Great Mills Swim Team Seeks A Way Forward As YMCA Pool Policy Raises Concerns

LEONARDTOWN, Md. — One after another, parents, swimmers and coaches stepped to the microphone July 28 with the same plea for the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County: ‘Do not let the opening of a new YMCA leave a longtime youth swim program without a home.’

But not everyone in the room agreed on how the new indoor pool should be used.

While Great Mills Aquatic Club (GMAC) families urged the YMCA to provide practice space for approximately 120 swimmers, YMCA founding member Linda Thomas argued that reserving lanes for a private swim club during peak hours could restrict access for families, seniors and other paying members.

Her comments drew audible objections and interruptions from members of the audience, revealing the growing tension over who should have priority at an aquatic facility built in part through public investment.

The dispute centers on whether GMAC will be permitted to rent lanes in the new St. Mary’s County Family YMCA and what will happen when the seasonal enclosure, commonly called the bubble, is removed from the existing Great Mills pool.

GMAC families said they had expected the club to transition into the new YMCA facility. Instead, they said they recently learned of a YMCA policy that does not allow independent swim teams or other private organizations to rent pool lanes.

Without access to the YMCA pool or another indoor facility with sufficient capacity, families said the club’s approximately 120 swimmers could lose their year-round practice site.

“This should never be about choosing one organization over another,” parent Julia Russell told commissioners. “There is room, and there is a need for both.”

A Program Built Over More Than 20 Years

GMAC offers competitive and developmental swimming for children of varying ages and abilities. Speakers said the club has taught young people to swim for 23 years, with some participants advancing to regional and state competitions and Division I college programs.

For families, however, the club represents more than competition.

Russell described how her daughter entered GMAC three years ago as a hesitant and sometimes fearful swimmer. Because the family lives near the water, learning to swim was also a matter of safety.

Today, Russell said, her daughter enters the pool deck with confidence and has learned perseverance, discipline and teamwork.

“GMAC isn’t just a swim team. It’s a community,” Russell said. “It’s a place where children learn to be safe in the water, believe in themselves, support one another and grow into stronger, more confident people.”

Parents also argued that youth swim programs help develop the lifeguards, instructors and coaches needed to support aquatic recreation throughout the county.

Ruth Tonkro, whose children have participated in GMAC, said many of the instructors the YMCA will rely upon may have gained their experience through local swim teams.

“Swim teams in general, they really do help our community as a whole,” Tonkro said.

Families Say They Expected A Partnership

GMAC board member Kristyn Grube said club representatives met with YMCA Director of Development Tony Sigmund at the Great Mills pool in November 2024.

According to Grube, GMAC leaders explained the team’s existing lane and practice-time requirements. She said club representatives were told the new facility could accommodate their programming and that Sigmund later attended a GMAC board meeting in January.

“What we were not made aware of was that the Y does not allow swim teams, private businesses, to rent lanes of their pool,” Grube said.

Grube said the YMCA had previously indicated it did not intend to establish its own competitive swim team at the new facility. That left GMAC families with a central question: If the YMCA will not operate a team and independent clubs cannot rent lanes, where will approximately 120 GMAC swimmers practice?

The answer is complicated by the county’s changing aquatic landscape. The new YMCA has a six-lane indoor pool, while the existing Great Mills pool also has six lanes, along with a separate recreational area. St. Mary’s County Recreation & Parks operated the Great Mills pool for 23 years before ending its management of the facility April 30 and transferring operations to the YMCA.

The Great Mills pool is expected to remain available seasonally, but the removal of its protective bubble means it can no longer operate as a year-round indoor facility. GMAC families said the change leaves the county with less indoor swimming capacity at the same time the club is searching for a new practice site.

Grube’s account of GMAC’s discussions with YMCA representatives was presented during the public forum. The YMCA did not speak at the meeting or provide its account of those conversations. However, YMCA founding member Linda Thomas later defended the organization’s policy and argued that reserving lanes for structured club practices could reduce access for general members.

GMAC Families Offer Potential Solutions

Despite the disagreement, GMAC representatives told commissioners there are several ways the county, YMCA and local aquatic organizations could work together to preserve the team.

GMAC board member Mackenzie Cabina asked the county to explore several potential solutions, including an agreement with the YMCA, continued use of the Great Mills pool bubble or expanded access at the College of Southern Maryland’s Wellness and Aquatics Center in Leonardtown.

“The Y will bring many valuable opportunities to our community, and we appreciate that investment,” Cabina said. “At the same time, we ask the county to recognize the unintended gap that now exists for swimming and help ensure that this is not left behind.”

The county-operated Wellness and Aquatics Center includes a 25-yard competition pool, but GMAC representatives said existing indoor facilities at CSM and St. Mary’s College of Maryland do not have enough available capacity to absorb all affected programs.

YMCA Founding Member Defends The Policy

Linda Thomas, a Lexington Park resident and founding member of the St. Mary’s County Family YMCA, offered a different perspective.

Thomas said she was among the advocates who fought to bring the YMCA to the community because of its promise to become an inclusive, indoor health and wellness facility for residents.

She opposed allowing GMAC — or another structured club — to reserve dedicated practice blocks in the new indoor pool, particularly during peak hours.

“Our community just underwent a massive transition,” Thomas said. “St. Mary’s County Recreation & Parks ended 23-year operations at Great Mills Swimming Pool, and the historic year-round bubble was removed, converting Great Mills into a seasonal, outdoor-only pool.”

Thomas said residents had been told the new YMCA pool would replace the year-round indoor swimming access previously available at Great Mills. She argued that reserving large blocks of lanes for GMAC practices, particularly during peak hours, would reduce the time and space available for individual members, swim lessons, fitness classes and recreational use.

“Restricting lanes for a specialized club during these peak hours directly violates the inclusive environment that founding members like myself promised to taxpayers who backed this project.” Thomas said.

According to Thomas, the new facility was already drawing strong interest from residents seeking swim lessons, aquatic fitness classes and open recreational swimming. She warned that recurring team practices could make the six-lane pool difficult for other members to use during those periods.

“Local families invested in brand-new memberships, expecting a return on their value,” Thomas said. “If the lane availability is consistently compromised by club blockouts, it will trigger membership attrition, actively damaging the long-term financial sustainability of this newly built asset.”

Thomas also defended the YMCA’s affordability and began discussing financial assistance available to qualifying families. Her remarks drew audible objections and interruptions from some audience members as she reached the end of her allotted three minutes, preventing her from completing that portion of her statement.

Thomas identified herself as a founding YMCA member and longtime advocate for the facility, not as a YMCA employee or official spokesperson. The YMCA of the Chesapeake did not provide a formal response during the forum.

Concerns Extend Beyond The Swim Team

Several residents said the transition has also changed how the broader public can use the Great Mills pool.

Under the county’s former operation, residents could purchase daily admission or different types of passes. Speakers said YMCA access is now primarily tied to membership, limiting opportunities for people who want to swim only occasionally or cannot afford a recurring fee.

Erica Hill asked county and YMCA leaders to explore affordable day passes, provide clearer information about financial assistance and establish a more transparent process for community organizations seeking facility time.

“My concern is not about the YMCA itself,” Hill said. “My concern is making sure that a facility that was built with significant public investment truly serves the entire community that helped make it possible.”

Rebecca Ali told commissioners she believed YMCA membership costs could prevent some families from using the new facility. She also said recreational use of the existing pool appeared to decline during the summer.

Ellen Burrill, who said she has been a Great Mills lap swimmer for more than 20 years, told commissioners she now pays approximately two-and-a-half times more to swim for six months.

“I have friends that cannot come anymore because they can’t afford to do a monthly expense,” Burrill said.

At the same time, Burrill pushed back against suggestions that lap swimmers rarely used the facility. She said regular lap swimmers planned their visits around the swim team’s practices and believed GMAC should remain at Great Mills.

Families Consider Leaving The County To Swim

For some parents, the lack of a local solution could mean crossing the Gov. Thomas Johnson Memorial Bridge several days each week.

Mark Dale, a father of four young swimmers, said his family was exploring the Calvert Aquatics Club in Prince Frederick. GMAC families traditionally spent five or six days each week at the pool, he said, and moving that activity across the bridge would also shift their spending to Calvert County.

Dale said GMAC would need only a fraction of the YMCA’s weekly operating hours and could complement the organization’s larger health and fitness mission.

Dale said GMAC’s work with young swimmers aligns with the YMCA’s mission of strengthening the spirit, mind and body. Rather than competing with the organization’s purpose, he argued, the longtime swim team could help advance it.

Dale also questioned whether accommodating GMAC would significantly limit other members’ access. He estimated that the team would need the pool for about three hours during a roughly 16-hour operating day.

County commissioner candidate Ryan Daniels also called on the commissioners to become actively involved in the dispute.

“As a swimmer myself, while also being a proponent of what the Y can offer, I get why this issue has become so emotional and garners so much attention lately,” Daniels said.

A Young Coach Describes GMAC’s Lasting Impact

After the list of registered speakers was exhausted, a young woman identified only as Emily came forward to address the commissioners.

Emily said she has been a GMAC swimmer for approximately six years and began coaching for the club two years ago. She also coaches the Great Mills Tritons summer swim team, which shares many swimmers and families with GMAC.

Her remarks shifted the discussion away from lane allocations and policies and toward the relationships built inside the pool.

“My coach has had a huge impact on me and other members of our community,” Emily said.

Now serving as a coach herself, Emily said she has witnessed younger swimmers experience that same sense of support.

“I’ve had countless swimmers and parents come up to me as a coach and say how much of an impact our coaching and our club, our team, has had on them and their family and themselves as a person,” she said.

Her experience also reflected an argument repeated by several GMAC families: Youth swim programs do not only produce competitive athletes. They help develop the next generation of coaches, lifeguards and swim instructors who serve the larger community.

“I definitely think that our team is greatly integrated into the community,” Emily said.

Commissioners Encourage Continued Discussions

For the families who addressed commissioners, the goal is not to stop the YMCA from succeeding. It is to ensure that the community gains a new recreational facility without losing a program generations of local swimmers helped build.

For Thomas and other YMCA members, the concern is that giving one club recurring access to multiple lanes could reduce the availability promised to the facility’s broader membership.

Between those positions are approximately 120 young swimmers waiting to learn whether they will still have a place to practice.

Commissioner President Randy Guy encouraged both sides to continue working toward a solution.

“The YMCA, I think they will work with you,” Guy said. “So give them a little time, and I think the swim team is a great thing, and I think you’ll find out that the YMCA would be great to work with you somehow to make it all work.”

Watch the full public forum below:

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