Marpi pool treads uncertain waters

Swim coach Gary de Guzman and swimming enthusiast and Suzy Kindel at the swimming pool in Marpi. (Bea Cabrera)

With the lease of Mariana Resort & Spa ending on April 30, 2018, the future of the only public swimming pool in the CNMI is spurring concerns.

Kan Pacific Saipan, Ltd., which owns Mariana Resort & Spa, has been overseeing the operations and maintenance of the facility as part of their lease agreement with the Department of Lands. All of the CNMI’s swim stars practice there. All swim groups in the CNMI do laps there. Yet the future of that pool is now in uncharted waters when, in 2015, DPL put out a request for proposal for the Mariana Resort property and Best Sunshine Inc. was the lone bidder.

To date, DPL and BSI are still under negotiations about taking over Kan Pacific Ltd.’s lease.

“What happens when the day of the lease ends? If BSI [does] not pick…up the lease, the next day, we can’t just leave the swimming pool facility here,” said Suzy Kindel, a swimming enthusiast and volunteer.

“My whole concern more than the lease negotiations that is going on is the continued existence and operations of the only community swimming pool on island. People from age 5 to 70 utilize and love this facility and if they close it down, the community loses,” she added.

William Retardo, the executive chef of Mariana Resort & Spa and currently its general manager, said that no statement can be given at the moment.

“There is still no word from our lawyers as negotiations about the lease are still up in the air,” he added.

According to Kindel, the pool is old and maintaining it is tough. But even with those challenges, it has hosted many events and people continue to benefit from it, whether they use it for fun, exercise, or to prepare for a competition.

“The pool is being maximized by the community and it could be more. The Saipan Swimming Federation sends three to four kids and a coach to the World’s and other Pacific Games and Micronesian Games to join competitions and represent our island and they get medals. Eddie Johnson is a lifeguard, instructor and trainor and he uses the pool periodically as part of his lifeguard training or renewal of certificates,” she said.

“We have the Saipan Swim Club and the Tsunami Swim club who are training children for competitions. Emma Perez offers free swimming lessons for adults. Local and foreign athletes train here for Xterra and Tagaman and plans of hosting the 2021 [Pacific] Mini Games is also in the pipeline,” she added.

Emma Perez, the head coach for a 500 Sails Program called Dolphin Club Saipan, said that the pool gives the community a venue to learn how to swim and is a needed part for the cultural revival of sailing traditional Chamorro and Carolinian canoes. That’s on top of helping keep the community healthy.

“As 500 Sails continues its work to get people in and on the water, the pool in Marpi plays an important part and can play an even more important part over time. Since the inception of the free classes we teach, we have had almost 100 classes in the pool, with an average of 12 students per class and a total of almost 1,000 individual learning hours,” she said,

“Many of our swimmers are now competent distance swimmers and have begun teaching others as part of our program expansion… 27 percent of our most current registrants are Chamorro or Carolinian.  This percentage continues to grow, helping to increase health outcomes for an at-risk population,” she added.

Sally Yntema, an adjunct instructor at the Northern Marianas College, goes to the pool two or three times week during lunch hour and swims for exercise.

“It’s a great way to spend the afternoon for an hour. It’s nice to have a full 50-meter pool and it’s definitely a nice place to get a work out,” she said.

“This pool is one of the major resource for the community. That will be awful if this pool disappears as it serves the youth and swim teams and our island gets to hold international swim meet so I don’t know what we would do without this pool,” she added.

Kindel fears that if Kan Pacific closes, the pool will also close down. “The lifeguards are employees of Kan Pacific Ltd. and [the company] is paying for the maintenance of the pool. …The ocean is not the perfect alternative because it is weather- and tide-dependent. …If Kan Pacific’s lease gets turned down, somebody should step up and it keep it going.”