Two of the biggest summer leagues in Houston, the 5th-largest metropolitan in the United States, have cancelled their summer 2020 competition seasons. Both the Northwest Aquatic League (NWAL) and West Houston Aquatic League (WHALe) have voted to skip their summer seasons.
A handful of teams in both leagues are weighing options for shortened “practice only” seasons.
NWAL, the Northwest Aquatic League, services Houston’s Northwestern suburbs, primarily in Houston, and the suburbs of Jersey Village, Humble, and Cypress. Some teams stretch as far west as Bryan (near Texas A&M University) and 80 miles north to Livingston, Texas. The league claims to be the 2nd-largest summer league in the United States and the biggest in Texas.
While we don’t know of any definitive rankings of summer league sizes, NWAL is definitely one of the biggest. The league is home to almost 100 teams and over 15,000 swimmers, and a square around its borders cover a land area that stretches more than 4,000 square miles – bigger than 2 U.S. states. Some teams have as many as 350 swimmers.
The NWAL season normally begins in early May and runs through the end of June. The league was conceived of in the early 1970s by a group of Shell Oil employees who were moved from California to Houston as part of a large migration for that company.
Directly to NWAL’s southern border is the WHALe summer league, which serves west Houston into the large suburb of Katy. While not as large as NWAL, this league has 35 teams and more than 4,000 swimmers. In that league, 15 out of 33 teams will hold some kind of a ‘practice only’ season.
Together, the leagues account for around 20,000 swimmers, albeit for a fairly short season of 2 months (even by summer league standards).
The two leagues combined have produced a number of nationally-known swimmers, including Emma Sticklen, the #9 recruit in the high school class of 2020, former National Age Group Record holder Maverick Smalley,
These cancellations come on the heels of two pertinent announcements. The first came earlier this week when another huge summer league that makes claims at being one of the country’s largest, the Northern Virginia Swim League, cancelled its 2020 season. Northern Virginia has been hit much harder by the virus to this point than Texas has.
The other pertinent news is that the state of Texas approved the reopening of pools, with limitations, on Friday.
Among other large summer leagues, the Nashville Swim League, Atlanta Swimming Association, and Montgomery County Swim League in suburban DC have not yet announced final decisions.
Harris County, the largest county in the area, has 7,377 confirmed coronavirus cases and 154 deaths believed to be caused by COVID-19 among a population of almost 5 million.
Houston folks, please recognize the effect that the cancellation of summer league season is having on our local swim shops. Please shop at one of our locals swim shops! D&J is doing curbside and they are happy for your business and I’m guessing SwimShops of SW is as well! Head to a local option instead of ordering online!
My boys are second-generation swimmers for our neighborhood’s NWAL team. We’re all mourning the loss of this season. Summer Swim is so much more than the sport. It’s community and relationships that begin in those chilly first practices and grow throughout the too-short season and last a lifetime. I see it with my husband and other boomerang neighbors in our wonderful neighborhood.
And, We always come to D&J when we need gear! We LOVE to support our favorite local shop!!! #ahhcc #gobigblue
NWAL’s “summer league” season has turned into a mostly school year season. We start practices in April and end the dual meet season by the third weekend in June. That means we have 2-3 weeks of practices when kids are out of school. Wish we had a true summer season. Maybe we could have made it work somehow.
Self inflicted insanity…
Coronavirus spread? Yeah, I’d agree.
We nuked our economy and our livelihoods to kill a fly. I want to congratulate our media, politicians and health experts. The people you obviously believe in really nailed this one.
You do realize almost no one is swimming right now, right?? They are being cautious which is to be expected. Our summer league team has between 250 and 300 kid depending on the year. When we compete against another team there are 500+ kids plus parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. It’s massive. It’s really just too big of a gathering to make it worth the risk. I’m addition, let us be realistic. Very few neighborhood pools are open. Ours is not and doesn’t seem to be opening anytime soon. So from a logistical standpoint summer league is not very feasible.
HOAa’s are finding that pandemics are not covered by their insurance. Massive complicating factor.
Stupid