CLAREMONT — Hanging on the walls of the community center between large windows that look out at the center’s eight-lane pool are a number of photos of past Claremont recreation department swim teams from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.
What stands out in the photos is the numbers. There are at least 50 young swimmers in most photos and some have 70, gathered outside the old indoor pool off Broad Street with legendary coach Queenie Quimby.
Coaches and officials with the White River Junction-based Upper Valley Aquatic Center believe the city can again have swim teams with that level of participation and are proposing a plan to achieve that goal.
The proposal includes bringing the nonprofit’s swim program to Claremont with swim lessons and a swim team coached by professionals, UVAC officials said in a presentation to the City Council last week. UVAC would rent lap lanes, which would provide income to the center, while UVAC would realize income from swim lessons, swim team dues and meet fees.
“The thing I enjoy about our program is that it is not only for competitive swimming, but for recreational swimming for kids to have fun,” Joe Major, executive director of UVAC, said.
UVAC expects to start small, but is confident the program can grow, Major said.
“How we envision this is a crawl, walk, run program,” he said, crediting UVAC head swim coach Ian Quinn for recognizing the community center’s aquatics program could be enhanced and bring in revenue.
Quinn emphasized that swimming is both a sport and a life-saving skill.
“That is one of the best ways to market it,” said Quinn, who came to UVAC 10 months ago after six years as the assistant swim coach at the University of North Carolina-Asheville. “Parents are very conscientious about wanting to have their children learn how to swim and be safe in the water.”
The initial program would be a three-week trial period with morning and afternoon lessons for age groups starting at 6 months, with enrollment of about 80, Samantha Goveia, assistant director of the UVAC swim program, said in her slide presentation.
“This is a learning period; learn the community and what does Claremont need?” Goveia said.
UVAC would adjust its programming to meet the needs of different age groups.
The learning period would be followed by five-week summer and fall sessions, with an estimated enrollment of more than 100 swimmers, Goveia said.
The slide presentation showed hours in the small (teaching pool) and the times for the lanes used by the swim team in the lap pool.
Lap lanes would always be available to members during swim team sessions, UVAC official noted.
UVAC also seeks to hire instructors from the Claremont area, whether they are experienced or interested in learning to teach swimming.
“So we would be looking for Claremont community members to be driving this forward,” Goveia said.
The swim team would be an expansion of what UVAC already has built across its two sites in White River Junction and at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, Quinn told the council via Zoom.
The projections for participation are “variable” and will depend on how many people join the team and how quickly they go through the lesson program, he said.
“From a conservative estimate, I think it is fair to say that after having a summer program and a summer swim team out of Claremont, we could be looking at a team of about 35 swimmers for the fall, winter season (September to April),” Quinn said.
The center’s pool has been underutilized since it opened 12 years ago. Participation in the recreation department’s swim team had dwindled to about 12 members and was not actively promoted by the center. For the past few years, there has been no recreation department team. The Stevens High School team had four members last year and has three this year.
“What we are looking at is starting a team almost from scratch,” Quinn said. “I know there was a team in Claremont and there is a proud tradition of having competitive swim teams from Claremont. But I think it is good to temper our expectations.”
Initially, UVAC would need to rent four lanes in the afternoon after school, into the early evening, and Saturday mornings. That space need could increase if participation goes to 50 or more, Quinn said. Income for the center based on four lanes is estimated at about $10,000.
The swim team cost per swimmer for one year would range from $1,000 to $1,500, but Quinn said there are scholarships available to cover up to 50% of the fee and many UVAC swimmers are on scholarships.
Quinn and Major also said the center’s pool with its state-of-the art timing scoreboard and starting blocks make it an ideal location to host swim meets that could bring hundreds of swimmers and their coaches and families to Claremont.
Quinn also noted that the center’s competition diving board could help produce a competitive diving team from nearby Stevens High School.
Major said UVAC hosts 10 to 15 meets a year with families traveling from around New England to the Upper Valley. He estimated those meets generate about $1 million in revenue to the area with spending at hotels, restaurants and other places.
“We want to bring that, eventually, not now, to Claremont with this collaboration,” Major said.
The council took no action on the proposal, but said Recreation Director Justin Martin would return at some point as the proposal takes shape and details are finalized.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com