Community Corner

Hatboro Y Seeks Practice Site for Swim Team

A month after the Hatboro Area YMCA announced that its outdoor pool would close this winter, efforts are still being made to relocate the Hatboro Hurricanes' swim practices.

The swim season is just a few months away, but where the Hatboro Area YMCA's team, the Hatboro Hurricanes, will practice for summertime meets is still up in the air.

Since last month's announcement that the Y would close its outdoor pool, YMCA officials have been meeting with area pools to see if any can accommodate practices for the roughly 100 swimmers in the YMCA's swim team. 

To date, none of the pools have been able to accommodate the Y's practice schedule, according to YMCA Spokeswoman Omoiye Kinney.

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"We are still pursuing just different venues that we could possibly work with," Kinney told Patch. "We are looking at several other locations in the Hatboro area and the surrounding communities that we may be able to potentially partner with."

Something would be in place in the coming weeks, prior to swim team registration at the end of March, she said. 

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Use of the Hatboro Y's indoor swimming pool is also a possibility, Kinney said, adding that it is "definitely under consideration."

Borough officials and representatives from the Hatboro Memorial Pool had discussed the possibility of the Y holding its team's practice sessions at the West Moreland Avenue pool. 

But, Mary Wheeler, president of the Hatboro Memorial Pool Parents Association, said that because of scheduling conflicts with the pool's home team, the Hatboro Storm, practice times were not available for the Hatboro Hurricanes. 

"We looked at times and availability and we really couldn’t come up with anything that would work," Wheeler said. "There wasn’t enough time in the morning to accommodate both teams."

The season gets underway in mid-June for the Storm's 130 to 140 swimmers, Wheeler said. The team practices from 7 a.m. until 11 a.m. five days a week, she said. Following practice, the pool offers swim lessons until noon when the pool opens to the public, Wheeler said. 

"The Hatboro pool can’t support two teams as far as practice times go, but they can support two teams as far as home meets go," Wheeler said, adding that the Hatboro Hurricanes will continue to hold its home meets at the Hatboro Memorial Pool. "I do hope that they can figure something out and find some place for their team to practice."

And, while the borough had discussed - and ultimately rejected - the possibility of the Hatboro Y managing the Hatboro Memorial Pool, Wheeler said there has "never been any dialogue about merging the teams." 

"They swim in a completely different league than us ... at a completely different level than us," Wheeler said.

Hatboro Y officials also reached out to Hideaway Swim Club in Horsham to see about holding practices there, but Hideaway President, Beth Allen, said the local swim teams, including the club's swim and diving team, all seem to get underway after school starts.

"The issue seems to be timing," Allen said.


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