Hello Rockville Racers!
It’s hard to believe it’s the middle of May already.
Thank you for your patience in regards to the lack of information thus far
regarding the swim season. Until just this week, GRAL has been saying they hope
to have a season but we have had no details about what that would look
like.
At this point, GRAL has put out specific guidelines
regarding this summer. If possible (and in compliance with all state
guidelines), we are still hoping to have some sort of a season. However,
GRAL will not move forward with meets unless VA is in Phase 3. Below are GRAL’s
specific plans for 2020.
From
GRAL:
As
a league, we will follow the State guidelines for social distancing, including
the recommendations of the Governor. The basis of this plan is to have a
season that corresponds with the Phase 3 plans.
Season
Recommendations
In
Phase 2, teams would be able to run practices based on their individual
team/HOA guidelines. We will not try and run meets during Phase 2.
If
Phase 2 ends June 12th:
Meet
#1 must be completed by 6/19
**NOTE:
If teams choose to run this meet as a dual meet (swim at your own clubs) this
will be allowed
Remaining
schedule remains
If
Phase 2 ends June 19th:
Meet
#1 will be canceled
Meet
#2 must be completed by 6/26
**NOTE:
If teams choose to run this meet as a dual meet (swim at your own clubs) this
will be allowed
Remaining
schedule remains
If
Phase 2 ends June 26th:
Meets
#1 and #2 will be canceled
Meet
#3 to be completed by 7/3
**NOTE:
If teams choose to run this meet as a dual meet (swim at your own clubs) this
will be allowed
Remaining
schedule remains
If
Phase 2 ends later than June 30th, the season will be canceled. June 30th is
our deadline for determining whether we will have a season.
In
addition, seniors from this year may come back and swim in 2021 if GRAL does
not have a season this year. If there is no 2020, season, GRAL will allow
2020 and 2021 seniors to apply for a scholarship next year in
2021. Finally, divisions will be not be recalculated at the end of 2020
(they will be frozen through 2021).
As
of now, the guidelines for Phase 3 have not been released by the Governor.
Therefore, the information above is based on the assumption that there will not
be strict restrictions on the number of people who may gather together.
However, if we are not allowed to have more than 50 people in one place this
summer, there will be no GRAL season because swim meets would
be impossible, even in a dual meet format (some teams in the league
are very large).
Josh
and I believe (and the rest of the Rockville Board agrees) that swim team is
not solely about the meets. Swim team also encompasses camaraderie,
fun, swimming skills and safety in the water (especially for our
younger children), not to mention the physical and mental benefits from
the exercise and being outdoors. Therefore, we would like to still hold a
Rockville season, even if there is no GRAL season. If we are in Phase 2, we can
certainly hold practices for the kids. We will also plan to have our own meets
on Wednesday nights, where our kids compete against each other. This would
provide the fun and competition of swim meets in a smaller group format.
Additionally, our seniors would then have the opportunity to still
have their senior swim and celebration of their accomplishments. The Rockville
pool will open as soon as we enter Phase 2 and is legally allowed. We plan to
begin holding swim practices at that time as well.
In
order to make any of this possible, we need you to register for the team.
We need to know what our numbers are so we can make decisions about how to
move forward. If you do not plan to participate in swim team, we would
appreciate a reply to this email so we can get an estimate of how many kids we
will have. We are using paper registrations this year, and the form is
attached. There is no late fee or official registration deadline. However,
if you are planning to swim, we need your registrations. If we don’t get
enough swimmers, we will not be able to have a team at all. If that happens
(there is no team), and you have already registered and paid, we will
issue you a full refund.
If
you have any questions, please let me know.
Julie Zubris
Registration Form: http://www.rockvillecenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2020-Swim-Team-Registration-Form.pdf