Stingrays Swim Team

I wanted to announce that we will be running a swim program this summer!

Yes, there will be some differences as we do our best to comply with the governor’s guidelines for pools. Check out our "Practices" tab to see our mitigation plan for training sessions.

Also in the "Practices" tab is our practice times for the summer. You'll see we've made a change for the beginning of the season (while school is still in session) in order to limit the amount of swimmers in the practice facility at one time.

We will run a guppies program, which is for kids who don’t yet know how to swim, but are able to tolerate being in the water apart from their parents. Generally that means 4 or 5 is the minimum age.

We'll talk about changes to meets later; the big idea is limiting people in the facility. Those meets will take place in one night, but several sessions. The league has asked us to refrain from doing relays. So they will look different, but not as different as we thought at first.

It looks like we are going to attempt a divisional meet as our final championship meet. We are still in discussions--more on that later.

So, there are a lot of changes. The spirit here is that we want to get kids back in the water, learning to swim and loving to compete—but we will be as smart as we can possibly be to keep those swimmers and their families safe.

If you are in agreement, we can’t wait to see you this summer! Invite your friends! Let’s dive back in!

Hi Stingray Families.

Usually, on Memorial Day we are making our last minute plans as we try to launch our summer season successfully. Unfortunately at this time we still have many more questions than answers.

Our league met last week, and (you may have already heard) voted to cancel the official season and allow teams to offer what they can for their members. In the end, some pools aren't open yet, and don't know when (or if) they will. Cities aren't inspecting pools until Phase 2 of recovery, and we don't know when that will begin. The rules for pool capacity have not yet been published for Phase 2, so nobody knows how many swimmers will be allowed at a practice. Meets were going to be a significant challenge. In the end, our summer experience would have been so uncertain and restricted that it didn't seem worth it to try to have a traditional season.

We also voted to allow seniors who would have swum one last season to be allowed eligibility next summer if they wish.

Now that we have some flexibility, here is what I would like to offer:

Once Phase 2 begins AND we get direction on pool capacity AND ODAC gives us practice time (which may be different from last year) AND we have enough interest...so you can see there are still a lot of open questions...we hope to offer a series of 2 week swim clinics. Swimmers would sign up for 9 hours of training and 1 mini-meet.

At this point, I can't even tell you when we would begin, nor do I know what the price would be (since it will depend upon how many swimmers we can host at a time).

However, that is what we know today, and we still hope to be able to safely get your swimmers in the water at some point this summer.

Hi Stingrays Families.

As you can imagine, during this time we still have many more questions than answers about swimming this summer. Here's what I do know:

VBLS (our swim league) is preparing to attempt to hold some sort of modified season.

We won't be able to begin that season until Phase 2 of the recovery plan--and we don't know exactly when we will enter that period. (Early estimates are mid-June.)

We are still discussing practice modifications with the league and with Honey Bee; there will certainly be new procedures in place to keep us all as safe as possible. This may affect our practice hours as well, as ODAC may require additional pool time at the facility.

We will also certainly have to modify meets; I would be surprised if we can have any spectators (except for volunteers). Remember, Phase 2 requires no groups of more than 50 people. The league is currently discussing how to manage meets under that guideline.

So for now, we still have a lot of uncertainty. You are certainly welcome to register online. We are not accepting any registration fees at this time, nor will we until we know for certain that we will have a season. It is good to know how many of you are interested in swimming--but if most of you are not wanting to take the risk, we won't try to force a team. (I think many of us are ready for some kind of activity.)

I will update you as I get more information, and hope you and your families continue to be in good health with steady work.

Todd Murphy

Stingrays

Our team is a competitive summer swim team offering high quality professional coaching and technique instruction for all ages and abilities. The goal of our team is to provide every member an opportunity to improve swimming skills and achieve success at his or her level of ability, and provide the kids the opportunity to have some fun.

We are a non profit club, run by our elected Board of Directors, which meets each month. All members are welcome at each meeting and encouraged to be involved in team activities and fundraisers.