A FOOL FOR THE POOL

My family and I joined Gateway Heights Swim Club in the summer of 2004. At the end of that summer, the Board was meeting under one of the pavilions. As a new bondholder and member, I decided to walk over and observe. I had been involved with pools since I was eight years old. With two little ones of my own, I wanted to get involved with my new swim club. Within 10 minutes (or less) of my standing off to the side, not saying a word, one of the Board Members, who shall remain nameless, approached me and informed me that I was not permitted to listen in. I explained that I was in fact a Bondholder, but this person sternly told me that the meeting was for Board Members only. Needless to say, I was angry. They were meeting right there, out in the open, at the pool on a nice August day. I was a Bondholder…an “owner” of this club. And I was interested in getting involved. Yet…they turned me away!?!?
 
Well, I stormed back to my wife and kids, promptly proclaiming, “That’s it! I am NEVER lifting a finger for this place!” And, the rest is history…or maybe water under the bridge…or maybe water that still leaks into the pump room to this day…or maybe...
 
In 2012, I offered to assist the Board of Directors with the club’s website. While not an official Board member, I was invited to attend some Board Meetings and began to really see the direction the pool was headed. I self-nominated for an open Director role and joined the Board in 2013. In 2016, I ran unopposed for the one-year position of President of Gateway Heights Club, Inc. Quite interestingly, I have run unopposed every year since, but we will get back to that a little later. 
 
In one of the first communications to the membership, I made the following statements:

1. Gateway Heights is a membership pool. We exist to serve our members. If we have no members, we have no need for a pool. If we have no pool, we have nothing to provide to our members. Therefore, as long as people want to join Gateway Heights, I will work hard with the other Board members to keep it going and growing. If people do not want to join Gateway Heights, then I will do what we need to do to graciously put the organization to rest.
2. In order to survive, Gateway Heights Club, Inc. must be more than just a hole in the ground, filled with water…a “cement pond”, as many people like to call it. We need to focus on the words club and member. We need our members to feel that they belong to something special. 

Yes, that day back in August 2004 was front-and-center in my brain! A few years ago, my wife and kids bought me a little wooden sign from a craft show that reads, “Fool for the Pool”. I guess they know me. ​