The Boothbay Region YMCA swim team received word Wednesday, Dec. 9, it can begin practicing as a team beginning Monday, Dec. 14. Club teams like the Y swim team have been waiting for weeks for clearance from the state to begin practicing due to the pandemic restrictions. Meanwhile, swimmers have had to schedule individual swim times during the week.

Team coaches Heather and Mike Hills and Zach Gray notified the swimmers after Maine Swimming handed down the following notice: “As long as you are in a green county and have green county participants you can run skills and drills in the pool as long as kids are socially distanced and no more than three swimmers per lane. Masks should be worn until getting into the pool and then immediately put on after getting out of the pool. Even if your pool is in green if you have a swimmer from a yellow county they cannot swim, but otherwise this is great news!”

Maine YMCA swim teams are hoping to compete virtually soon with times recorded and sent to a central location.

The Dolphin coaches released the following statement to parents and swimmers via email: “Regular practices will resume starting Monday, Dec. 14. Swimmers will need to wear their masks onto the pool deck and take them off before getting into the water … bring a plastic Ziploc bag to store the mask in on the pool deck. We appreciate your patience while we were unable to practice as a team. The coaches are excited to be back on the pool deck working with your swimmers.”

The team will practice in three groups on weekdays.