Another largely successful week of fun in the sun and staying cool in the pool has passed! We hope that those using the pool are enjoying their time there. This weekly message provides some important updates and ever-important reminders.

RESERVATIONS
Reservations for Sunday, July 12-Saturday, July 18 will open on Saturday, July 11, at 10:00pm. Same basic drill as before, and you’re all becoming pros, so it should be easier than ever!

An improvement to the reservation process is that now an individual family member can be cancelled from a reservation, rather than the previous circumstance whereby an entire family reservation was cancelled. Now you can click on the one cancelling family member and leave the others intact. Pretty fantastic, right? We thank Member Splash for that upgrade.

Cancellations remind us to remind you: PLEASE CANCEL A RESERVATION THAT WILL NOT BE USED. We all rely on one another to be good pool citizens to enable as much usage as possible. We have received many emails noting or complaining that lap lanes go unused for an entire reservation slot. While a reservation was made, the empty lanes means someone was a no-show. PLEASE DO NOT NO-SHOW. PLEASE TAKE THE 90 SECONDS REQUIRED TO CANCEL A RESERVATION. You can also call the pool 301-229-6579 to cancel a reservation. If no-shows remain a rampant problem, the offending no-showers may have reservation privileges suspended for a week.

And, in turn, we remind members to check reservation availability throughout the week. While the Merrimack “rock concert” may sell out – or appear to sell out – within minutes of reservations opening, new availability may appear later thanks to people being good pool citizens, and heeding these pleas, and cancelling reservations, permitting new openings. We’re all in this together.

CHANGES TO DIVE WELL RESERVATIONS & TEAM PRACTICE
Beginning Monday, July 13, Dive Team will offer a group practice session weekday afternoons, Monday-Friday from 4:30pm-6:30pm. Additional information with full details on this program and registration will be sent under separate cover, but what this means for pool users is that dive well reservations will not be available on weekday afternoons from 4:00pm-7:00pm.

Please know that this dive program, like the Swim Team program will be run with limited numbers, no in water or hands-on contact, and with all proper pool deck segregation and social distancing. As a reminder, the “sold out” Swim Team practices are weekdays 7:40am-10:45am.

GENERAL REMINDERS AND GUIDANCE

• Please remember that the reservation limit is 3 slots per week per individual. Please DO NOT BOOK a family member for more than 3 on the thinking that there is a family number of uses and one member can use another member’s allotted uses. 3 IS THE WEEKLY MAXIMUM PER USER.
• Some pool users are inattentive about – or worse, refusing – use of face masks when entering the pool or walking around the pool deck. USE OF FACE MASKS WHEN ENTERING THE POOL OR ON THE POOL DECK IS MANDATORY. If you are unwilling to wear a face mask as required you will either not be permitted to enter the pool or will be asked to leave. When staff asks someone to don a face mask, they are doing their job, enforcing the pool rules, and helping to keep us all safe. Please observe this rule and honor staff requests if asked. Thank you.
• Please note that a reservation slot that gets rained out still counts as a reservation. None of us have control over the weather, and there is always a risk of weather closure. Unless you have cancelled a reservation before the reservation time, if your reservation slot is lost because of weather conditions and pool closure, you unfortunately do not get to re-book as a “do over.” Our Twitter Feed may provide a helpful weather update.
• As before, Open Swim reservations are for 2-hour blocks (which means 1-hour 45 minutes in the water), and lap lane/swim zone and dive well reservations are for 1-hour blocks (which means 45 minutes in the water).
• Please do not move deck chairs. They are spaced for social distancing and provide both single and cluster arrangements.

HELPFUL LINKS

We encourage you to read or re-read the instructions on the Make a Reservation page and to review these helpful links.

• 2020 Season Important Information & FAQs Read these safety guidelines and new procedures before coming to the pool. You must have a reservation to visit the pool.
• Merrimack Pool 2020 Pledge & Waiver By using the pool you agree to these terms.
• How to Make a Reservation & Reservation Calendar Please read the instructions! The information is all there, you just need to read the instructions (worth saying again!).
• View your Reservation & Cancel a Reservation Be a good pool citizen and do cancel reservations if your plans change so we can maximize usage.

First update all information for you and your immediate family members living at home (please remove children who have left the nest). Make sure all adults on the account have email and phone numbers listed–this is important if we must contact you about COVID tracing. All account members should have photos uploaded or taken at the pool.

Click on the red unpaid banner to pay for 2020 Season Use OR to choose the $0 Season Waiver to be inactive for the year. Do register immediately so that you may begin to use the pool.