One of the Sterling Golf Swim and Tennis Club's pools is slated to be converted into an indoor facility and used as a training ground for future Olympic swimmers.
The club has agreed in principle to build a permanent structure over one of its two pools and a bath house so the Curl Burke Swim Club can practice there year round. The club provides coaching for competitive athletes, from eight-year-olds to world-class swimmers. Four Olympic Gold Medalists trained with the 26-year-old club, which offers instruction at multiple pools in the greater Washington, D.C. area.
Marilyn Mangels, site director and head age group coach at the Dunn Loring Swim Center, said she is looking forward to using the pool. "We're trying to go into more of a partnership with the Sterling club and have exclusive use for training," she said. "We're in the very beginning stages of this."
John Milotte, swim and tennis chair of the Sterling club's Board of Directors, said turning the pool into an indoor facility and building the bath house would cost $1.2 million to $2.5 million. It would meet two needs. First, leasing the space makes up for money lost in recent years because of declining pool memberships. Second, it would address the shortage of area indoor pool space.
"Ida Lee (Park) and Ashburn all have waiting lists for people who want pool time. I don't see us having a problem leasing the excess time," he said. "If you look around, not only in Loudoun County, but in the Washington, D.C. area, U.S. national swim teams are having trouble finding indoor pool space to train in."
Milotte said a feasibility study showed the economic viability of the project. "Based on the going rate for pool time, we'll be able to more than cover the cost of it," he said. "The goal is to have them in there in the fall of '05."
Milotte said clubs usually pay $14 an hour per lane.
A business plan will be developed in the next month and the membership is scheduled to vote on the project, perhaps as early as the annual meeting in October, he said.
Bob Robinette, general manager, said if anyone can make the indoor pool a reality, it's Milotte. "That would make us a prime property," he said. "There are major swimming organizations who need space and they lease lanes. That would be income for us."
Mangels said the Curl-Burke Swim Center had been using a Reston pool, with a temporary structure over it. A homeowner's association, however, voted to stop using it as an indoor pool. The club then moved to Dunn Loring, the former YWCA.
Milotte said he joined the board in October 2002. The demographics have changed in the Sterling area for more than two decades and many HOAs built their own outdoor pools. "With memberships dropping, I had to come up with something that would make us unique and increase revenue," he said.
Robinette, who became general manager a year ago, said his job was to turn around declining golf revenues. "For the first time in 40 years, the public has been able to use the golf course," he said. "This year has been a tremendous turnaround for the club."
The golf section of the club is semi-private, while the pool remains private. "The most challenging thing we have is getting the word out we're here," Robinette said.
He has removed the club's tagline, "Best Kept Secret in Loudoun County," from promotional materials, and replaced the old, faded sign at the Sterling Boulevard entrance with a larger new one.
"We don't want to be the best kept secret," he said.