SGA REOPENING: UPDATES AND STATUS
UPDATE 6/19/20
Hi SGA community –
We are excited to let you know – we are beginning our reopening on July 6!
But before we get to that, we want to thank all of you that took our “initial sentiment gauge on returning to gym” survey that was sent in May. Over 1,300 of you have responded to this survey to-date, with extremely thoughtful and helpful feedback, suggestions, concerns, and words of encouragement.
From those results, we know some of you are looking forward to the prospect of getting back in the gym. We also know that some of you are understandably concerned about a return, and some just aren’t sure how to feel – we completely understand all the different degrees of un/certainty. We have been able to use the survey data to help guide our reopening strategy – which is still is continually evolving, but we wanted to begin to share it with you.
SGA has developed a plan of different stages of our own for reopening, as we want to make sure we are conducting practice as safely as possible. We are committed to working through the stages and adding more gymnasts as soon as we can, responsibly, as we slowly turn the dial of reopening up.
Based on the survey results, we saw that 65% of our Competitive Team families indicated they would like to come back to the gym as soon as they can safely do so – this group had the highest response rate to this question. We also know that gymnasts on our Competitive Teams are well-equipped to be able to adhere to the new protocols that we will have to have in place, and will help us ease into, and repeatedly practice those procedures. King County gyms were also granted approval to allow back athletes in small ratios and even further reduced capacity in Phase 1.5.
Therefore, we will begin our first stage on June 22 with the highest-level team members (Junior Olympic Optionals) and highest levels of our XCEL team. Then in the second stage on June 29, we’ll add Junior Olympic Compulsory and lower level XCEL, followed by Pre-Team in the third stage.
Following the re-entry of the Competitive gymnasts, and after King County’s entrance into Phase 2 – which we hope will be on or before July 6 – we will begin to stage in our Recreational Gymnasts, of which we heard that 41% total would like to do when they can.
We will begin with the older recreational gymnasts first, because we believe that adherence to protocols will be easier for older kids, and also because this aligns with what we heard from you – the comfort level of returning as soon is safely possible correlated with age:
- 47% with gymnasts 13 and over would like to return as soon as they are able
- 44% ages 10-12
- 42% ages 6-9
- 40% ages 3-5
- 36% ages 18 months – 2.5 years
Below is a working outline of our stages. Please keep in mind however, this this is a very fluid situation. These are our best predictions based on what we know about the Safe Start Phases, and when they may potentially take place.
Because of our required reduced capacity, we will need to re-enroll recreational gymnasts that are ready to return to the gym into a new class. We know that we had asked everyone to stay enrolled in their old classes because at the time, we had no way of knowing how long we’d be closed or what reopening would look like. We appreciate everyone that stayed enrolled while payments were suspended, and we will be giving everyone who did priority to return.
But now we know that we can’t just flip the switch back on; we have to essentially start anew. And because of this, we’ve decided the best way to proceed is to temporarily return to sessions, instead of our continuous enrollment. This will allow us to continue to best adjust our schedule as government restrictions lift and increase customer demand.
We are still working on a new enrollment process, but we’re hoping your initial takeaway can be these three things:
- For anyone previously enrolled at SGA when we closed in March, your tuition will not be reinstated (auto-payments will not begin) unless you enroll in a new class. Priority enrollment will be given to those who maintained their enrollment during the closure before we open up enrollment to the general public.
- Because of the need to significantly reduce capacity and socially distance, we will have a whole new schedule this summer. We will need anyone that would like to return to re-enroll, based on the new schedule.
- The new schedule will be an 8-week summer session from July 6-August 30. Then as the state continues to re-open in phases and our reduced capacity limitations are adjusted, we will modify our schedule again moving into the Fall. Families enrolled in the summer session will again receive priority enrollment moving into the 2020-2021 class season.
Please look for schedule and enrollment information very soon!
We will also be running Summer Camp for our school-age campers ages 6-10, also at significantly reduced capacity. We will have limited enrollment available for half-day and full-day weekly sessions starting Monday, June 22. You can read more info on Summer Camp here.
Lastly, whether you plan to return or not, we want to ensure anyone can review our Re-Opening Health & Safety Plan, which you can access here.
Additionally, we have created videos showing some of the new procedures gymnasts can expect when they return – click the links below to view:
Ballard West (primarily competitive gymnasts)
Ballard East (primarily recreational gymnasts)
Please know, as we’ve said before, we understand the decision if and when to return to any of our pre-COVID activities is very personal. We will absolutely not force anyone back into the gym that is not fully confident and ready to do so. And even when some of us do physically return to the gym, we will also continue our virtual classes for as long there is demand for them. We hope the information here is just that – informational. As we’ve striven to do during our whole closure, we want to make sure we are keeping all of you as best informed as we can – we are all in this journey together.
Please look for continuing information soon.
UPDATE 5/14
Hi SGA families,
It’s been a little over a month since our last status update, so we wanted to tell you what our current outlook is, what we’ve been doing (some exciting projects!), and our plans – though very tentative – for the future. We also have a very important ask for your feedback – please read on for more info (or, if you’d like to get right to the survey, click here).
First, just a reminder:
As you hopefully already know, we have not, and will not be requesting any tuition for the in-gym classes you attended when we closed. Please know this policy remains in place and we will again not be running any auto-payments on May 20 for June, and to reiterate again, SGA will not be planning or requesting any tuition payments until:
- We know for certain when we will be able to reopen, and at what capacity, after which:
- We will give all enrolled families one week’s notice before running payments, to assess their status and situation, to decide if they would like / are able to return classes, or if they need to drop or take a break.
We very much appreciate everyone that has kept their gymnasts enrolled in their old classes while payments are suspended – while this requires no action and no current financial contribution on your part at this time. It is meaningful to us as it will very much help us gauge our future revenue and ability to pay off loans.
An update on status:
When the closure started, we were fortunate to have a bit of cash reserves that kept us going in those early days. We applied for relief loans, and while we did not receive any funding in the first round, we were approved for PPP (Payroll Protection Program) in the second round.
We are thankful to have been one of the recipients – we know so many small businesses are in need. However, we are viewing this as a true loan, at least some of which we expect to repay with interest (1%). We are working hard on meeting the requirements to attain as much forgiveness as we can, and will meet it in some areas, but the reality is that we have a very large staff, and with us being closed, there simply isn’t enough work to get up to 75% FTE within the designated 8 week timeframe – though we are trying as much as possible.
We are telling you all this in an effort to be transparent. This loan doesn’t fully give us shelter from the storm – more so, it gave us a raincoat. Importantly, it does help give us a path forward, and the runway we’ll need to get through the expense of reopening when the times comes. It also will help us to continue to provide services by way of at-home content, both free and paid, before we can come back.
Our exciting new programs!
As we began to navigate these uncharted waters, we knew we would need to look for ways, like nearly all businesses right now, to adapt, and offer new services to keep as much staff as possible working, serve our community and help generate revenue to keep our lights on – and the ability to reopen feasible.
Our first, an immediate project was providing free content on our social channels to keep our community engaged at home. We also began live practices / workouts with our gymnasts on our competitive teams. Recently, we launched two new programs to expand both of these initiatives into revenue generating endeavors: live virtual classes for all our recreational athletes, and a paid video subscription service with longer, more robust content / lessons.
While we are excited to have launched these programs and are excited and humbled by the response to them, please know that neither are replacing the free content on our social channels. We are 100% committed to continuing to provide that content, for anyone in our community to access. Our number one goal at SGA is to instill strength, skill and confidence in our kids – and we know some are facing difficult times right now and won’t have access to paid options.
If you would like to learn more about our virtual live classes, you can click here, or for more about our paid video subscription, click here!
Your support and response to everything we’ve been working on over the closure has meant more than we can say. Your notes of thanks and encouragement, thumbs-up on social media, and participation in paid programs has further solidified the gratitude we have for everyone in the SGA family.
Our future plans, with a BIG asterisk*
Governor Jay Inslee’s reopening plan, Safe Start Washington, has four phases. The Governor has said that each of the phases will last a minimum of three weeks, but that data and metrics will determine when the state can move from one phase to another, whether that’s continuing forward, or taking steps back.
Phase 1 began on May 5th and included things like including construction activity and outdoor activities such as fishing, playing golf and some park access. Phase 2 could begin June 1st and will include things like hair salons / barbers, limited in-store retail, and limited in-restaurant dining.
We believe, but are not 100% certain, that our type of business would be included in the third phase. Which means that if all phases go off without a hitch and we don’t have to take any steps back, we could potentially be targeting early July to come back to the gym. But please know, we cannot promise this, as much as we want to, because as we all know, these are circumstances beyond our own control.
You can read about the phased reopening plan on the Governor’s Medium website here.
What we do know is, is that when the time comes we can open the gym doors again, things will need to look very different than when we last left. We expect with certainty that there will be new limitations and policies to adhere to, but more than just being in compliance, the continuing safety of all our customers, our staff, and the families that we all go home to, must be at the forefront of how we conduct business. We’re currently thinking about what different scenarios might look like, and thinking about what supplies we will need, and what adjustments may need to be made to the layouts of our facilities.
We are hoping that Summer Camps may be a service we will be able to provide, albeit in a modified version, as we know many parents will be looking for a return to activities for their children, and in need of some supervised childcare. But again, this is our hope, we cannot guarantee it until we move through these phases of reopening.
This is where you come in!
Even though July feels like a long time still, we have a lot of work that needs to be done to plan and prepare our facilities for when the times comes.
While our staff is working on the logistical side, a huge part of planning and preparing is dependent on talking to all of you in our community. We’re hoping to understand what your thoughts and concerns are regarding a future return to SGA, and so have set up a 5-minute survey that we’d be so appreciative if you could take. Please know this survey serves purely a research and planning purpose for us – and regardless of answers we receive, we will not open until both permitted by government, and when we believe we have made all necessary adjustments to conduct business safely. We know that in conjunction with the government, we need to let our own best judgements, and partnership with you, be our guide. This survey will also help us understand where to focus our efforts; for instance, perhaps we’ll see we need to continue to build out our virtual programs, or maybe we’ll see there’s a big need for supervised childcare. This is why it’s so important to hear from you, whether you are stanchly for or against a return to the gym, or somewhere in between, we want to know. All answers to this survey are anonymous and confidential.
You can access the survey by clicking here.
We thank you so much for your time, support and partnership throughout this entire ordeal. We intend to continue to adapt our business and services, including the extension of virtual services, even when we reopen, and will continue to update you as we have news to report. We are hopeful at the prospect of seeing you this summer, and are delighted to be “seeing” some of you now in our virtual classes! Again, your support is everything to us.
Please continue to take care and remain safe, and as always, feel free to contact us if there’s anything we can help with!
UPDATE 4/3
Hi SGA family,
We hope everyone is taking care and staying safe. We miss you all very much – more than we can say – but we’re keeping our spirits up by knowing we will eventually see everyone again.
On this note, as you are probably aware, the Governor of Washington has extended the stay-at-home order to May 4, and we wanted to update you on what this means for tuition or other activities at SGA. As we did not run auto-payments for April classes on March 20, April tuition, of course, remains suspended (no payments will be collected for April).
However, we all know this is an ever-changing situation, and as such, we will also not be running any auto-payments on April 20 (for May tuition).
SGA will not be planning or requesting any tuition payments until:
- We know for certain when we will be able to reopen, and at what capacity, after which:
- We will give all enrolled families one week’s notice before running payments, to assess their status and situation, to decide if they would like / are able to return classes, or if they need to drop or take a break.
While tuition payments are suspended, we would encourage you to keep your gymnasts enrolled (this requires no action), ensuring they keep their place in class for the time-being, as we hope as many of you as possible will be there to join us when we are able to reopen. We’d like to keep as many children in their same familiar classes as we can, so they too can feel a sense of normalcy return, when we are able to do so.
Any families that pre-booked other activities, such as and including Parents’ Night Out, will have credits applied to their accounts. We will work with Birthday Parties scheduled before May 4 to either reschedule, or credit for future activities.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns (email and phone contacts below – we are answering our phones on shortened business hours and can return your message if received outside of those times), but to reiterate again, we will not be processing any payments until we know we can reopen, and only after a one week’s notice to all families – no action is required by you until that time comes.
SGA Ballard: (206) 782-1496; sgasb@seattlegymnastics.com
SGA Lake City: (206) 362-7447; registrar@seattlegymnastics.com
SGA Columbia City: (206) 708-7497; columbiacity@seattlegymnastics.com
We want to say again how much your support means to us. Your emails and encouraging comments on social media go such a long way! And if you’ve missed any of our Virtual SGA content, you can find the full playlist on our YouTube channel here (we also have created playlists for age / level to help easily navigate).
Stay safe and stay well, everyone. The state of Washington is making progress to flatten the curve. Stay diligent – we’ll all get through this!
-Seattle Gymnastics Academy
UPDATE 3/16
Dear SGA families,
As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) health crisis continues, we are aware of the new developments over the last few days, including the extension of the school closure (statewide) through April 24, and the Governor’s mandate just last night for the closure of all restaurants, bars and entertainment / recreational facilities & gyms / sports facilities (that’s us) statewide. This means SGA will need to remain closed until this executive order is lifted.
As we have done during the duration of this situation, we want to let you know that we are currently working through what this means for us, and what our next steps are. We do want to let you know, however, that we will NOT be running any tuition auto-payments on March 20. While the state government is currently advising the earliest this order will be considered to end is March 31, we are anticipating not being able to reopen before April 24, when school may resume, which is why we have made the decision to suspend April tuition on March 20.
As we are suspending tuition charges, we do want to encourage you to keep your child enrolled, ensuring they keep their place in class, as we hope as many of you as possible will be there to join us when we are able to reopen. We’d like to keep as many children in their same familiar classes as we can, so they too can feel a sense of normalcy return, when we are able to do so. We will notify families in advance when we will be resuming auto tuition once the mandate is lifted and we can safely go back to classes, and give families the opportunity to assess their status.
Since our closure last week, many of you have reached out to ask questions about our staff and coaches, and their well-being; this is just another indication of how amazing all of you in our community are. We can’t tell you how much this support means to all of us – everyone has so much worry to deal with right now, it’s so heartwarming to know that our staff is on your minds, too. While we are still working through all the details, we want to let you know that SGA is committed to weathering this storm and giving our staff as much of the same financial support as we can, as if business had continued on, providing them with work to complete while we are closed – this includes their help in creating content that helps keep us connected to you, and your gymnasts to gymnastics, while we are away (which we will begin releasing as soon as possible!). We will have more to share with you around this in the coming days, while we work through the plan and also talk to all our employees directly.
We’re all in this together, and we know about the worry and uncertainty you feel, because we, as people, feel it too. But countries that took these same drastic steps earlier, are already seeing the curve bend and flatten, and that’s what we need to do here. And it’s only through our shared sacrifice, that we can get through this together. In the meantime, please continue to stay safe, take care of yourself, your families, and each other.
-Seattle Gymnastics Academy
March 12, 2020
Dear SGA families,
It is only after great consideration, and a difficult decision, that effective Thursday, March 12th, 2020, SGA will be closed for 14 days, due to the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) recommendations issued by Governor Jay Inslee, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.
As you are aware, Seattle Public Schools announced today that they are closing for at least two weeks, starting today, March 12. Also today, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced a ban on public gatherings of 250 people or more, and, along with other government agencies, is encouraging the practice of “social distancing,” keeping a distance of six feet or more between individuals. You can read Governor Inslee’s statement here.
Yesterday, SGA let you know that we, along with most places of business in the Seattle area, were trying to navigate these uncharted waters as best we could, and that we were planning to stay open until our scheduled Spring Refresh started on Friday.
However, we have now concluded, after very careful consideration following these announcements, that we must close for a minimum of 14 days as well, effective immediately, Thursday, March 12, which we plan to end on March 25, 2020. As of this time, we would plan to reopen on March 26, however as this is a rapidly-changing situation, we will continue to monitor and assess, and take heed of any recommendations or mandates from government agencies.
All classes and activities at all three Seattle Gymnastics Academy locations are suspended beginning Thursday, March 12, for the next two weeks.
We know that you will have many questions about what this means for you. We are all working through this together, and our staff is prepared to take your questions and concerns as best as we are possibly able, but we do ask that you please read this statement in full as a first step. We also thank you in advance for your patience and graciousness with our support staff, who are on the front lines of your inquiries during this unprecedented event.
This was a very difficult decision for us to come to, and was not made lightly, but one that was made in the best interest of both our employees and customers. As we have shared many times, our goal has been to keep our doors open as long as possible in order to support our students and families. Our incredible staff and SGA families / attendees have been unwavering in the commitment of our enhanced cleaning and safety protocols, and we appreciate everyone’s effort – this closure is in no way because of a failure in those practices. It is despite our best efforts to remain open, that we cannot continue to do so and still be in compliance with social distancing regulations. We have a responsibility, as a company who work with thousands of children and adults, to comply with these guidelines in order to ensure a safer and healthier community for all.
The truth is, there was no decision we could make that would satisfy every person that attends SGA. We know that we are a respite for many of our gymnasts and families, and we have heard from many of you that you were thankful we remained open. We are saddened to take a two-week break from the sport we are so passionate about, and more importantly, from the students that are like family to us.
However, we know that if our community is to stop the spread of this virus, that we have an obligation to adhere to the same actions. While we fall well below the 250 person regulation, we cannot safely adhere to social distancing. It isimpossible to conduct progressive and safe gymnastics if we are unable to spot our kids, and keep everyone separated by at least six feet at all times.
We cannot put our vulnerable populations at greater risk by continuing the spread of this virus. The most responsible thing we can do, is to take greater action now.
What does this mean for families enrolled in classes and paying tuition?
When we are approved to reconvene, we have come up with some alternative make-up options for students – in the same meaningful way that we strive to deliver in our regular classes, as if business had carried on as normal. This means all gymnasts will be given the opportunity to make up class time in formal classes. Our commitment to you is to fully and completely deliver everything we pledge with your tuition dollars – this plan is outlined below:
- Make-Up classes for students enrolled in Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday classes:
- This novel coronavirus closure overlaps with our annual Spring Refresh break (planned for Friday, 3/13 – Monday, 3/16). As planned SGA closures are accounted for and built into our yearly amortized tuition costs, students will be eligible to attend one (1) scheduled make-up for the week missed after Spring Refresh that we will remain closed.
- Make-Up classes for students enrolled in Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday classes:
- Students will be eligible to attend two (2) scheduled make-ups due to the scheduled closure dates.
- Make-Up in Indoor Playground or Gym Time:
- If you are unable to attend one of the scheduled make-up classes offered, you are still eligible to attend Indoor Playground or Gym Time as a make-up option.
This schedule of makeup classes will take some time for us to put together logistically, we hope to begin implementing the makeup options by April 15th, pending approval to reconvene. Customers may pre-register for make-up classes over the phone or in person, beginning April 10th, at your preferred SGA location.
What does this mean for families attending drop-in activities (such as Indoor Playground, Parent’s Night Out, and Birthday Parties)?
All drop-in programs, including Indoor Playground, will be suspended until we reconvene normal operation. Any pre-paid punch cards will have their values remain in-tact. Any pre-paid activities, such as and including Parents’ Night out on 3/20 & 3/21, will have credits applied to your accounts. We will work with Birthday Parties scheduled during this closure to either reschedule, or credit for future activities.
What does this mean for gymnasts in competitive programs?
All compete practices will be suspended until we reconvene normal operation. Our competitive program leaders are working through this situation, in conjunction with our larger governing body, and will have further info for competitive families specifically, which we will communicate directly to you as soon as we are able.
Has SGA had a confirmed case of COVID-19?
No, to our knowledge, SGA has not had a confirmed case of COVID-19 at any location. This closure is not to quarantine, but rather to align with the protocols our government and local agencies have put in place and/or recommended.
All of you are our SGA family, we could not, and will not exist without you. This storm is very difficult to weather both as a business, and as people. We all need to support each other. We need to help our neighbors. We need to support our small businesses. We need to keep our families safe. We do not have all the answers. But we do know that if we all pull together as one community, we can recover, and regain our strength. We are stronger as one.
Please be safe, reach out to us with questions that we will try our best to answer, and we thank you now, more than ever before, for your support.
-Seattle Gymnastics Academy
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