POOL OPENING NEARS FOR JACKIE ROBINSON FAMILY YMCA
The Jackie Robinson Family YMCA’s long-awaited aquatics center is nearing completion and is finally set to open to the community later this month.
The original three-lane pool, built in 1967, was closed in March 2015 and left the southeastern San Diego branch as one of the few YMCA locations in San Diego County without a place to swim.
The new, state-of-the-art aquatic center finally broke ground in October, and its ribbon-cutting is scheduled for June 24.
The $6.7-million aquatic center will have a six-lane, 25yard pool, open swim zone and children’s splash pad area, with several swim and water safety lessons, family swim, competition, rehabilitation, and fitness programs.
Swim lessons will begin on
July 5, and the center will be offering 70 free swim lessons in July and August via a grant from the San Diego Prevent Drowning Foundation, according to YMCA officials.
David Kreamer, the center’s new aquatics director, says what’s unique about the Jackie Robinson Family branch is the demographic it serves and how important the pool is to the community.
“We are largely surrounded by non-swimmers in this community, and it’s also a lower-income community,” Kreamer said. “So, they just haven’t had access to water since 2015.”
Michael Brunker, director emeritus of the Jackie Robinson Family YMCA, said the absence of the pool created a significant void in services for what he says is arguably San Diego’s most critical community.
“There are about 36,000 kids between the ages of 8 and 12 in that service area who
have never had a swim lesson,” Brunker added. “Every child should be taught how to swim.”
However, for many of these families of color and low-income residents, Brunker says visiting a pool is a luxury.
“The families in southeast
San Diego don’t all flock to the beach,” he said. “That small, three-lane pool at the Jackie Robinson YMCA was filled to capacity with people waiting in line to get in ... Now, the size of the pool that we’re building right now is going to let everybody in and be welcome.”
Ahead of the pool’s opening, the YMCA is also hosting free lifeguard and swim instructor training sessions this month for eligible applicants.
Trainings are scheduled this weekend — 4 to 7 p.m. today and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday — and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 11 at the Copley-Price Family YMCA, located at 4300 El Cajon Blvd. Register at ymcasd.org.
Brunker says the program will not only teach valuable life skills but also lifesaving, which he believes can positively impact youth.
“We know about the high (rates) of violence in that area, but we know too that ... when you teach somebody how to be a lifeguard and how to save lives, they’re not going to be thinking about taking a life,” he said.
Moreover, Kreamer says the Junior Lifeguard Program will create a pathway to securing a job. All who pass the training, as well as an interview and swim tryout, will receive a job offer for the new aquatic center, the YMCA branch said.
The aquatic center is what Brunker calls the “icing on the cake” of the $28 million, from-the-ground-up renovation of the Jackie Robinson Family branch that was completed in 2017.
Now, Brunker looks forward to a future where the aquatic center can not only be the home for students at the nearby Lincoln High School but also for younger children in the community to learn to swim, too.
“The sky’s the limit for what we can do in that pool — it’ll be a tremendous resource,” Brunker said. “In a time where we really need to bring people together, it’s going to be amazing how an aquatics facility like this can make it happen.”