Kigoos Swim Club

Hello Tsunami and Masters Swimmers!

We are very pleased to provide you our Return to Swim plan for Watermania. Many of the details remain consistent with our health and safety protocols from our summer season. We ask that all families carefully review this plan with their swimmers. Please refer to Appendix A for flow of traffic for Watermania.

Welcome back to the pool to our Masters swimmers! Coach Michael is looking forward to setting the pace for your winter workouts. Please download and print off a copy of the BCSSA waiver form and return this to Coach Michael at your first practice. Form is attached to this email.

Any person who chooses to participate as a member of the Richmond Kigoos must follow these rules:
• Swimmers/Guardians MUST complete the online Health Screening and Declaration linked to our website (www.kigoos.com) before each practice. Any swimmer who feels ill in any way, or is specifically experiencing key symptoms of COVID-19 will not be permitted to attend practice.
• If you have travelled outside of Canada, you are not permitted at practice until you have self-isolated for 14 days;
• If you live in a household with someone who has a confirmed case of COVID-19 or live in a household where someone is displaying key symptoms of COVID-19, you must stay home;
• Please wear your suit to practice – no changing at the pool;
• Sanitize your hands upon entry to Watermania facility, and shower before entering the pool using showers located on the pool deck or changerooms;
• Bring your own equipment, water bottle, face mask, and hand sanitizer;
• Swimmers are encouraged to wear a face mask while entering or exiting the building
• Swimmers must comply with physical distancing measures at all times, including avoiding physical contact with others (shaking hands and high fives);

DROP OFF/PICK UP PROCEDURES:
• Only swimmers and coaches will be allowed in the swimming environment –parents/guardians are encouraged to “drop and go” and/or wait in their vehicles
• Swimmers should arrive at the facility no earlier than 5 minutes before the start of the scheduled practice. Late arrival admission will be at the discretion of the coach. Arriving after the start of practice does not guarantee entrance into the practice area
• Upon completion of practice, swimmers will collect their belongings and exit the pool immediately according to facility traffic flow. Swimmers are STRONGLY DISCOURAGED from showering/changing after practice.
• Parents must be ready to pick up swimmers at the designated finish of the practice. Coaches will not supervise the pick-up area. Parents are reminded to maintain social distancing while waiting for swimmers, and are encouraged to wear face masks if social distancing is difficult. Gathering in large groups at the facility entrance will not be allowed

If you have any questions or concerns regarding our Return to Swim plan or the above information, please contact Richard Buckley (president@kigoos.com).

Stay safe and well,
Kigoos Board of Directors.

In order to maintain a high level of physical distancing and to reduce parking lot congestion and transition times between groups, we are asking families to use the following parking lots for pick-up and drop off (diagram attached).

Drop-Off Lot: Parking lot off of No. 1/Chatham Street (north side of the pool). Swimmer will walk directly to our Activation area for warm up.

Pick-Up Lot: Parking lot off of Moncton Street. Swimmers will exit from the southeast gate and socially distance along the path for parent pick-up.

Each swimmer must declare their health status before arriving to the pool using the following MANDATORY COVID Screening Declaration link.

https://forms.gle/nocbtCfVdyR1WyDf9

Thank you for using this link as this will allow us maintain a contactless attendance system.

Hello Kigoos Families,

At our recent AGM, we thanked Chris Kennedy for being an integral leader to our Kigoos Swim Club, first as a director and then as our Co-President for the last 6.5 years. He has been vital in reminding us to live up to our club’s core philosophy of being a “summer club that swims”. We would also like to acknowledge Andrea Nishi for her thoughtful and dedicated service as Co-President. Andrea’s calm, encouraging nature has been a tremendous asset to the mentorship of our coaches and new parents. On behalf of our new Board of Directors, we would like to express our gratitude to Chris and Andrea for their professionalism and tireless work to support our kids and Kigoos families.

As your newly elected president, I wanted to provide our families with a few updates. Over the past few weeks, it’s become clear that the world is facing an unprecedented challenge. With the outbreak of COVID-19, our Board of Directors have been focused on the wellbeing of our swimmers, coaches, and our families. Yesterday, many of you should have also received an email directly from the Danny Shilds, President of the BCSSA. In summary, the BCSSA shared with us details about the cancellation of the upcoming Coaching Conference and the uncertainty of our summer swimming season.

They shared with us the following information:

• Take care of yourself and your families, including your swim family.
• We recommend that all clubs postpone their paid registrations until we are closer to May 1st.
• A Board Member is talking to Active about their refund policy yet these talks are difficult with so many businesses now closed or on a work from home regimen but in the meantime, postpone any paid registrations.
• Our Kigoos Swim Club has also contacted Active (our online registration provider) regarding processing refunds. At this time, we ask that you please remain patient with our registration process knowing that our Board of Directors is re-evaluating the situation as it relates to the season
• Stay in communication with your City Recreation Dept but remember, they can’t predict what is going to happen.
• Plan for the season but be aware, the season could be shortened, or modified.
• The BCSSA Board of Directors will communicate any information we learn and will be giving decisions or recommendations in late April about the upcoming season.
• The health and safety of our Kigoos families is critically important to us. We understand that this may be a stressful time and so we are committed to keeping you informed.

Please feel free to reach out to me directly, or to any one of our Executive members for any support you may need.

Sincerely,

Richard Buckley
President
Richmond Kigoos Swim Club