The Southern California Swimming LSC has hired a lobbyist to advocate for fewer pandemic restrictions on pools and youth sports.
LSCs are local governing bodies under USA Swimming’s umbrella. Southern California Swimming is one of five LSCs covering club swimming in the state of California.
At the state level, California includes swimming in its tier of sports that faces the least restrictions. But local restrictions in some areas still limit pools to one or two athletes per lane, and the state’s travel ban places restrictions on teams traveling outside the state for competitions.
Southern California Swimming hired RJ Cervantes, a lobbyist with Fernandez/Cervantes Government Affairs, to advocate for club swimming with state and local officials. He was hired last fall, and an SCS representative credited the lobbying with helping swimming to be included in the lowest tier of sport restrictions.
While Southern California Swimming has taken the lead, board member Bob Hommel, who is taking the lead on the project, says that SCS is collaborating with the other 4 LSCs in the state to work on what he calls “safe and sane protocols” for returning to practice and competition. The LSCs are meeting once a week to “establish a consistent message for all programs.”
Meanwhile, the LSC has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the lobbying effort. SCS is matching donations toward their goal, and has currently raised more than $14,000 toward a $25,000 goal.
Southern California Swimming General Chair Terry Stoddard said the campaign hopes for consistent rules across the state.
“We were trying to get as many programs as possible back in pools and swimmers in the water with their clubs and coaches,” Stoddard said. “We were looking for a consistent message throughout the entire state.”
Stoddard says that they believe a “Top-Down approach,” soliciting the State of California, was the best way to address the restrictions, rather than working locally, which was effective early in the pandemic in places like Mission Viejo.
The LSCs have struggled to retain memberships amid coronavirus-related restrictions on pools and youth sports. Hommel told SwimSwam that 30% of clubs and 45% of swimmers within Southern California Swimming have not renewed their memberships for next season.
The restrictions on competition have proved challenging too – currently, California teams are allowed to have at most 2 teams in a meet, and youth swim teams are not allowed to travel out of state to compete, either.
With vaccines rolling out around the country (Bloomberg estimates that about 13.2% of Californians are fully vaccinated and that it will take about 4 months at current rates to reach 75% coverage), the end of these restrictions could be near. Hommel says that he believes it is still worth pushing forward with the organization’s lobbying efforts, pointing to the lower registration numbers for next season.
Stoddard agrees.
“Pools are still closed. The situation in California remains urgent. We want to keep our Stakeholders connected with our state decision makers.”
Where do I go to find the science that would underpin a lobbying campaign to open workout pools—i.e., what protocols are reasonable & backed by data?
The opportunity to push forward and support reopening presented itself late Spring last year when Mission Viejo managed to get some swimmers back in the water. Rather than champion that approach LSC leadership more or less shunned it for what can be described as a wait and see approach. How’s that worked out?
Really sad. Not too late to sign the “Recall Newsom” petition.
Should this article should be dated March 24, 2020??
Says that the lobbyist was hired in the fall…so been working on this since fall 2020 but just making the announcement now?
You didn’t expect SCS to do anything honestly or transparently, did you?
The aggressive do nothing to further the cause approach was extremely effective.
States all over the USA have been doing INDOOR swimming since last summer. Daily practice, high school seasons, swim lessons, club championship meets — all of those have been happening for months without any significant issues, even through the absolute peak of Covid in December/January. That’s the science and the reality. It is a travesty if CA’s OUTDOOR pools are still not open for swim team activities.
Pools are open, and have been open across the state since the summer. However, this is different in each county/city/etc. Teams that practice at HS/College pools have been cut off/limited based on the rules those schools put in place. Likewise, certain cities have limited things more, so a team in town A may have 1 set of restrictions, but in town B more strict – or even within the same team practicing at multiple locations.
I think that’s the main thing “consistent” across the state. But CA has always done things differently and localities have a lot of power to make things stricter than any state level rule.
Too late I am afraid. Devastated the clubs and athletes conditioning already.
Way too late. Seems like a bunch of $$$ thrown at lawyers to look good on paper. Funny how there is no mention of any work the lobbyist has done anywhere.
Good for them. This is absolute madness. We are shortchanging our children with these restrictions that have no basis in science. Chlorine kills Covid-19…shouldn’t we want kids to get in the pool? Practice safe habits on the pool deck and let’s get on with it.