After the Mission Viejo Nadadores jumped back into practice on Friday after receiving permission from the mayor, several teams on the east coast have followed suit as the state of Florida enters its first phase of reopening.
The Berkeley Barracudas, located in Tampa Bay, are one of those clubs who have made a return to the water, doing so on Monday after receiving the green light from parents and the head of Berkeley Preparatory School, where the team trains.
“USA Swimming kind of left it up to us, all along, and basically I asked the head of the school, and he was fine with it,” Berkeley head senior coach and Aquatics Director Kevin Rosepapa told SwimSwam in a phone interview.
“We had a meeting with the parents, talked to them about a plan, and took some input from them, and went forward and used our own guidelines and the USA Swimming guidelines.”
The restrictions put in place by the Barracudas are similar to what Mission Viejo implemented: one swimmer per lane, kids show up in their suits, no locker room access (other than going to the bathroom), and parents are instructed to simply drop off and pick up their child without entering the facility.
“We have an eight-lane pool, so we allow up to nine kids, plus a coach,” said Rosepapa, who has been coaching with the team since 1997. “And the way we do the nine kids is that if they have siblings, then they can swim in the same lane, but one starts at the other end.
“Keep social distancing on the pool deck at all times, no running up and hugging, which was probably the toughest thing cause the kids haven’t seen each other for a while. No sharing equipment, bring your own water bottle, of course. No use of the water fountains, basically follow the rules that the CDC handed down to be safe.”
Head age group coach Jonathan Jordan saw the instant benefit of having the team back together physically: “The kids really enjoyed the first day back and it was a great feeling seeing them come back to the pool after a month off with a huge smile on their face ready for practice with their friends. Anyone who says swimming isn’t a team sport has not seen them interact after not seeing each other for a month.”
For the club members that attend Berkeley Prep, they’re following normal school hours via Zoom, meaning they have classes from 8:00-2:45. Others who go to public school have more flexibility, so Rosepapa and Jordan are running workout across the entire day to accommodate everyone.
“We have workouts early in the morning, workouts in the middle of the day and workouts late in the day to adjust to the kids’ schedule,” said Rosepapa.
In total there are six practices per day, with a 15-minute gap between the two back-to-back workouts to avoid having too many bodies on deck. In total, there are approximately 50 kids back into training.
The schedule is as follows:
- 5:30-6:45 am
- 7:00-8:15 am
- 11:00 am-12:15 pm
- 12:30-1:45 pm
- 4:30-5:45 pm
- 6:00-7:15 pm
“Some of the parents aren’t letting their kids come, which is completely up to them,” said Rosepapa. “They’re voluntary, we’re not forcing kids to come, we’ve just offered it. If they come, they come.
“The kids are out of the house, they’re getting in the pool, they’re all so happy to come. So it’s been good on that front.”
With everyone out of swimming shape due to the time off, the plan is to run workouts Monday to Friday for the first week, and potentially add in Saturdays down the line.
“Practice is basic, I mean it’s an hour and 15 minutes, and it’s just pretty much basic swimming and drilling, trying to get back into the pool and into the swing of things.”
Rosepapa knows of a few other clubs in the area who have opened up practice, including Tampa Bay Aquatics and Carrollwood Village. He’s also received several calls from other coaches across the US, and anticipates many teams will be looking to be back in the water by next week. “Which is a good thing, but we all have to mind what’s going on and keep things as safe as possible. It’s not going to get back to normal anytime soon.”
Florida Swimming is still working through the process of figuring out if it will run meets this summer, and the start of the high school season in the fall is still very much up in the air.
“It’s pretty much day-by-day, to tell you the truth,” he said. “There’s no guarantee that we’re back in a month from now if things get bad again. Right now we’re just trying to navigate our way through all this and trying to do it in the safest possible manner.”
One day into the reopening phase, Florida saw a new one-day record of 113 deaths (the first time it’s had a single day with more than 100), including 11 in the Tampa region. The state has a count of 37,439 cases and 1,536 deaths, with 3,823 and 196, respectively, coming from the Tampa area.
Most new Covid-19 hospitalizations in New York state are from people who were staying home and not venturing much outside, a “shocking” finding, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.
If you own a pool or have control over a pool, I would open up for business regardless of what the laws are and the opinion of the uneducated and narrative driven media. The authorities in most jurisdictions aren’t on the same page as those making the unnecessary regulations, anyway. I’m going out today to do what I want to do and I’m not going to wear a mask and I’m certainly not going to practice social distancing.
Trolls are the worst.
I hope you’re not a silent carrier, DOCTOR. I hope you’d care that you could be.
good job berkeley!
You have the same number of cases that is listed on the Florida Department of health website however are about 60 cases off from the number of deaths. From where did you get your source of this record number?
So you have the same number of cases as the State department of health website however are about 60 cases off the amount of deaths that are being listed. From where are you getting your source of this record number of deaths?
I understand the sensitivities here, but objectively speaking — one kid per lane in a giant outdoor vat of chlorine is not a risk to anyone, and I support what this team is doing.
I think even the one swimmer per lane is ridiculous. With we now know, it should be back to normal. Like I said, it’s a free country and do what you want to do. People that decide to train and stay active will move forward, and those that listen to their favorite ignorant and selfish politicians and media outlets will be left behind.
I wouldn’t say it’s “not a risk to anyone.” I would say that it’s a greatly reduced risk as compared to, say, a game of 5 on 5 basketball.
hope nobody sneezes
Good for them. Kids should be active, not locked inside.
it’s a free country. Do what you want to do. You can’t trust the narrative of what politicians and media are pushing. I support Mission Viejo and Berkeley. Hopefully, more will follow suit and even go back to training normal. This whole thing is stupid overkill.
A problem with the “do what you want to do” philosophy is that, like it or not, our actions affect others. We live in a society.
It’s nice to live in this country (I’m in the USA) and enjoy the freedoms we have. But those freedoms should never be about just doing what we please without caring for the consequences to others. We have laws that address just that (smoking in public, emissions testing, toxic dumping, vehicle inspections, food sanitation, vaccinations [don’t cause autism] etc x 1000). When people find many of our laws to be overbearing and infringements on personal liberty to live as they choose, and while they use terms like “Nanny State,” etc, its helpful to… Read more »
wE LivE iN a SoCIeTy
who are the 10 people that don’t like George Costanza and Seinfeld?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1189286
7 weeks. Lol.
And I’m sure nobody from the US or France had any contact with any US citizen around this date…
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-europe-52526554
Not enough data? Yes
Over reaction? I think we continue to get data, if you dig and reason a little, that yes, quarantining healthy people is probably an overreaction.
I’m unsure of your point. Regardless of WHEN the virus got to the USA or anywhere else, 7 weeks or 15 weeks, thousands of people have died. Data shows that many more people have died of COVID-19 than average during the same period exactly a year ago.
You completely miss the point of stay-at-home orders. Some younger people (under 50 without preexisting conditions) get infected and die. Aside from that, not knowing who has the virus because of “silent carriers,” ie, no symptoms, means it can be passed to others… who may get really sick and die, or may not…
A study released last month that tracked 318 clusters of COVID-19 in China discovered outdoor transmission exceedingly rare. As the authors noted, “We identified only a single outbreak in an outdoor environment, which involved two cases.” For that matter, “All identified outbreaks of three or more cases occurred in an indoor environment, which confirms that sharing indoor space is a major SARS-CoV-2 infection risk.”
Does that fit your narrative Balding Eagle?
Plenty more studies like this one. Risk in life can never be zero. Personal responsibility is key.
“Some younger people (under 50 without preexisting conditions) get infected and die”
While its genuinely tragic and awful that happened, we cannot be making societal policy off extreme outlying data. If we did that for all things humans encounter, we’d be paralyzed as a species.
outlying anecdotal data
You make the argument against yourself right here, “not knowing who has the virus because of “silent carriers,” ie, no symptoms, means it can be passed to others”
Which brings you to the posted articles and your point. There are exponentially more cases than what are documented. Which means ratios are more than likely inaccurate. More importantly, what those dates means is that all of these projections are total BS. To argue otherwise is BS. Science is based on knowns and quantifiables, not arbitrary, abstract data to guesstimate a projection.
None of what I said suggests the virus isn’t real, or isn’t a threat – especially to a certain segment of the population, or isn’t something to be concerned about,… Read more »
The April unemployment rate is now 14.7%. Four points higher than at any time since World War II ended. Swim clubs are going to fold and coaches will be without jobs. And it was all voluntary! This is insanity. Entire country needs to be opened back up today.
I don’t think I’d call being concerned about a quarter of a million deaths worldwide “overkill”. I genuinely can’t believe my eyes when I see mass gatherings of people protesting against social distancing rules/beaches being closed etc. I’m really not enjoying this situation but I don’t think the restrictions are just there for fun. We’re meant to be trying to stop the spread and protect the most vulnerable and I think that’s worth respecting.
…I am genuinely interested in which part of this downvoters disagree with. I am happy to have my opinion changed!
The fact that outdoor transmission is not the main cause of the spread (25x less likely to spread it outdoors). The fact that children are not causing the spread. The fact that nursing homes account for half the deaths in Europe and about 1/3 in USA. The fact that flu vaccines are about 30-40% effective so why would this one be much better?
Yet we must fall under these blanket policies to all of our detriments. That’s why you got downvoted.
How does outdoor vs indoor spread impact stay-at-home orders?
None of those tidbits are supported by very much (or any) data to begin with; but even assuming they’re all true I fail to see how that really changes our options and response. In the absence of widespread testing and contact tracing the most effective way to stop the spread is social isolation and that is what all the experts have been saying all along.
The point of me bringing these things up is to push for targeted measures. We have enough knowledge base to know that our one size fits all approach is beyond silly at this point. NY media, thanks for the hysteria.
Gov Cuomo and others did a poor job of protecting our most vulnerable when sending covid patients to nursing homes.
But governors think people going to the beach is the problem …. news flash, it’s not.