Thursday, May 13, 2010

Sign Up For Adult Master Swim Class & Water Aerobics At Roosevelt Island Sportspark Pool



A reader of this post on Roosevelt Island Health & Fitness Day commented:

On the topic of Health and Fitness, my wife and I are very disappointed by the closing of the Adult master class and the Adult aerobics class at the SouthPark swimming pool. It was great, but RIOC decided to close it, with a very short notice that didn't let us any time to look for more participants. I do believe that RIOC failed to attract more people to these classes, and did not do a great job at advertising for it. We tried to contact them to restart the class, or find some arrangements but didn't have any answers. (I am writing this message individually and do not represent a group of swimmers or the coach. Maybe they had better contacts with RIOC than I did...)

It's a pity that the swimming pool do not attract more resident, although I enjoy having a lot of space to swim. I am jus afraid that they will one day close it, claiming that it's not attractive or sustainable for the community, but it seems to that it's their responsibility to maintain activities and attract people, rather than closing classes...
I asked Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. (RIOC) President Steve Shane if there was a possibility these Sportspark classes might resume in the near future. Mr. Shane replied:
The participation level dropped below the reasonably supportable activity and we are looking at ways to stimulate interest and revive the program. Perhaps this Saturday's open house and free swim will stimulate some participants. We agree that the concept is terrific, but need to find enough participants to justify the expense of the program.
So, if you would like to see these Sportspark swimming classes revived, get some more people to sign up.

4 comments :

Gio said...

I also wrote to Steve Shane (RIOC President) and to Michael Smith (Director of Parks and Recreation) to ask about the surprising action of suspending the swimming and water polo programs. So far, I haven't received a satisfactory answer to my questions, so I don't really understand what is going on: why was the program suspended?
If attendance is a problem, it seems to me that this due to lack of promotion and imagination. The pool and its programs could easily attract people from Manhattan if marketed appropriately. For example, the pool offered the only serious water polo program in the city in the city and I can't believe that there wouldn't be a strong demand from other Manhattan residents.
I invite RIOC to be more open with their plans and to involve parents and swimmers to find new ways to attract more swimmers. The pool is fantastic asset that should be better leveraged.
Giovanni

Anonymous said...

I agree with Gio that more people could have used classes if they were better promoted. I think that the weather also played a part.

If it was warmer, more people would use the pool and the demand would go certainly go up for these classes in summer.

Anonymous said...

I don't think RIOC cares about the people of Roosevelt Island at all. They just do what suits them. I have attended water aerobics classes many times and nothing was ever said about the attendance or lack of. There was always people there for classes. Also, there was no prior notice that class was going to end. It just ended. With the assumption that those of us that took the class knew the routine well enough to do it on our own. Thank RIOC for caring. What more do you want people to do? We were already attending the class.

TG said...

The Sportspark pool and its activities are very poorly represented and advertized on the Internet, which is such an important venue nowadays. I tried to find information when I moved here about swimming on RI and there was nothing. Later on, when I learned that there WAS a pool, I tried again and only found it via a link on RIOC's website, after a long search because I was determined I would locate it. There wasn't much to read and not quite updated, either.
But even after I made that "discovery", I have received most of the information about the pool via hearsay, from friends and residents of the island. This is not the way to spread information, especially on Roosevelt Island where new people arrive all the time who are maybe not willing to start asking around people they just got to know, but would like to find all the info they need clear and concise in one place, online!
So whoever is in charge, if you ever(we keep our fingers crossed!) start a new swim class, aerobics or whatever, make sure that it pops out on the screen every time someone somewhere writes the words "swim" and "Roosevelt Island" togetherin a search!!