June 7th, 2020
Olympica to Reopen This Friday June 12th
Dear Olympica Families,
With the state and county’s permission and guidance, we are reopening Olympica to our Academy, Junior Academy, and Tots classes this Friday, June 12th. We are likely opening to our Mighty Mites classes the following Friday, June 19th.
We were pleased to learn that the state guidance covering fitness facilities, summer camp, and daycare were already met or far surpassed with what we’ve already undertaken and implemented.
If you have yet to learn about the preparation and protocol we’ve been working diligently on these past three months, you can read more after the jump from our previous May 16th update.
That said, we know the nuances and dynamics specific to our gym and sport best, so we will be holding higher, more detailed standards accordingly, officials may not have been able to cover in issuing guidance to niche industries like ours that are covered by larger umbrellas.
Here are some additional protocols we’ve added since our last update, which you can expect to see starting Friday:
• Temperature checks will be done by staff with touchless thermometers for all students upon entry
• All Academy & Junior Academy classes will be shortened by 8-10 minutes for the first 15-30 days of return in order to minimize foot and parking lot traffic during class changeover times.
• Face coverings for all adults entering the facility until expiration or cancellation of the Orange County order issued May 23rd
• Student:Coach ratios for Academy and Jr. Academy groups will be reduced to 6:1 (normally 8:1).
• We are offering several new morning classes during the week across Academy & Jr. Academy programs, and incentivizing families currently in impacted times to transfer into these new class times (these families will be contacted directly with details)
• Closure of water fountains (please send students with a reusable water bottle)
• Limiting chalk use and having staff dispense it individually versus using community chalk trays
• New agreements regarding Covid-19 exposure must be completed by every new AND returning family. Please login to your Olympica Parent Portal Profile to accept the agreement quickly and easily online or download the PDF document here, print all pages of the document, and return it signed on the first day back to class, or
Here are the original protocols we described in our last update, in case you missed them…
We Will:
• Maintain a ratio of 4 to 6 students per every 1,000 square feet— modifying, dispersing or adjusting start times for larger classes and team programs as needed to achieve this.
• Require coaches and other staff to wear masks, wash hands between each class, and sanitize hands between necessary spotting of students to maintain gymnastic safety.
• Require students and staff to wear fresh socks on the gym floor. This is in lieu of bare feet and close-toed shoes, that are otherwise required under student and staff policies, respectively.
• Limit family viewing of classes for the first 30-60 days (TBD) following reopening, to:
– 1 adult only for general program students 6 years and younger (may drop off for kids 5 and 6 years old)
– Drop-off only for students 7 years and older
– Drop-off only for all JO Team, GYM Team, and pre-team groups
• Use our commercial grade and industry-preferred disinfectants on all surfaces throughout the gym, continually, throughout each and every day. The cleaning agents we have relied on for years are effective at eliminating nearly 100% of all viruses, bacteria, and funguses, while being safe for kids programs like ours.
• Continue to steam clean all soft surfaces throughout the week during non-operating hours (to allow for dry times). We have always steam cleaned our carpeted surfaces routinely as needed, but will instead do up to 2x per month depending on the traffic and usage of the area.
• Constantly evolve our efforts and student health precautions after reopening— modifying, increasing, and improving active measures as seen fit.
We will resume tuition for all returning students upon reopening. For June, you can expect to see a billing reminder for prorated June tuition emailed on Friday June 12th, followed by resuming of processing payment on file on the Monday or Tuesday (15th or 16th) following. Please update cards on file if they have since expired or been replaced over the last 3 months.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to let us know! This is all new for everyone, so we are doing our very best to get things right on the first try and request your patient understanding if we don’t!
Your little gymnast’s health and safety continues to be our top priority. Our staff has missed them dearly, and we cannot WAIT to see them again soon!
Thank you so much for your patience, concern, generosity, and overall support for Olympica during this protracted closure. Like many businesses and organizations, and individuals themselves, we never would have thought we’d experience something like this, and we couldn’t have forged through it without you. Your family is appreciated by many.
Sincerely,
Dave Peters
CEO | Olympica Gymnastics | Celebrating 28 Years
“Skills for Sport, Lessons for Life”
949.582.3329
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
May 16th at 1:30 PM
Olympica Reopening Process
Dear Olympica Families,
My apologies for the extended radio silence since our last update. We’ve been very busy getting the gym ready for your return!
We know it’s not quite the same as being in class with their favorite coaches and gym buddies, but we do hope your gymnasts have enjoyed the IGTV & YouTube at-home workouts that Coach Kelsey has been conducting. Thank you for all your work on them Kelsey!
Reopening Date TBD:
We are optimistic that the Orange County Health Department and Board of Supervisors will continue to move us through the governor’s phased reopening orders at a responsible pace, one that is commensurate to OC’s Covid case and hospitalization counts per capita.
We do not have a specific date scheduled for our reopening yet, but we are hopeful that we may see a phased reopening for most Olympica programs during the first half of June.
Setting a Higher Bar:
We’ve been working hard at getting our gym and staff prepared for reopening: sterilizing, reorganizing, renovating, and mapping out the entire facility for modified use. The bar has been significantly raised, even beyond our already high standard of hygiene and organization within our industry. And it will be held there not only upon reopening and readjusting, but going forward as well.
We have:
• Steam cleaned all soft surfaces throughout the gym (carpeted floor-ex areas, carpet bonded foam throughout, and trampoline beds among others)
• Disinfected all hard surfaces (flooring, vinyl mats, steel and wood apparatus) quite literally floor to ceiling; every wall in the gym has been cleaned, repainted or resurfaced.
• Measured and marked floors and apparatus to meet 6-foot distancing standards
• Designated multiple “sanitization stations” throughout the gym as hubs for student and staff hygiene. These will also be home to all necessary tools and cleaning agents to be used by staff during and between class rotations
• Designated specific entrance and exits for various levels of classes and teams (TBA to families later)
We Are:
• Training all Olympica staff on new sanitization and class management procedures and standards, in line with guidance from the CDC and physicians familiar with the specific dynamics and nuances of gymnastics training
• Continuing the cleaning regimen above in the absence of students, while bringing our cleaning crew in earlier in the day for additional tasks
• Performing some cool upgrades and general improvements to the gym with think you’ll like!
• Offering online workouts via IGTV & YouTube for anyone (you too mom n dad), and specific conditioning for individual team squads via Zoom
• Reopening in the following overlapping phases:
#1 Facility Preparation
#2 Staff Training
#3 Team training resuming at limited hours
#4 General Program classes ages 5+ and Tots resuming
#5 Mighty Mites classes resuming
We Will:
• Maintain a ratio of 4 to 6 students per every 1000 square feet— modifying, dispersing or adjusting start times for larger classes and team programs as needed to achieve this.
• Require coaches and other staff to wear masks, wash hands between each class, and sanitize hands between necessary spotting of students to maintain gymnastic safety.
• Require students and staff to wear fresh socks on the gym floor. This is in lieu of bare feet and close-toed shoes, that are otherwise required under student and staff policies, respectively.
• Limit family viewing of classes for the first 30-60 days (TBD) following reopening, to:
– 1 adult only for general program students 6 years and younger (may drop off for kids 5 and 6 years old)
– Drop-off only for students 7 years and older
– Drop-off only for all JO Team, GYM Team, and pre-team groups
• Use our commercial grade and industry-preferred disinfectants on all surfaces throughout the gym, continually, throughout each and every day. The cleaning agents we have relied on for years are effective at eliminating nearly 100% of all viruses, bacteria, and funguses, while being safe for kids programs like ours.
• Continue to steam clean all soft surfaces throughout the week during non-operating hours (to allow for dry times). We have always steam cleaned our carpeted surfaces routinely as needed, but will instead do up to 2x per month depending on the traffic and usage of the area.
• Constantly evolve our efforts and student health precautions after reopening— modifying, increasing, and improving active measures as seen fit.
We Can’t:
WAIT to see you all again. We’ve missed your kiddos very much! Thank you for your patience and support through this. We’ll be in touch again, sooner next time. Til then, we wish you and yours health and happiness.
Sincerely,
Dave Peters
CEO | Olympica Gymnastics | Celebrating 28 Years
“Skills for Sport, Lessons for Life”
949.582.3329
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
March 24th at 4:30 PM
Olympica Membership Options During Closure
Dear Olympica Families,
We would like to give our Olympica families the following options to assist in furthering what we have at our disposal to compensate our coaches during this tough time, while still getting the regular value of your tuition, plus more:
★ OPTION 1: Continue to pay your full monthly tuition beginning April 1st– receive additional makeup tokens for missed classes PLUS 2 FREE FULL DAYS of 2020 Olympica Summer Camp.
★ OPTION 2: Pay 50% of your monthly tuition beginning April 1st, receive extra makeups for missed classes PLUS 1 FREE HALF DAY of 2020 Olympica Summer Camp.
★ OPTION 3: Remain on the complimentary membership freeze that is currently in place and still retain your child’s class spot.
Dave Peters
CEO | Olympica Gymnastics | Celebrating 28 Years
“Skills for Sport, Lessons for Life”
949.582.3329
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
March 17th, 2020 at 6:00 PM
Dear Olympica Families,
With Orange County’s 14-day “shelter in place” order enacted this afternoon, March 17th, we are now reopening two days later than originally planned in our previous update (below): now April 1st.
Rest assured, we will NOT process April billing or payments until the gym actually reopens for regular classes and activities. April tuition will also be prorated accordingly for the month when we do reopen and process tuition.
Thanks for your patience, and we very much look forward to seeing you all again as soon as possible. Meanwhile, check out the video our good friends at SCATS in Huntington Beach put together for staying healthy and active at home during these days off!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9z6Q3Fp9fQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Sincerely,
Dave Peters
CEO | Olympica Gymnastics | Celebrating 28 Years
“Skills for Sport, Lessons for Life”
949.582.3329
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
March 13th, 2020 at 6:45 PM
Dear Olympica Families,
Things are changing very quickly and we are working hard to stay on top of the situation surrounding Coronavirus in our community. We received notification today that Capistrano and Saddleback Valley Unified School Districts are closing all schools starting Monday and will remain closed for two weeks in order to limit the spread of COVID-19. Several other area school districts, including San Diego Unified and LAUSD are doing the same.
As we have said in our previous email, we plan to follow both the Orange County and California Department of Health as well as the area school district recommendations regarding this outbreak.So we will be closing starting Monday, March 16th, and will remain closed for two full weeks. Our plan is to reopen on March 30th. If that changes, we will keep everyone updated as we receive new information.
We ask for your patience and understanding during this unprecedented time. Our first priority is the health of your family and the community as a whole. We also hope everyone understands the incredible hardship this could create for our coaching staff and the gym. Our goal is to pick up right where we left off when we are able to return to normal. In order to do that, we will not be able to offer refunds for this initial missed time, but we will absolutely work to deliver you, our clients, the service and value for which you have paid.
For Our Recreational Students: We will offer unlimited make-up lessons, April through August, to ensure you receive the classes you paid for plus any others you may need to miss in the coming months due to illness or other unforeseen disruption caused by this national issue. Additionally, as a token of our sincerest appreciation for your patience and patronage, we are offering a free additional class to every student, or a free special event in the form of one AM half-day session of summer camp, or one free parents’ night out event, any of which are valid through the end of 2020.
For Our Competitive Team Members: We will be working on different ways to make up for the missed practices by holding extended or extra training hours, event clinics, and extra curricular events through the end of the summer and end of the year. For our competitive teams currently in season, we do not have any further details from USA Gymnastics regarding regional meets and those following, or on whether or not canceled meets will be rescheduled. We remain in direct communication with regional and national USA Gymnastics staff, and we will keep everyone updated as soon as more information becomes available.
With almost 700 students, all missing two or more practices, it will take some time to get through it all but we will do all that we can. Again, we just ask you to be patient and communicative as we work through this process.
Thank you for your continued loyalty and understanding. We hope you and your loved ones stay healthy, and hope that we, as a community, can get through this challenging time together with minimal difficulties.
Sincerely,
Dave Peters
CEO | Olympica Gymnastics | Celebrating 28 Years
“Skills for Sport, Lessons for Life”
949.582.3329
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
March 12th, 2020
Dear Olympica Families,
With the more recent developments regarding the coronavirus and California’s precautionary measures, we are reaching out to share the most relevant information we can at the moment (March 12th).
Since the first announcements of cases in California, we have been especially alert and precautious with health in the gym:
- In addition to our cleaning crew disinfecting surfaces in the gym gym 7 days a week, we have our daytime staff performing additional mat and surface disinfecting between classes.
- Our coaching staff will continue to do additional hand sanitizing and washing during class. We are encouraging parents to tell their kiddos to thoroughly wash their hands after their own bathroom breaks.
- While it is already standard during flu season for us, coaches and supervisors are keeping an especially watchful eye on kids for flu-like symptoms, dry coughing, tiredness (beyond getting exhausted from working hard!), or other signs that parents should be made aware of, or that may be reason enough to head home for the day and schedule a make-up class for another time.
We have continued to stay informed via the Orange County Health Department’s recommendations and advisements, as they have been most relevant to our local community, and of course any statewide information as it is released.
Gym Events;
Since Sacramento’s announcement today of the limitation on gatherings above 250 people, we of course will make no plans to schedule events exceeding that number of attendees. GYM Team competition season, which was originally slotted to begin the first weekend of April at SCATS Gymnastics in Huntington Beach, is tentatively postponed until May or June. As we receive more information, we will keep GYM Team families informed along the way and give exact dates when we are in the best position to do so.
Regular Classes:
With respect to regular classes and activity in the gym: despite being a large space of over 16,000 square feet, our normal posted maximum capacity is 247 people, due to the way we use our facility space.While it is rare that we would have 247 people in the gym at once for regular use, even on our busiest class times, we are asking respectfully that only one parent or guardian come to watch class, and that siblings not participating only be brought if necessary.
Team Workouts:
In addition to the above mentioned request for regular classes, we kindly ask that team families with 3 to 6 day schedules are asked to use the bulk of longer workout times to run errands and spend 1 hour or less observing workout on a given day, until further notice.
Thank you very much for your help as parents in doing your part to keep Olympica a happy and healthy place. We will continue to remain proactive and vigilant in response to this issue that is affecting all of us in one way or another.
We very much appreciate your patience as new information becomes available to us all, and we’re always happy to answer any questions in person, over the phone, and via email if you have any at all.
Thank you for continuing to have your family as part of ours here at Olympica!
Sincerely,
Dave Peters
CEO | Olympica Gymnastics | Celebrating 28 Years
“Skills for Sport, Lessons for Life”
949.582.3329