For the last half century, Cumberland has brought kids and families together to compete with other swim teams in the Chattanooga area. Of course, we are not just a recreational sports club. We also see it as our mission to keep kids safe by building confident swimmers who have a knowledge of water safety.

It truly broke our hearts when the 2020 swim season had to be canceled due to COVID-19. Your swim team board and coaches have been working for several months to put together a plan that allows us to have a safe 2021 summer season – where we can continue our long tradition of building confident swimmers while enjoying the fun of competitive swimming.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic, which has already taken a truly staggering 570,000 American lives and had a devastating impact on millions of others, isn’t over yet. According to the Hamilton County Health Department, there were 66 new cases in our area just yesterday (April 23rd), and, while broadly available to adults in our area, children under 16 are not yet eligible to receive the COVID vaccine.

With a deep commitment to keeping your children and our community safe, the Cumberland Swim Team Board has developed a COVID policy that includes both mask wearing and limiting the number of folks on the pool deck during practices and meets. Over the last few days, we have heard concerns about one particular aspect of this policy – limiting pool deck access to coaches, volunteers, and swimmers. We would like to share several thoughts about this policy:

• In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have a COVID policy. Your board and coaches don’t like it either, but we do feel that it is absolutely necessary. We are also hoping and praying along with you that by the summer of 2022 everything will be back to normal.
• We will have more volunteer opportunities than ever this summer. Not only will we need folks to serve as timers and place judges but we will also need volunteers to help ensure that swimmers are where they are supposed to be, masks are being worn, and social distancing maintained. We anticipate that there will be volunteer opportunities for anyone who wants to help. We even hope to have a volunteer position responsible for streaming the meets.
• We will re-evaluate the COVID policy both in reaction to the health situation in our community and the realities of our swim team. If it becomes clear to the swim team board that spectators can be on the pool deck with masks worn properly (covering nose and mouth) and social distancing maintained, we will revise the policy accordingly.

We truly hope that you will decide to be a part of the Cumberland Swim Team during the 2021 season. However, if you are not comfortable with our policies around COVID, we completely understand and hope that you will join us in 2022. COVID-19 has required all of us to make complex, difficult decisions that were unimaginable in a pre-pandemic world.

Thank You and Go Currents!!!