Dear Parents and Swimmers,

​The coaches are so proud of our swimmers this past weekend!

We had many first places: Mairin Dalziel (400 IM,) Drew Collins (400 IM and 50 free,) Blake Schwab (400 IM,) Madison Helmick (1,000 free,) Scott Hassett (1,000 free,) Sully Jackson (1,000 free,) Mariana Becharas (200 fly,) Sean and Brendan Kanary (200 fly,) Charlie McCuiston (100 and 200 free,) Jack McCuiston,) Malin Murphey (200 IM,) Ellie Ker (100 IM, 50 free amd 100 free,) Lyla Collins (100 and 200 IM,) Jack Ruud (100 and 200 IM, 50 and 100 free, 100 breast, 200 free,) Reid McCuiston (25 back and fly,) Grafton Anderson (50 and 100 back,) Brooklyn Ruks (50 back,) Tommy Higdon (50 fly,) Lila Solomon (50 fly,) Mary Bailey (25 free and breast,) Brady Handzell (50 free,) Katie Stempien (50 breast,) Will Michael (50 breast,) AJ Farner (200 back,) and Sam Clifford (500 free,) and of course MOST of the relays!

Swimmers were achieving all sorts of cuts for championship meets. Congratulations to all of the swimmers!!

As exciting as this all is it can come to a crumbling halt if COVID gets in our way. So we will continue to follow all safety protocols.

​SWIMMERS MAY ONLY COME TO PRACTICE IF THEY ARE MASKED AND THE MASKS ARE BACK IN PLACE AS SOON AS THE WORKOUT IS OVER….NO EXCEPTIONS. COACHES WILL DISMISS SWIMMERS WHO ARE NOT ABIDING BY THE RULES.

​We will be hosting a meet soon, At our meet , NO ONE WILL BE ADMITTED, SWIMMER OR SPECTATOR, WHO IS NOT MASKED. I know how tired we are of all of this but that doesn’t alter our responsibility to ourselves and one another. I know, personally, that all of our precautions do not guarantee that we won’t be infected, but we have to do our absolute best. We are also required to follow protocols set forth by the Metropolitan Detroit YMCAs. This past weekend’s meet was sponsored by Flint, which is an independent YMCA and clearly are not subject to the same scrutiny as we are. With this meet being at Seaholm, we are also required to follow BPS’ masking rule, and failure to do so puts our relationship with BPS and access to practice pools in jeopardy.

​We are now preparing for our championship season and we have had questions from parents about swimmers’ eligibility re: the three-meet requirement. The YMCA coaches in Michigan are in discussion to suspend the requirement for those swimmers who, through no fault of their own (a meet cancellation, a quarantine, legitimate fear about attending a meet with rising infection rates,) did not fulfill the requirement. This would have an impact on YMCA Clusters, the Eight and Under State Meet and the YMCA State Meet. It does not extend to YMCA Zones or Y Nats. I am pretty confident there will be some leeway extended as long as the intention was there to fulfill the obligation. We will know more when those dates get closer.

Be well, everyone.

Kevin