Willamette Valley Aquatics supporters –

Outdoor pools are in the governor’s Phase II and therefore scheduled to be able to open June 5.

Indoor pools are in Phase III and would stay closed another 3 weeks till June 26!

Gyms are in Phase I and have been open since May 15 (in 31 counties)!

Now, when you use the pool like an idiot maybe it should stay closed; but we have a carefully coordinated and planned approach to returning to the water including limiting the number of athletes in the water and maintaining social distancing.

We need your help! See below to encourage the governor to move indoor pools up to Phase II (for lap/athlete use).

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From Oregon Swimming:

Oregon Aquatics Team Leaders,

Please see below from Murilo Martins – Head Coach McMinnville Swim Club for an idea to get voices heard and encourage thoughtful consideration by our government to reopen pools!

We need an organized effort to get our voices heard. Together we are a strong organization with 6,500 members when we count our swimmers, coaches, and officials!

Unfortunately, decisions impacting competitive swimming pools (especially indoor pools) are being made based on recreational public and family swim use.

The fact that gyms are open and competitive swimming pools are not open for lap swim shows a lack of understanding from our state government about pools and the sport of swimming. Competitive swimming pools are designed to maintain social distance with the use of lane lines, something that most sports and athletic activities do not have.

Phase one of reopening had the following guideline: “Keep pools closed to recreational swim activities, swimming lessons, and all other aquatic activities.”

Understanding the above and to bring attention to the fact that pools should be open we have come up with a hashtag campaign. In order to be effective, we need everyone to participate so please share with your families!

HASHTAG CAMPAIGN

With Oregon Swimming having over 5,000 swimmers, we thought that if we picked a day and made an organized effort to get the governor’s attention, we could possibly have better luck when it comes to how phase 2 deals with opening indoor pools for lap swim and competitive use.

I would like to suggest to every Oregon Swimming coach, swimmer, their parents, friends, extended family, their pets…. to join us this Friday (5/29) by making a post to social media and tagging Governor Kate Brown (OregonGovBrown – Twitter/ @oregongovbrown - Instagram) and her director of communications Natalie King (nataliehawwa – Twitter) and use the hashtag #whygymsbutnotpools

With these posts try to communicate that lap swim and swim practice are not the same as a “pool party” style public/family swim time. It is very important that we stay positive and polite, aggressive and confrontational posts will not help our cause. Posts by parents could include a picture of their swimmer and could mention any of the following:

Why we think we need our pools back. Be creative!

Why gyms are open, but pools are not: although we don’t have the powerful lobbying that gyms have, competitive pools have a much better system to ensure social distancing during lap swim than gyms and most sports.

Drowning prevention: We need our pools back to make sure lifeguards, kids, and adults have a place to lap swim ahead of the busy summer season that could lead to a record number of drownings.

Drowning prevention: Parent-kid lessons could safely happen to prevent drownings ahead of the busy summer.

Chlorinated pools are known for killing Covid-19. With proper social distancing, swimming is one of the safest sports.

Also, Nathaniel Whitehead and Britney Muralt (both swimmers with TTSC) started a petition in support of getting Oregon swimmers back in the pool. Please sign and send to other swim clubs, parents, families, and friends to continue to show public support for our request. LINK TO PETITION
http://chng.it/j57pZRSPmD

Oregon Swimming, Inc.
12655 SW Center St., Suite 330
Beaverton, OR 97005
503-747-3702

The best way to reach us is via email at office@oregonswimming.org