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Pool reopens, SSC returns to training
Saipan Swim Club resumed its training session yesterday as the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool finally reopened last week or more than three months after its closure due to Typhoon Soudelor.
Jini Thompson competes in the 50m butterfly race during the SSC International Invitational Meet held in March this year at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool. Thompson and her fellow SSC members are back in action after the pool reopened last week. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
“SSC is happy to announce that swim lessons will begin on Tuesday, Nov. 17. Lessons will be on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Groups and times will remain the same. For the time being, parents please bring your child to the same group they were in before the typhoon,” SSC coach Jacoby Winkfield wrote in a message posted at the Saipan Swim Club FB page.
The club’s lessons/training sessions are divided into three groups with the Dolphin (intermediate) set from 3:45pm to 4:30pm. Schedules for the Shark (advanced) and Guppies (beginner) divisions are from 4:40 to 5:15pm and 5:15pm to 6pm, respectively.
Meanwhile, Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation’s board of directors met early this month and is now working on a new calendar of events for the 2015-2016 season. NMISF’s Carol-Lynn Calobong-Pierce told Saipan Tribune that the group will have its first sanctioned meet for the season next month.
She added that besides the SSC’s young swimmers and its masters members, Tsunami Saipan will also resume its training session after the reopening of the Marpi pool last week.
The reopening of the pool came early, as the groups using the facility was told it will be available by the end of November. However, the Kan Pacific management and staff were able to fix the broken pump, clean the pool, and fill it with water early this month, allowing the island’s swimmers to plunge into the water again.
The 50-meter pool sustained significant damage from Typhoon Soudelor that ravaged Saipan last Aug. 2, forcing both SSC and Tsunami Saipan to shelve their practice schedule at the Marpi facility and look for other ways to train, like swimming in open water or at some hotels’ pools.
