GCSL Parents,

There are some immediate changes that we’d like to communicate to you directly.

The GCSL Board informed your Councils and Coaches tonight that both the State of Georgia and Gwinnett County Health Department have changed their requirements for pool depth when starting blocks are in use. In the past, GCSL has followed USA Swimming’s guidelines--4 feet of water being required for starting blocks to be used. However, that language also states that local and state ordinances supersede their guidelines.

We discovered that beginning in 2018, the Gwinnett Health Department ordinance states that 5 feet of water is required for starting blocks to be used. If your pool doesn’t meet these requirements, your teams will not be able to use starting blocks during practices and meets beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, June 11th, 2019. Starts need to be from the deck only.

This new ordinance affects about 1/3rd of the pools in our league. While we know this is a big change mid season, nothing is more important than the safety of our 6000+ swimmers. The GCSL Board has a legal and moral obligation to follow state and local ordinances once this came to our attention.

All the things that we love about GCSL remain the same:

• Great exercise for kids in the summer
• Neighborhoods coming together for Thursday night fun
• A lifelong sport being taught to our kids by a group of incredible coaches
• Charity tie ins that teams work so hard to promote

Certainly, there are so many more. Nothing on this list of has anything to do with how the kids dive in the water. The GCSL Board is confident our league will continue to be the best summer fun your swimmers will have.

Please reach out with any questions.

Bill Mahoney

GCSL President

[email protected]