City able to grant more lane time to young swimmers after school
The newly formed Malibu Marlins swim club was finally granted more swim time at the community pool at Malibu High School. It’s been a difficult year for the swimming community in Malibu after a rift occurred last June when the Malibu Aquatics Foundation (MAF) that operates Malibu’s then sole swimming program abruptly fired head coach Erik Ran. Ran was so beloved that many families in the program broke away from MAF’s Seawolves and formed the Malibu Marlins.
However, even though the newly formed Marlins signed up 50 swimmers, they were unable to secure a contract with the city to provide swim lanes to participants. The contract was awarded to longtime vendor MAF and the Marlins were left with the only option of renting the pool from the school district at the inconvenient time of 6:30 a.m., a burden for most young swimmers and their parents.
For the past nine months the Marlins have been lobbying the city to share the pool with the Seawolves but were told that there was no time or lanes available. At the Feb. 26 City Council meeting more than two dozen frustrated parents, adult advocates, and young swimmers implored city leaders during public comments pleading to find a way to accommodate the Marlins young swimmers.
Even MHS teacher Jennifer Gonzales appealed to the council to grant afternoon time to Marlins swimmers, citing that many of her student swimmers were sleepy during her morning classes. The 30-year MHS teacher said the Marlin student swimmers in her first and second-period classes “have a hard time staying awake.”
“Why? Because they’re being forced to swim at 6:30 instead of giving them some lanes in the afternoon, sharing those lanes,” Gonzales said. “We are a community. We know our resources are valuable. We don’t have a lot of space. It’s always been a problem. I’ve been a resident for 40 years. We fight for soccer fields, but we can share those lanes. It’s a very simple solution. We changed our start time at Malibu High School and Middle School to align with state law because we know teenagers need their sleep and yet there are empty lanes in the afternoon and we’re asking our kids to get up early, meaning many of them are getting up at 5:30/5:45 to get to the pool. If we value our community, value our kids, we can make this happen.”
Councilmember Bruce Silverstein questioned the details of the contract, quizzing city staff at the Feb. 26 meeting. Staff answered the contract with the Seawolves was month-to-month and not exclusive to only one swimming vendor.
Just last week, Assistant City Manager Joseph Toney confirmed, “The Malibu Marlins Swim Team secured swim lanes through the city for their program, beginning Monday, March 11. The Independent Contract Review Ad Hoc Committee of the Parks and Recreation Commission will continue to meet with the board members of both the Malibu Seawolves and Malibu Marlins, and will provide an update at the Parks and Recreation Commission regular meeting on Tuesday, March 19.”
In just days after the Marlins secured additional pool time, 40 eager swimmers signed up for their newly appointed after-school hours with coach Ran. The Seawolves still hold a contract to provide swimming programs to Malibu and continue to use lanes as well, but no longer have a head coach after their former coach, Alex Reisfield, was laid off. Currently, the Seawolves are using collegians or recent college graduates as coaches.
Marlins Treasurer Robert Brinkmann, who was a vocal advocate for the newly formed swim club, said, “The community has made its preference clear and has spoken loudly.”
Program information for the Marlins and Seawolves is available at www.malibucity.org/aquatics.