Great meet last night and a great end to the season (well, almost. Banquet and Tech)

I want to thank everyone for their patience, understanding, and cooperation with the pool situation last night and, I would also like to squash some of the rumors that are already spreading.

As I think everyone knows there have been some challenges this summer with keeping the pool clean and keeping water levels up and Natalie Smith who is the pool rep on the HOA has been in pretty constant contact with the new pool management company. I know there are a lot of strong emotions about the new company, but I ask you to put those aside for the moment. We have been talking with her constantly as coaches have been helping keep an eye on water levels and we’ve been trying to keep the water up so that the skimmers can filter the water appropriately.

This evening at around 5:15 after we had warmed up and Martin’s Landing was in their warm-up, Natalie got a text from the pool company that said the pump was not functioning. They had already had a technician on site and he had called it in and they were notifying Natalie. She immediately came and found me and we found the ASA official and spoke to the league administrators. The consensus was that we could swim the meet since the pump had just stopped working. There would still be adequate chlorine. So we begin the meet with the six and under relays. At that point, the lifeguard who was still on site spoke with her management company and was told the pool needed to close immediately. There was a little bit of back-and-forth to figure out why and who had what information and authority. The coaches retested the chlorine levels. The ASA official as well as Martin’s landing leadership and our coaches were all in the discussion throughout. At that point we spoke with ASA leadership again who at that point based on the chlorine levels said it was up to the teams to determine if they wanted to swim or if they wanted to treat it the same as a weather issue where we could have elected to swim virtually, make it up, or call the meet. Both sides agreed that at that point the kids had been in the water and we would swim the meet.

At some point during this discussion, the coaches and the ASA official called the pool management company or the lifeguard’s manager, who informed them that this had been an issue throughout the day. I heard some rumors on the pool deck that it had been going on even longer, but I assure you based on the air in the lines and the water circulation that we could see during practices that it was isolated to today. Now that is not to say that there may not have been warning signs and it may not have been at peak performance but there was circulation. 

By the time we left the pool last night, the HOA treasurer had already approved the estimate for the repair, e-signed documents, and the pool management company already has the part and will be putting it in today. It will take a little bit of time to cycle. They have estimated that if everything goes smoothly and there are no additional problems that are found as they replace the impeller to the pump, that the pool should be open by afternoon.

If we hear anything further or they find additional problems, then we will communicate that and what changes it may mean for the banquet.

I also feel strongly that when we are privy to information like this, we have a responsibility to ensure that correct and appropriate information is shared and to not let the rumors fly. Natalie is still working and still in communication with the pool company to find out what may have happened if this may have been impacting prior maintenance concerns and a whole gamut of questions that are still out there. There are many questions that we simply don’t have all the answers to until the pool management company can get in and replace the part and find out more.

I implore you all to understand that while there is a lot of frustration and a lot of strong emotions around the new management company that the pool rep for the HOA and the leadership at the management company were in contact and were handling things. There were many people and conversations happening throughout the meet. We owe great appreciation to the HOA acting so quickly to get through estimates, financial approvals, signature documents, etc all within a matter of hours while we swam! And while having to deal with an onslaught of calls and texts from residents and the board about the situation before they had answers because of some misinformation and some social media posts. We have to give the HOA time to work on the issue so they can represent the best interest of Woodfield. They were actively working and working quite quickly if you realize it was less than 3 hours from notification to approval and parts ordered. 

We will be in communication as we know more and plan to see everyone tonight at 6pm to celebrate an UNDEFEATED SEASON!