For the 67 DeKalb County kids ready to compete at a state-wide swim meet this Friday, the sweet taste of victory has now turned sour. Last week, the swimmers learned they were never entered into the annual Georgia Recreation and Parks Association competition.
Parents of the swimmers who would represent the DeKalb Swim League say their kids are paying the price for an administrative screw-up after the DeKalb County Parks and Recreation Department, which oversees the DeKalb Swim League, failed to submit the necessary paperwork for state competition.
The head of GRPA, Jimmy Gisi, said DeKalb Parks and Recreation officials were given several opportunities to enter its team, including attending one of three state-wide mandatory meetings in May. No one from DeKalb attended a meeting and the agency was fined $200, he said.
“It’s really a simple process — all they had to do was attend one meeting,” he said. “We don’t make it real difficult.”
Repeated attempts to reach DeKalb Parks and Recreation Department Director Marilyn Drew for comment were unsuccessful Sunday, but DeKalb Chief Communications Officer Shelia Edwards released this statement:
"DeKalb County is going to do everything that we can to try to rectify this situation so that our children can compete in the swim meet including contacting the state officials to request reconsideration of their decision. Secondly, we will meet with county officials tomorrow to determine what happened in this matter."
The children, who began swimming in the community leagues in May, competed at the county qualifying meet on July 1, from which the top three swimmers in each category won a chance to compete at the state level.
About 1,100-1,200 swimmers from across the state compete in the championships.
Parents had already paid the DeKalb County Parks and Recreation Department a $65 entry free, turned in applications and birth certificates and booked hotels for the state meet, said DeKalb Swim League Coach Mandi Bell.
“We’ve all done exactly what we needed to do and on time,” said Bell. “All of these kids are so excited about it. We had no idea any of [the trouble] was going on.”
And while the parents’ money will be returned, the children’s disappointment is lasting.
“The penalty, as it stands, is not punishing anyone but the families and children,” she said.
Gisi said GRPA sent DeKalb officials several reminders of upcoming deadlines, including an e-mail on May 28, Gisi said. Marilyn Drew, the director of DeKalb’s Parks and Recreation, submitted a form on July 15 that was due six weeks ago, Gisi said. The form, not an entry application, basically indicates that a county which has more than 1,500 swimmers is able to bypass district competition and go straight to state competition, Gisi said.
But the form is useless if a team was never entered in competition, he added.
It’s not the first time DeKalb County’s Parks and Rec officials failed to properly enter its team, said Gisi. Earlier this year, Gis said the agency was suspended from GRPA athletic functions for failing to register its basketball teams on time.
“We said, ‘OK, you’re done competing period until you start following the rules like every other agency in Georgia,’” Gisi said.
At that point, DeKalb officials assured GRPA that they would begin meeting deadlines, he said.
“We were told everything would be better,” Gisi said. “There’s really nothing else we can do for them. I can’t spank them or sit them in the corner ... everybody else in the state follows the rules.”
Gisi said with less than a week before the state competition convenes in Carrollton, it’s too late for the DeKalb Swim League to be entered in the meet.
“My heart goes out to them —I have kids and I’d be perturbed, but someone has to enter a team,” he said. “And if you’re not going to hold people accountable for the rules, then why have them?”
Amy Trocchi said GRPA should show leniency to the children who competed this summer with dreams of state competition.
“[GRPA] needs to remember where their responsibility lies and that’s in serving the children,” she said, adding she’s unsure whether she’ll allow her three children to participate next year. “It’s like the Olympics for some of these kids.”
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