Mid Week Updates!

John VanDriessche

Dear Marlins families,

 

I wanted to give you an update on our practice schedule, the Penn pool, and what our MM administration team has been doing behind the scenes.

 

There have been some questions and confusion about what our Splash Groups are doing this week. Here is our revised plan for the remainder of the week for our SPLASH Groups.

 

Wednesday January 29

At Knollwood

Splash 1 3:30-4:30 or 5:30-6:30

 

Splash 2,3, & 4 5:30-7:00

 

Saturday February 1

At Knollwood

Splash 3 & 4 7:30-9:00

 

We were not able to secure pool space at Notre Dame on Friday.  But we are working on alternatives.  We are going to offer a dryland only practice at Knollwood for the Splash 4 and Fins swimmers from 11:30-1:00.  This class is going to be led by two former Notre Dame varsity swimmers who also happen to be members of our coaching staff, Coach Julia and Coach Luke.

 

We may also be able to run a dryland practice on Sunday as well.  When those details can be finalized we will pass them along

 

Here is the latest on the Penn High School pool.  The deck on the north side of the pool is very narrow and will not accommodate a lift large enough to do the repairs on the ceiling unit.  They will be installing scaffolding in the pool and on the deck starting Thursday morning and continuing Friday.  The good news is we were told they will not need to drain the pool.  Saturday and Sunday a team of HVAC repair specialists will be completing the work needed to safely secure the unit.  The scaffolding will then be dismantled during the day on Monday.  If all goes well, we will return to the pool for practice Monday evening.

 

I do want everyone to be aware of the attempts we are making to secure practice time for our athletes.  We have been in communication with Elkhart Aquatic Center, South Bend Schools, Mishawaka Schools, Notre Dame, and of course Knollwood Country Club.  As you can imagine any pool space at this time of year is hard to come by.  Unfortunately, there is just not a lot we can do.  Some locations have expressed there is just no space available and some have been reluctant to return our multitude of messages. I just wanted everyone to be aware we are taking this situation seriously and actively pursuing every option available to us.  

 

As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

-Coach VanDriessche