be allowed back in the pool.
“The high school teams have been in there since July 6th,” she said. “It’s unclear whether there are any criteria that they can enunciate—but we hope to arrive at these requirements in the meeting.”
Madeira says the club is seeking access at the high schools on Saturday afternoons and Sundays while no other teams are practicing.
Another Indianapolis team in a similar situation is the Washington Township Swim Club, who have been unable to use the North Central Natatorium due to the Washington Township school board following similar restrictions as the MCCSC.
In the meantime, Indiana Swim Club has been training out of a pair of YMCA facilities since August 17, renting time seven days a week in the evenings when the pools are closed to the general public.
The rent has cost the team approximately $10,000 per month.
“As you can imagine, the rent is a huge financial burden for our members, which we had no way of foreseeing,” said Madeira. “But the alternative—not swimming—is unthinkable.”
Madeira also noted that it was important for training to carry on with new head coach Chip Kline joining the club just over a month ago.
“(We) very much needed to start the transition to a new era in the club’s history,” Madeira said.
In order to train at the Y, the club has been fundraising.
“Our tenure at the Ys is going to depend on how long we can fundraise,” she said. “We are looking to raise about $30,000 and we have a swim-a-thon coming up this weekend to help us reach this goal. We will also be enthusiastic fundraisers, seeking corporate and private donations to help us through this unique moment.”
The club’s financial difficulties are punctuated by the fact that some of their senior swimmers have been training with their high school teams instead, while in a normal year they would be with the club until late October.
“So they are not paying dues or practicing with the club, which hurts us both culturally (because we are missing a key source of leadership and mentorship) and financially,” Madeira said.
“We look forward to bringing these swimmers back into the fold when things return to normal!”
Build, maintain and insure your own pool…..and then ask if you are paying too much to use someone else’s pool.
This is happening everywhere and Ohio is in the same boat. OHSAA still thinks that they will be able to run a normal high school season even though half of the teams don’t have access to a pool. Most of the pools are run by universities or community centers that are not allowing outside groups in to if they are they are limiting groups sizes and charging large amounts. Many of our local teams are looking at close to $50,000 to pay for their team to practice. The problem is no school has the funding or would be willing to pay that amount for a swim team.
I also here that USA swimming released locations for the US Open… Read more »
Our team is in the same boat. The ymca is taking us to the cleaners to recoup lost revenue from ridiculous covid decisions by state leaders and school administrators. Usa swimming is not helping the situation. The least likely among us to be hurt or pass on any illness, are the most hurt by poor decisions in the short term and long term.
Why did ISC get to use high school pools at no cost?
Both of these programs really need to get their act together before they blame other organizations for their problems. Both have a long history of a lack of direction, poor coaching, numerous parent problems and underachieving results.
Welcome to the club. I am our school district’s consolidated swim team head coach, and also the coach of the club that operates out of the high school pool. Our school was one of the first in our state to open at 100% but we still aren’t allowing “outside groups”
When the YMCAs want something, the want it for free. If you want something from the YMCA you better be ready to bend over.
ISC had to pay for pool rentals all last year to swim at IU and the Y because they were pushed out due to HS pool renovations that are still not complete. So they decide to hire Chip Kline…and the 11 other coaches listed on their website?
You know how it is with clubs in college towns…hourly coaches come in and coach for a few hours a week in a lot of clubs. Most large and successful clubs have larger benches.
Someone is an upset insider. What did Bloomington Swimming do to you? Support the kids.