In a video posted to Twitter Saturday, 2016 Olympic head coach David Marsh made a plea to California Governor Gavin Newsom to allow pools to re-open amid the COVID-19 pandemic under social distancing guidelines.
Marsh’s professional team, Team Elite, is based in San Diego. Some members of the team, including Kathleen Baker, have been working out in a local two-lane 22-yard backyard pool with Marsh and assistant coach Javier Sossa on deck.
Marsh is also the director of Team Elite’s developmental arm, TE Stingrays, which practices at the Lawrence Family JCC in La Jolla under normal circumstances.
“We can do it very safely in a controlled manner with coaches and lifeguards making sure physical distance is taken care of,” Marsh says. “I also want you to know that with the chlorine and the UVs, it’s one of the safest places you can be, and we will take good care of our time and be super careful.”
An urgent request to @GavinNewsom from me and many others who love, miss, and need swimming: Whether in my role as a club coach, 2016 USA Olympic head coach, or as a small business owner— I can assure you that we aquatic professionals can open safely w “Stage 2” protocols. pic.twitter.com/5VxlcchC6B
— David Marsh (@SwimCoachMarsh) May 16, 2020
The video has 31,000 views and nearly 200 retweets as of Monday morning. In the replies, Marsh posted a link to USA Swimming’s recommendations for facility reopenings, and says that “many would argue” that swimming is essential (or at least worthy of “Stage 2” reopening).
California’s reopening plan has four stages, with Stage 1 already complete in some counties – but not in San Diego. Stage 2 includes the gradual reopening of retail (curbside pickup only), child care, manufacturing & logistics, and some outdoor activities. Those outdoor activities so far include golf and tennis, but not pool swimming.
A handful of states around the U.S. have begun reopening pools at a limited capacity or plan to do so in the near future. In California, some club teams – including Mark Schubert‘s Mission Viejo – have been able to appeal to local government and get approved to return to practicing under heavy restrictions.
David March is probably right.
I doubt he convinced a single skeptic. ‘Trust me we can do this,’ is not likely to instill much trust that it can be done.
SwimSwam posted guidelines and, specifically, diagrams produced by USA Swimming meant to show proper arrangement of swimmers within various lane configurations. I thought those were pretty useless. I’m a coach who knows a bit more about swimming than the local town councilman. If those images didn’t help me, why would I expect them to win over a skeptical government official who sees nothing but risk everywhere?
I wish Marsh had gotten permission to video a few minutes of what a live sample workout would look like, with voiceovers to… Read more »
Considering what the voters and politicians have done to California, the state doesn’t deserve good coaches and swimmers (or athletes from other sports) and I hope there’s a mass exodus. The place is a mess. Homeless people, filth on the streets, high taxes and cost of living, and good people moving away because they can’t afford to live there anymore. Just pitiful…
California is the most gorgeous, progressive, fun state in the US. Where else can you go from golf to ski to desert to surf to forest to mountains all in one day? California is the fifth largest economy in the world and bails out red states all the time. Tech companies and intellects abound, and the state does more to combat climate change than most others. People are interesting and kind and diverse. So it costs a little more. What doesn’t that’s worth it? The only time I see filth on the streets is when I visit the Midwest or south. And homeless people are not everywhere. Did you ever take into consideration they go where the weather is warm?… Read more »
Sorry Joejoe but I live here and homeless people are everywhere in California and you should visit Downtown LA before you comment on filth in the streets.
You can’t pretend the homeless situation doesn’t exist.
u must be joking ,,,,highest rate of homeless is over there ….open your eyes
JoeJoe – Not sure exactly where you’re looking but as someone who lives around the LA area I can say wholeheartedly that it is quite filthy and has a large abundance of homeless people. Hell, a LA Times poll from last November found that 95% of residents thought of the homelessness crisis a serious or very serious issue. Aside from those that have fallen into the vicious cycle of substance abuse (a whole separate issue in itself), there remains the fact that California is simply very expensive to live in. Property costs are lucratively high, and the large taxes only reinforce it. It’s no wonder the homelessness rate is ballooning like crazy. With all respect, open your eyes to reality.… Read more »
True, and the Inland Empire, Riverside and San Bernardino have places as hot as Arizona. California has it bad spots as well. In 1970, it was middle class USA and by 2,000 it was starting to be less middle class and more rich and poor.
Your observations of rich ( which we all can see ) & poor is borne out by the stats on 2 diseases namely TB & Syphillus . California leads the US numbers & includingalarming increase in Congenital Syphillus .Much of this is ppl not present in g for treatment because of cost & The many who naturally accept very low heath as normal.per Social status .
I agree with him elite swimmers can avoid complications.
but MVN is practicing … why are they so special?
I’ll tell you why. Like him or not, the great Mark Schubert is a leader and he’s not going to let “mamby pamby” politicians and governing bodies (like USA Swimming) tell him what to do. More people in swimming, if they’re able to, should follow his lead. Look at what happened at the gym in New Jersey today. The owner told the mayor to “stick it” and opened up anyway and the police came out and were laughing about it and didn’t do anything. In Chicago, one of the places right smack dab in the middle of the idiocy, over 100 churches opened up against orders and ran in person services. The logical people are in the majority. So be… Read more »
March Schubert got special permission from the government to open up. He didn’t openly rebel against governing bodies. Politicians don’t know the full scenario with swim clubs, so just asking kindly and showing that they can open up safely convinces them.
Do you think it looks good on your resume to be labeled as a rebel against the government?
Thomas Sowell said: “People will forgive you for being wrong, but they will never forgive you for being right—especially if events prove you right while proving them wrong.”
MV’s mayor is Brian Goodell… Olympic Hold Medal Swimmer
Because the mayor isn’t a partisan hack like most politicians are
Mr Marsh is barking up the wrong tree. To paraphrase a surfer during last weekends protest in my hometown of Huntington Beach “Gavin don’t swim”
Approach should be local, zip code by zip code. The idea of making a one size fits all for CA is just plain stupid. Many areas should have been open already while others should be handled by local authorities
Sounds like they’re doing that as of the last few hours. Though, not quite to the zip-by-zip level, which would be logistically really challenging because 1) most people don’t know when they’ve crossed a zip-code line, 2) many zipcodes are really small and this would be a super inefficient way of tracking data, and 3) there’s no zipcode authority. But, I get your point ;-).
California Coronavirus Update:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/california-coronavirus-governor-gavin-newsom-194448628.html
https://youtu.be/oo9ka0DDnQk
Even CNN getting downvoted. Tough crowd 🙂 sorry, I will keep posting even if you don’t like it.
We’re downvoting it not necessarily because it’s CNN, but it’s political chitchat that has no relevancy to this topic and article. If you want to advertise this type of thing here, nobody frankly cares because Swimswam is not the right place to do it. Grow up
I wish it were just political chatter. But really it’s how we are making all our current decisions. In today’s age, it’s very relevant. Swim community is highly educated in general and mostly free from the collateral damage of these current policies. When I see the tide turning, I’ll stop posting.
Your argument would make sense if it were an informative video, but it’s 5 minutes of some guy’s opinion about the virus. I can’t see how it’s relevant at all.
Having said all that, if you still think it’s the “right thing to do” to spam these videos on Swimswam, there really isn’t much point of me trying to tell you otherwise anymore
Some posters kept posting again and again how there were going to be 3000 deaths a day by the end of May or that everyone in Georgia and Florida were going to die based on opinion pieces from CNN. I feel it’s important to look at the motivation behind people’s opinions. That may be uncomfortable for some and that’s fine.
I’ve seen plenty of things posted based on opinion only.
So if you’re agreeing that things are posted based on opinion only, then why are you posting such things as if they are factual news?
Forget comment
Do you see the irony of Fareed himself being elitist and trying to impose his opnion on everyone just like your typical liberal media minion tries so hard to do?
no, it’s about getting kids back in the pool. period. literally 0 relevance to politics. give kids a lane, give them a chance
Bet to differ as politicians are making many decisions. Reread the headline of the story again.
Stop with your class warfare propaganda.
lol imagine believing CNN is real news
It’s not news at all. That’s why I posted it for the doom And gloomers who use it to fearmonger. To show them how preposterous their position is.