The pandemic has forced schools to close, businesses to shut down and sports seasons to be cancelled. But some sports such as swimming have been able to survive and even thrive despite stay at home orders and social distancing protocols. For Bearcats, swim season officially started on January 19, with the first virtual dual meet exactly one month later.
In pre-coronavirus times, the whole swim team practiced together (around six people in each of the six lanes) from 3:30-5:30pm. Now, practices are split into two cohorts: one group from 3:45-4:30pm and the other from 4:45-5:30pm. Although practice times have drastically decreased, the swim team is lucky enough to consistently hold practice Monday through Friday. Before a swimmer arrives at the pool though, they must go through a daily screening. First, they must have an “OK” from the online LiveSafe Health Screening Tool. Second, their temperature will be checked right before they walk into the vicinity. All swimmers must also have their mask on at all times outside of the water. One of the biggest precautions is an actual COVID test. Because the swim season began while San Mateo was still in the Purple Tier, these student athletes, including the club swimmers (that don’t practice with the school team), all took the test a little after swimming started.
As for the meets, the precautions become much harder to deal with. With the addition of club swimmers, combining cohorts and household spectators, there are many more people at the pool. Luckily, the changed format of these dual meets allows all swim teams to stay at their home pool, conduct the meet and then report the times back to compare and score. So on Fridays, swimmers and coaches trickle in at around 2:30pm to set up the tent, the scoreboard, the chairs and tapes. With everyone wearing a mask, communication is easy and the swim meet runs smoothly. The only people behind the block are the people getting ready to swim their event as the team cheers from a safe distance across the pool.
In spite of COVID and all it has caused, the San Mateo Swim Team survives and even thrives. Varsity Girls won the past two meets against Hillsdale and Mills. Varsity Boys won against Hillsdale and Junior Varsity Girls beat Mills. Katherine Parodi, the main swim coach, is very optimistic about this season, praising that “everyone has taken their practice seriously” and that the team has swum “exceptionally well.”