Subject: YMCAs and Aquatic Centers in Fairfield County or Westchester County Hi - Because of my work and commuting schedule, I am unable to swim in the mornings prior to work, so I must swim after work. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a Y or aquatic center in Fairfield County or Westchester County that respects the rights or needs of adult swimmers. My friends and I have been trying different Y's out for quite sometime, but have encountered the same issues again and again:
Swim calendars that indicate lap lanes will be available, yet we show up to discover there is a swim meet, lessons, class, etc. going on, and we are either not allowed to swim or forced to share a lane with several other swimmers. In order to accommodate a new children's class, one community center even suddenly changed the location of lap swimming on the weekend from their center to an elementary school. The pool there was fine but adult swimmers were forced to squeeze into child-size showers and were restricted to one lane of circle swimming whenever the elementary school wanted to run a program for children.
The staff at all these Ys and community centers we have tried refuse to enforce hours designated for Adult Only Lap Time or Lap Swimming, so children are allowed to play in a couple of lanes while adults are forced to circle swim; a few times Y staff even asked adult swimmers to relocate to other lanes and circle swim to give the children more room to play. When we asked why the children weren't asked to leave the pool considering the hour was clearly designated as Lap Swimming time, we were told it was because the children's needs were more important than ours. One Y even went so far as to let me know they were more concerned with giving young champions a place to train than with meeting my less important needs.
I would never show up during a scheduled swim meet or swim team training and feel it acceptable to ask young athletes participating in those events to relocate to other lanes or tell them they were not allowed to swim at all because my needs were more important than theirs, and I wanted to take a swim during time allotted for them. So, just wondering why so many organizations in Fairfield/Westchester County feel this kind of shabby treatment of adult swimmers is appropriate? Have any of you experienced similar issues?
If any of you could recommend an organization in Fairfield/Westchester County that has evening lap times, shows respect for adult swimmers, and honors the pool schedules they publish that would be great. Any help you could provide would be much appreciated. Thanks |