Boyle County, Mercer County, Lincoln County and Danville swimmers at the Danville Country Club pool where Boyle, Mercer and Lincoln teams can practice but Danville cannot. (Tasha Singleton Photo)
Tasha Singleton has been teaching swimming for 26 years and for the last 14 years has been a head coach of swim teams, including the Commonwealth Swim Club (CSC) along with being the head coach for high school teams at Garrard County, Lincoln County, and Danville. Bottom line, Tasha Singleton knows swimming. Just ask Laura Humphrey, a physical therapist at Baptist Health Louisville and a former Danville swimmer who in the Admirals’ Hall of Fame. Humphrey knows Singleton from master’s swimming and knows she has been doing all she can to keep local swimmers safe and active.
However, Humphrey also noted it “breaks my heart for the swimmers and staff” because of what the Danville school administration has done to the swim team.
To set the stage for non-swimming enthusiasts, local swim teams had relied on two indoor pools to host 125 year-round swimmers on the USA club program (CSC) and over 50 high school or non-year-round swimmers from the six surrounding schools.
Centre College and McDowell Wellness had pools that six high school teams — Boyle County, Danville, Danville Christian Academy, Garrard, Mercer County, Marion County, and Lincoln shared for swimming and diving. Centre allowed the teams to use six lanes and diving facilities while McDowell limited use to three lanes and no diving. Swimmers could not even practice starts or relays.
COVID has created new issues. The Centre pool is closed to the public for obvious reasons.
“The indoor pool at the Wellness Center is not ideal for our most competitive swimmers because the pool is too warm and is not suitable for the endurance workouts these faster swimmers need to be successful,” Singleton said. “So after researching what other teams were doing and how to create a safe environment (out in the open air), we decided to ask the DanvilleCountry Club to consider allowing our swim community to take over the outdoor pool.
“The General Manager has a heart for the community and took a chance on our plan to pull together as a swim and dive community and allow us to use the pool as long as we paid for the heat, water, and chemicals. Obviously, swimming outside is never ideal when you live in a cold place like Kentucky, but we have proven it is safer to swim outside during COVID rather than inside.”
Sounds logical and simple to understand, right?
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association approved swim and dive practices to start in November before putting that on hold until Dec. 15 with swim meets starting Jan. 4. Danville High School agreed to let the swim and dive teams practice outdoors in November as long as the temperature was above 40 degrees. But by Dec. 15, Danville officials said no to outdoor practice that other teams were safely having with the same coach — Singleton.
“Danville parents have written letters, called, and spent time trying to figure out why all the other teams in this community practice outside, and Danville cannot get permission to move forward with the outside practices,” Singleton said. “Why is our team treated differently?”
Singleton has swimmers as young as 8 years old on her CSC team who are safely practicing outside while Danville High School swimmers cannot.
Centre College swimmers even had to practice at Danville County Club’s outdoor heated pool in January due to issues with its pool.
“Every swim team in the area is okay with their swimmers and divers using the Danville Country Club except for Danville High School,” Singleton said.
Why is that, especially when the coach says she has been told she can take to indoor swim meets? Explain that logic to me that it is safe to swim inside but not outside. But the top swimmers need the practice to be competitive and be at their best. Imagine letting a basketball team play games but not practice. Or soccer, baseball, track, and softball teams.
It’s just not fair. Last year Keegyn Wilcher won Danville High School’s first regional title ever in one-meter diving. Now he is not allowed to practice and Singleton says he would love to be out in the cold — and even the snow — like swimmers and divers from other teams have been.
Seems like Danville could at least parents decided if their children can participate outdoors just like they do for the CSC team. Singleton would understand any parent or swimmer who opted not to participate this year. She just wants them to have a chance.
Here’s an interesting coincidence to ponder. Singleton’s husband, Kyle, is Danville football coach Clay Clevenger’s top assistant coach. Or he was until Clevenger was fired. Surely keeping Danville swimmers out of the pool could not be related to Kyle Singleton’s football coaching position. Or could it?
