Woollett hosts US Open
Woollett Aquatic Center hosts the US Open.
Photo credit Kim Hoesterey
Hosted by the Novaquatics swim team and USA Swimming, the US Open is an important meet for the most competitive of swimmers. This year, however, it is also a chance for the city of Irvine to show it can safely hold a youth sporting event during the pandemic.
Held at the Woollett Aquatic Center, one of nine USA Swimming sites around the country hosting the US Open competition, athletes assembled for the first of a three day competition. The Vine spoke with Kim Hoesterey of Novaquatics about what it takes to put on a major swim meet during Covid and how it might open the door for more events to come.
“It's going really well,” says Hoesterey. “Everybody who's come in is very respectful of all of the safety protocols we've put in place. I think the kids are just so excited to have this opportunity to swim. They've been out of competition for so long. With the Olympics coming around, a lot of these kids are hoping for Olympic times so they can compete to become an Olympian. This is the first step to get there. We've got a lot of local swimmers here and a lot of Olympic hopeful swimmers. So we're all just really excited and grateful that the county and the city of Irvine is working in tandem with us to make something like this happen.”
The team at Novaquatics and Woollett worked with the city of Irvine as well as the county to ensure everyone could compete safely. The rules include masks and distancing. Swimmers must wear masks when not swimming, everyone must maintain social distancing, and meet protocols have been altered to keep everyone safe.
“We hope that we can show the country that we can manage competitions for all age groups safely and within guidelines to fight the virus situation,” says Hoesterey. “Hopefully we’ll get back on some sort of normal footing as far as swimming is concerned and youth sports in general. Actually, if we can show them in swimming that we can do it, maybe it'll open the door and we can set an example for other sports. Right now, we've only got 200 swimmers here, and they're all broken out by session. So the women come in for a session, the men come in for a session, we clear the venue, we bring the new session in. We have a very controlled environment where the kids are swimming and we know who's in the venue at any given time.”
As the organizers strive to put on a successful and safe meet, they are hopeful they can be a model for youth sports events in general. The success of the US Open may encourage other sporting organizations to host events with similar safety measures.
“We can show the country that we can manage competitions for all age groups safely and within guidelines to fight the virus situation,” says Hoesterey. “Hopefully we can get back on some sort of normal footing as far as swimming is concerned or youth sports in general. Actually, if we can show them in swimming that we can do it, maybe it'll open the door and we can set an example for other sports that you can manage 200 kids, 400 kids.”
Hoesterey attributes her partnership with the city of Irvine for making the US Open a success.
“We're very grateful for the city of Irvine staff,” says Hoesterey. “Particularly the Woollett Aquatic Center staff that have worked hand in hand with us, well, six feet apart hand in hand with us. We've all worked side by side six feet apart to make this event happen for the swimming community and the community at large. We hope to give people a sense of comfort that every effort is being made to keep our children safe and yet give them some semblance of normalcy in this incredibly awkward time in our history.”
Mask wearing, social distancing, and other safety measures were observed at today’s US Open.
Photo credit Kim Hoesterey