After a few long days of waiting for the city of Anchorage to give them the go-ahead, the Northern Lights Swim Club made a successful return to practice on Wednesday morning — the first team in the state to do so since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, according to head coach Clifford Murray.
“After a day of holding our breaths, we are opening tomorrow morning!,” Murray told SwimSwam Tuesday night. “6 am…first team in Alaska!”
On Friday, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy announced that the state’s pools had permission to open at 50% capacity. However, officials in both Anchorage (where the Northern Lights club is located) and Juneau, the state’s two largest cities, said they would await more information before giving local pools the go-ahead to open.
“Initially the Governor opened pools Friday, but our Municipality opened Monday, and then it took them a few days to get through their own review and release their city guidelines,” said the club’s Meet Director Jodi McLaughlin, who’s also on the Alaska Swimming LSC Board of Directors. “Sadly we had to cancel 40 reservations for kids on Tuesday since we felt sure we would be in. But by close of business Tuesday we had the final document released from the city to proceed.”
Drawing inspiration from the Fitter & Faster webinar in April that outlined what a potential return to the water could like and how to approach it, McLaughlin began preparing a plan of attack as she hoped to get kids back swimming as soon as it was safe to do so.
“It was inspiring,” she said. “Their genuine care struck me, and hearing how devastated so many teams, coaches, and areas were, at a loss, but brainstorming real ideas with a spirit of we can do this, was helpful.”
Initially despondent, McLaughlin encouraged coach Murray to form a committee to begin taking steps to get back in action.
“Once that happens the engines came to life to begin to lobby, prepare, plan, assess our risks, needs, and how to approach our state and local government,” she said. “We had an anesthesiologist, obstetrician, two nurses, an HR professional, two engineers, two coaches, a teacher, and a geologist on our committee. All swim parents or swimmers/coaches themselves. We also had additional parents who were ER doctors and family practice doctors, one who trains rural village healthcare workers, who gave us their thoughts also.
“All of this wealth of information and thoughtful perspective helped us hone a proposal for Governor Dunleavy, Commissioner Crum of our Health and Social Services Dept, and our Chief Medical Officer Dr. Zink, leading our state’s epidemiology team.”
After approaching the state and getting their ideas endorsed by Dr. Zink, the club went ahead and proposed to the city of Anchorage, who confirmed all was good to go Tuesday night.
Part of their approach includes lane shields, created by McLaughlin and her husband Sean, which act as a plexiglass divider between each lane.
“As much as the shields are a barrier (in the absence of masks of course in the water), more important was we wanted to show our government leaders that we respect the risks, are thinking thoughtfully and carefully, outside the box, embracing the need to do things differently for a while, and committed to doing whatever it took to get our kids back in the water.
“We knew when we started these shields would likely not be required, but if they give some of us an additional layer of protection, we are thrilled. We also knew that the state of Alaska may open pools to our friends, neighbors, and competitors around the state before us. We didn’t care. Anchorage has been slower than other areas around the state. But we were darn well going to be ready to roll.”
The pandemic has hit Alaska’s economy hard, though the state has done well to contain the spread. On Tuesday, there were only 39 active cases of COVID-19 in the state.
At one family per lane, McLaughlin recognizes it’s going to be financially difficult for some time.
“Coaching is a full-time job for several of our coaches, so they are really struggling,” she said.
“We feel proud of the effort, and that we’ve done it while respecting the real fears of some in our swim family and greater community. We are also proud that despite the huge financial and emotional loss and strain to our coach and his family, his top priority is always his swimmers, their families, and his staff getting safely back to pursuing our community and our kids’ goals and dreams.”
Despite the low infection rate in Alaska, they’re committed to doing things the right way, taking all necessary precautions, as they attempt to keep everyone safe while also getting the kids back swimming.
“We still have families we care about who have parents, not just grandparents, at higher risk, and some of our athletes themselves are high risk,” she said. “So while 6-12 in the pool is not profitable, we will grow from there while respecting these fears, and recognize that nobody really has known from the start what will happen next. We are looking long-range. Not to next week. But to next month and next fall.”
As for other teams in the state, McLaughlin knows of a few who are set to get going on Monday, including the Wasilla Waves and the Chugiak Aquatics Club.
“The sooner we could get any club in Alaska back in the water, safely and slowly, the better things look for all of us this fall,” McLaughlin added. “If we show the authorities we can do this thoughtfully maybe we have more credibility when it’s time to return to school in August, and high school sports in July. We have some kids who are devastated at what they lost — Trials cuts, records, a final youth swimming experience.
“We believe what is good for one swim club in Alaska with respect to COVID-19 is good for all of us. The sooner anyone is back in, carefully, painfully slowly, the sooner we can all get back to the business of chasing goals and dreams, albeit maybe in some slightly new and different ways.”
Just wondering had there been any national team members based out of Alaska?
Very creative!
Love this team!