{"id":430808,"date":"2020-05-06T12:10:54","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T19:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=430808"},"modified":"2020-05-06T12:10:54","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T19:10:54","slug":"with-great-pain-coastal-carolina-aquatic-association-cancels-summer-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/with-great-pain-coastal-carolina-aquatic-association-cancels-summer-season\/","title":{"rendered":"With \u2018Great Pain,\u2019 Coastal Carolina Aquatic Association Cancels Summer Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Megan Kingsley<\/strong> moved to South Carolina, with her reputation as a swimmer, it wasn\u2019t long before someone brought up the Coastal Carolina Aquatic Association.<\/p>\n

Kingsley, who grew up in North Carolina, had done year-round club swimming. Summer league at a neighborhood club wasn\u2019t an option. But when she moved to Mount Pleasant, she was quickly introduced to the vibrant summer swimming culture in the greater Charleston area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was blown away, because it was never like that growing up in North Carolina, even when I lived in Myrtle Beach for a while,\u201d Kingsley said Wednesday. \u201cThe Charleston area is definitely very different. I remember when I did swim for one year, I could not believe how fast it was. There were a lot of year-round swimmers, it was really competitive and a ton of really talented non-year-round athletes, and that was also really impressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe competitive spirit was just insane. There was hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people at this meet. Other than Olympic Trials, I haven\u2019t been to a meet that big before. It was overwhelming and so crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"megan-kingsley-\"

Megan Kingsley at the University of Georgia. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

For thousands of swimmers in South Carolina\u2019s low country, the Coastal Carolina Aquatic Association (CCAA) has been a summer staple. But due to the coronavirus pandemic, the league this week voted<\/a> to cancel its summer dual-meet season and the culminating City Championship, a painful but expected decision.<\/p>\n

The CCAA board of directors met last week and recommended cancellation<\/a>. A vote of team representatives was 19-1 in favor of cancelling meets, including the city meet in July that annually features more than 1,000 swimmers.<\/p>\n

Erik Kreutner<\/strong>, a CCAA board member and its former vice president, cited guidance from the South Carolina local swimming committee that when meets do resume from the COVID-19 hiatus, they should be limited to no more than 50 members. In a league whose 20 teams have an average of 150 swimmers each, conducting competitions was unthinkable.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo imagine having a meet with 300 kids and however many parents are there in the pools the size we have, we just can\u2019t imagine that happening,\u201d Kreutner said.<\/p>\n