Dolfins News 6-3-2020
Hello Dolfins Families,
I hope this message find you all well and staying active and healthy.
The Dolfins Swim Team community has always been like a family or in marine terms, a pod. We lift each other up and inspire each other to “Have Fun! Swim Fast!” all summer long. It is because of this connection, that it makes this email that much more difficult to deliver, but here is it.
Due to the most current Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) continued shelter-in-place health orders that still dramatically limits pool activities, the Dolfins Swim season will be canceled this year. Given these ongoing pool restrictions under the CCHS health order, Pleasant Hill Rec & Park District (the District) budget cuts and limited staffing, moving forward with a swim season is just not feasible at this time.
We have received a lot of questions about how other pools are opening and we’re not, so I thought I’d share the answer as a group. As a public government entity, the District is subject to a higher level of safety requirements and protocols to limit COVID-19 transmission when it comes to re-opening pools for public aquatic activities. Unlike other private swim organizations, we are held to more rigorous standards and are taking a very cautious, conservative approach to all of our recreational programming under the CCHS public health order guidelines. And while it is extremely difficult to see others swimming when we are still standing on the deck, the District will not compromise your safety or the safety of our staff.
Right now, we are working hard to make lemonade out of these coronavirus lemons! The current State and County orders will allow pools to open, in some form, in Phase 3. We are training staff, working on CCHS protocols to meet the higher safety standards and have a plan ready to offer alternative aquatic opportunities for whenever we are allowed to return to the pool.
One of these aquatic swim opportunities is a swimming-based childcare program, dubbed “Aquatics CARES” that can operate under the current CCHS health order as it relates to child-care programs. We anticipate that this new program will run for 3 weeks, Monday-Friday, 4 hours a day, with a maximum of 12 participants per session. We expect to offer a morning and afternoon session. Once we finalize the program details, we will send a separate email to the team. We are keeping everyone active in our Team Unify website to allow us to communicate updates with you. If you are interested in this new program option, please respond immediately to the email when it comes out. Space will be limited.
As far as refunds, we will be refunding your registration fees the same way you paid, either by check or credit card. If you would prefer to have your fees put on your account as a credit to use for any other Rec & Park program, you no longer have the credit card you paid with, or you have any special instructions about a different address to send a check to, please contact me at [email protected] by Friday, June 5. Due to the volume of refunds, please give us a week or so to complete the refund process. If additional information is needed to process your refund, our Customer Service team will reach out to you individually via email. If you already submitted a work fee check, we will contact you to find out if you would like it returned or shredded.
While we wait to return to the pool, I encourage you to keep your kids in the water wherever you can this summer. Swimming in lakes, oceans and backyard pools are all good options to keep their swimming confidence up. If you’re land locked, visit our Virtual Recreation Center on our website at www.pleasanthillrec.com/152, for lots of aquatic exercises and fun. I know that these options are not the same but again, we’re trying to make the best out of this situation.
Like all families, we face challenges and disappointments. Canceling our swim team season is definitely one of them. To help keep our family connection going this summer, if you have any ideas of how we might be able to safely get our Dolfins pod together later this summer as allowed under future CCHS orders, please let me know. And please stay connected! Join the Dolfins Facebook Group and please feel free to email if you have any questions or concerns.
Keep swimming,
Korey Riley
Aquatics Program Manager
