Sports
Basking Ridge Swimmers Petition Gov. Murphy To Reopen Pools
Ridge High School Sophomores and teammates Andy Moss and Jerry Zheng say pools need to reopen since being shut down due to the coronavirus.
BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Two Ridge High School students and competitive swimmers have created a petition to convince Gov. Phil Murphy to reopen pools so they can train. The pools have been shut down for more than two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Governor Murphy keeps telling New Jersey that data determines dates. The data on pools is clear: Chlorine kills COVID-19 and swimming with social distancing can be done safely. Thousands of competitive swimmers are responsible enough to return to the pools and their mental and physical health depends on it," said Andy Moss, a Ridge High School Sophomore.
Moss and his teammate Jerry Zheng from the Somerset Hills YMCA Swim Team have been swimming since they were seven years old and need to get back into the water.
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Moss and Zheng pointed to the importance of keeping training up for swimmers and also the possible impacts to future college scholarships to continue their swimming career.
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"Competitive Swimmers need the pool to maintain their feel for the water and their aerobic endurance. USA Swimming has clearly provided the guidelines for reopening pools safely during this pandemic. Competitive training can be done safely and thousands of capable swimmers need it," Zheng said.
Some of those guidelines include implementing social distancing outside of the pool by spacing out people on the deck area and now allowing usage of the bathrooms, water fountains or locker rooms.
Moss and Zheng also appeared on Wednesday morning on Fox and Friends to discuss their petition. Check out their interview here.
They created the petition on Sunday and are just shy of their goal 5,000 signature goal. To learn more and to sign the petition visit chng.it/W5HWf6Ph.
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