Sandpipers travel around valley for practice as Desert Breeze pool closes for repairs

It's tough to train for swim meets when your home pool is drained. That's the dilemma faced by the Sandpipers of Nevada, a valleywide youth sports group.

For the last decade, the home pool for Summerlin-area members has been the Desert Breeze Community Center's pool at 8275 Spring Mountain Road. It has been closed since Dec. 9 for maintenance.

"We've had to find other facilities before," said Ron Aitken, head coach and CEO. "The pool opened in 2001 and never closed for the first four years. Now, it's four weeks every winter. But this is the first time it's been two months."

The repair work has crews addressing the deck for the first time. The closure could not have come at a more critical time. The Sandpipers are the reigning state champions, having won the title three times -- first in 2004 and for the past two years. Their home pool is scheduled to reopen Feb. 10. They are set to defend the state title at an out-of-town meet starting Feb. 17.

Aitken learned of the repairs last October and got to work securing alternate facilities. It wasn't just finding a pool where the team could practice, it was finding a pool with three or four open lanes.

"I've become pretty much a pro at it," he said of finding temporary digs. "I've got connections with facilities all around town ... the YMCA is almost like our best friend."

The team looked into using Pavilion Center Pool, 101 S. Pavilion Center Drive, but it was available only from
2:30 to 4:30 p.m. That time slot was fine for the roughly 50 Sandpiper high school students who drove and got out of school in the early afternoon, but for younger children, parents often were unable to leave work to chauffeur them.

The team is using five sites -- the Adelson Educational Campus at 9700 Hillpointe Road; the Red Rock Country Club at 2250 Red Springs Drive; the city of Las Vegas Centennial Hills Community Center at 6601 N. Buffalo Drive; the Bill & Lillie Heinrich YMCA at 4141 Meadows Lane; and the city's Municipal Pool at 431 E. Bonanza Road.

"In the past week, I've gotten five emails from parents who can't get their children to training," Aitken said. "It's too far or work is an issue."

The Sandpipers have approximately 350 members valleywide, ranging from ages 5 to 18. About 220 of them were meeting at Desert Breeze. Established swimmers regularly practice six days a week, Aitken said. Up-and-coming ones practice two or three days a week.

"The others use Red Rock Country Club, Palo Verde High School (Pavilion), Centennial YMCA," Aitken said. "So when we move out of Desert Breeze with 220, we move into other pools that already have some Sandpiper programs already in place and rent more hours, but it makes it really crowded and overwhelming on other facilities to handle that impact of 220 swimmers."

Parents have seen an increased drive time of 20 to 30 minutes to transport their child to the various pools, depending on where they live.

Jim Clinton and his wife, Renee, have three boys on the Sandpipers team -- Alec, 13, Colby, 10, and Riley, 6. Clinton said there was an issue with driving across town and keeping his youngest child up later than he and his wife would like.

"The time slots they give us, it's like, you don't want to keep them up too late when they're young," he said. "You want them (alert) for school."

Practice for his boys at Desert Breeze began in the late afternoon. Now, at the Municipal Pool, it starts at 7 p.m. and ends about 9 p.m.

Brad and Debbie Pendleton have two daughters on the team, Chyanne, 9, and Jadyn, 15. Both plan to compete at the state meet. Chyanne swims at the YMCA facility. Jadyn uses the Pavilion pool. Debbie Pendleton, an at-home mother, shuttles them to their practices.

Brad Pendleton, team president, whose son Cutter, 20, is a coach for the Sandpipers, estimated it puts an extra 35 to 40 miles a day on their vehicle.

"It's back and forth, back and forth," he said. "They swim six days a week ... when you get to that level, that's what you do."

Parents also will have to travel even farther for the state competition. It's scheduled for Feb. 17-20 in Carson City, nearly 440 miles away. Add meals and hotel costs, and the bill adds up.

"It could end up being a $500 weekend for them," Aitken said.

Last year, although 200 swimmers qualified, 140 swimmers went to state. Aitken said it was due to the economic hardship on families. He said 200 qualified to go this year as well. He expects 180 to make it this year.

For more information about the Sandpipers, visit sandpipersofnevada.com.

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.