Swimmers try out mermaid flippers at the Westbrook Community Center. The mermaid swim class is fun and good exercise, the instructor says. The popular class was added in the wake of increased interest in swimming during the pandemic. Contributed / Westbrook Community Center
The popularity of the indoor swimming pool at the Westbrook Community Center soared in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and the continued interest has led to new courses.
More swimming lessons are being offered and scuba, kayaking and snorkeling instruction has been added. Also new are “mermaid swim classes,” in which participants outfitted in mermaid “tails” work their cores while moving “like a dancer or a dolphin through the water,” according to instructor Angel Dapolito.
The mermaid swim course was filled almost immediately upon being offered, community center Director Greg Post said.
Mermaid instructor Angel Dapolito teaches her mermaid swim students. Contributed / Westbrook Community Center
“Swimming is supposed to be fun, Dapolito said, “and the water is a wonderful place to have a good time.”
Dapolito, who works with The Maine Mermaid based in Old Orchard Beach, teaches the swimmers how to spin and flip in the water using their tails.
“I had a woman say after doing her first flip she had never felt so graceful, and that to me is really what it is about,” Dapolito said.
Post said more seniors are taking advantage of the aquatics offerings, and newly hired Aquatics Director John Smith said more young people have returned to the pool since life guard and instructor courses have resumed for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
“We’ve really put work into the variety of programs here, the pool has really become something people enjoy no matter their age or size,” Post said.
At the start of the pandemic, the pool pivoted from its scheduled open to allowing families to rent out the entire pool for blocks of time on weekends. The rentals have brought more people into the pool than the open swims did and they’ll remain, Post said.
On average, there might be more than 40 swimmers during the rental periods on a single weekend, he said, as opposed to 40 swimmers during a week of open, he said.
The increase in pool use also means that its current extended hours – it’s open nearly 16 hours a day – likely will continue into the summer.
“Going into the summer, the biggest thing we are trying to do is give kids a chance to become a lifeguard or instructor. I don’t remember the last time we could run courses for that younger age group,” said Smith, a longtime swim instructor and coach.
Post hopes ultimately to bring new pool programming to a new outdoor pool. The existing outdoor pool in the city has been closed since the summer of 2020, initially because of the pandemic and then because of disrepair.
The city is looking at a number of potential locations for a new outdoor pool, including at the community center.
“With the outdoor pool we would be able to have numerous programs on at once, or even if you are in your kayak class outside, you can take a break from the sun by heading inside,” Post said.
With the popularity of programs like the mermaid swimming course, Post says the possibilities are wide.
“These more fun courses appeal to people that want to keep moving but want to have fun,” he said.
A timeline for an outdoor pool project has not been set.
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