Getting back into the swim of things for a coach that has lost her pool and needs to follow strict Return to Play protocols has not been easy.
“It’s been a challenge,” readily admits Michelle Stamm, manager/head coach of the Selkirk Dolphins Swim Club. “I’m also the community pool manager and it was shut down by the school division. Since then, I’ve been unemployed and I don’t know when – or if – it will open again.”
When Covid-19 first started shutting just about everything down, Stamm and her 70 athletes (aged eight to 17) were on their way to a national competition in Winnipeg, where athletes from as far away as Quebec and Ontario were warming up.
Like other sports, that stoppage left them in limbo.
After studying both the national Return to Play and Manitoba restrictions, Stamm began dryland training for 18 chosen swimmers (aged nine to 16) about four weeks ago. Others are awaiting their turn.
“(On Tuesday), I secured space for pool training in the city – the Pan Am and Cindy Klassen pools,” said Stamm, a former competitive swimmer who founded the club with her parents in 1979. “But even the changes on the pools that have re-opened are ongoing.”
Getting her swimmers back into the water on Sept. 17 includes many restrictions.
“A lot of people don’t know the severity of it (the virus),” Stamm said. “I have to wear a mask to coach and there’s no training allowed poolside. I need to screen them every time – take their temperature, give them sanitizer, make sure they wear their masks and are social distancing. Different pools have different restrictions about the social distancing in the water. The swimmers have to wear a mask when they enter the facility and wear their masks until they get to the side of the pool, then take them off before they get into the water. Once they’re out of the water, they have to put their masks back on and leave a certain way.”
All of the equipment, like flutterboards and paddles must be sanitized.
The club will also need a convoy just to get the kids from Selkirk to Winnipeg.
“Each parent has to take their own kid unless they have a really close friend who can travel with them,” Stamm said. “Right now, we need about 10 vehicles. When our numbers are up, we’ll need double that.
“The kids have been awesome. They’re very respectful and do what they have to do. They have great parents and they’ve been swimming with me for quite awhile now.”
Stamm knows there is still an uneasy journey ahead before any competitions will be allowed in the face of the pandemic.
“The logistics of it all is mind-boggling,” she said. “But we’re all in the same boat around the world.”
