The Bettye Davis East High swim team splashed and kicked through the water of their own pool Monday, training at the school for the first time in about five years.
The city operates swimming pools at Anchorage schools, and did not have enough lifeguards to keep the pool open.
About 15 members of the Thunderbird swim and dive team practiced at Bartlett High School for several years before moving to the University of Alaska Anchorage pool this year while the Bartlett pool undergoes maintenance. Bartlett has the only 50-meter pool in the state.
Thunderbird swim coach Leslie Rawson said her athletes were happy to practice in their own pool.
“We’re really excited to be back in this facility. I think the kids feel good to be practicing in the pool that’s connected to their school,” Rawson said. “Just excited for the first practice here in a couple of years.”
Anchorage Parks and Recreation Director Michael Braniff said the pool was closed due to earthquake damage in the 2018 earthquake. It was briefly reopened twice, but needed additional repairs to heating and circulation systems. Braniff said the city’s shortage of lifeguards was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and only 10 are currently available.
The YMCA of Alaska took over responsibility for providing lifeguards at the Bettye Davis East pool, which allowed for Monday’s reopening. Chief Operating Officer Nate Root said the organization trained six additional lifeguards to keep the pool open for swim team practice.
“When we met with the municipality and Parks and Rec and this opportunity presented itself, we never looked at it like, ‘oh, man, can we do this?’” Root said. “We looked at it as ‘we’ve got to do this.’ We’ve got to do it for the community, first and foremost, and that includes the East High swim team.”
The pool will also be available for open swim for community members from 5-7 p.m. on weekdays, and Root said they plan to expand hours once more lifeguards are trained.
Root noted that the rate of drowning deaths in Alaska is higher than anywhere else in the nation, and said teaching people how to swim is critical to reduce that number.
“It’s really important for us to teach everybody to know how to swim, to take that really large drowning rate in Alaska and start chipping away at it and decrease it,” Root said.
The YMCA of Alaska operates three pools in total with about 20 lifeguards on staff. A spokesperson for the Anchorage School District said this season’s meet schedule is set, but the district plans to host a swim meet at Bettye Davis East next year.
Tim Rockey is the producer of Alaska News Nightly and covers education for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at trockey@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8487. Read more about Tim here.
