City, swim school joining up for lessons, swim team

With summer comes 100-degree temperatures, plenty of sun and the return of the city’s swimming program. The Maricopa Parks and Recreation Division, in conjunction with the Maricopa Rotary Club and Gold Medal Swim School, is again offering swim lessons for residents.

The sessions of eight, 30-minute classes start Wednesday, June 3, and run through July 23. The cost is $78 and parents can choose from morning or afternoon classes on either Wednesdays or Thursdays.

Mike Walker, an owner of Gold Medal Swim School and two-time Olympic coach, said children as young as 3 months old can sign up for the program, which will be held at the newly refurbished Rotary Pool.

“They’ve gotten the place sandblasted, they’ve redone the locker room and they’ve got the disinfectant system up,” Walker said.

Walker said Gold Medal Swim and the city are entering their sixth year of teaming together to offer swim lessons with small class sizes.

“The city subsidizes it and the Rotary Club sponsors it in terms of allowing us access to the pool,” he said. “The neat thing about it is there’re only three or four kids in each class. They’re super small.”

The partnership also includes a kids’ swim team. The team, which is open to any child able to swim 20 yards, will compete in seven meets in the East Valley Swim League this summer.

“They should have some swimming experience but mostly it’s desire and passion to do it,” Walker said. “A lot of kids do both of them, the lessons and the swim team, and that will really help them improve their skills.”

The cost for the team is $70. The season starts June 2 and Gold Medal Swim is holding a parent orientation 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Rotary Pool, located on the Maricopa Casa-Grande Highway east of John Wayne Parkway.

Parents can call Gold Medal Swim School at 480-961-7946 to register their kids for either the lessons or the swim team.

Photo submitted by Gold Medal Swim School