Success Stories

Elliott Hofferth

Elliott Hofferth was just 14 months old when he first plunged into Fidalgo Pool for the ”Mommy and Me” program. Elliott went on to swim for the Thunderbird Aquatic Club here and Anacortes High School, and now he competes in swimming and triathlon for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

“Because of the discipline I learned by swimming over twenty hours per week, I collected five state titles by my senior year and I am now attending one of the top engineering colleges in the nation,” he says.

Elliott swam almost every day at Fidalgo Pool for over fifteen years. He developed a strong working relationship with TAC’s former head coach Jason Hunter, and now considers him family. He knows what’s wrong with Fidalgo Pool, but he also knows how it and the staff have shaped his life.

“The pool provided me with an athletic outlet and a quality friend base who have helped develop me into the person I am today,” Elliot says.

Laurie Bergvall

Watch a swim meet and you’ll see why Fidalgo Pool is so important to young people and our community, says Laurie Bergvall. The enthusiasm, camaraderie, excitement, and positive energy exhibited by the kids is infectious.

As a swim parent who volunteers at meets, Laurie has seen it all first-hand. The kids get out of the pool with the biggest smile on their faces you can imagine, she says, beaming from the sense of accomplishment of conquering a challenge, persevering through something difficult, and having the entire pool celebrating in their wonderful achievement.

“The life lessons learned through swimming are truly priceless,” Laurie says.

Mae Louise Dopps

Mae Louise Dopps, now entering her 90s, has been coming to the pool on an almost daily basis since it opened its doors in 1975. Mae Louise water walks and exercises with foam dumbbells in the pool, and now that the new fitness center is open she likes to add some stretching and light exercise to her routine to help keep healthy.

“The pool is my lifeline,” says Mae Louise. “As you age, you start to decay,” she explains with a laugh.  “Coming to the pool every day keeps you healthy.”

How important is the pool to Mae Louise? When the pool levy failed in 1994, she pitched in to help, assisting in the after-hours cleaning of the locker rooms and pool area to ensure the facility could remain open.

Matt Castle

A heart transplant hasn’t kept Matt Castle from making a splash in competitive swimming — all the way to the World International Transplant Games.

Matt began swimming with the Masters team at Fidalgo Pool after receiving a heart transplant in 2010. He was determined to regain his health and show people that heart transplant recipients don’t have to lead a restrictive or sedentary lifestyle. Now he trains at least three days a week at the pool.

“The Masters swimmers are a great group,” he says. “We get terrific coaching, but we also have a lot of fun. Everyone is really supportive.”

John Chambers

Almost 50 years ago, The Anacortes Rotary Club’s quick thinking and decisive action ensured the pool could be built at its current site. While efforts to form the Fidalgo Recreation District were underway in 1971, the land on which the pool now sits went up for sale. Rotarians, led by Dick Waldron, didn’t want the property to go to someone else. They bought the land, knowing it was an ideal site for the pool, and held it until the pool district was formed and could buy it from them.

“Rotary believed in the pool then and we still do,” says John Chambers, who was club president at the time. “The pool has always been about community.”

Rob Hoxie

After three back surgeries, Rob Hoxie knew he needed physical therapy. A tip from a friend led him to water therapy, something he didn’t even know existed. He called Island Hospital and after six months of therapy was actually swimming laps at Fidalgo Pool. That was over eight years ago. Now he swims three to four days a week.

“Thanks to having a public pool to strengthen my back, my quality of life is better than ever,” Rob says.

Marci Fankhauser

As an educator, Marci Fankhauser understands and appreciates the quality of instruction her two sons receive during swim lessons at Fidalgo Pool. “The coaches are great mentors with patience and expertise,” she says. “I like how kiddos are not promoted to the next level without meeting set criteria.”

One of her sons has some learning challenges, and the instructors treat him amazingly well — beyond expectations, Marci says. “In fact, one instructor gave up her break between sessions to help him and other little ones.”

Kevin Schwartz

Swim lessons for Anacortes third-graders are offered through a key partnership between the Anacortes School District and Fidalgo Pool & Fitness Center. Kevin Schwartz, principal at Mount Erie, has seen the difference they make.

He remembers a mom telling him about her son’s turnaround. He was uncomfortable in the water and clung to her on an early visit to the pool. The lessons changed that. She watched him with his class recently and could not believe how well he was doing and how much fun he was having.

“I have seen many of our students find success through the swim lessons,” Kevin says. “They are excited to go and really enjoy the instructors and the opportunity to learn to swim.”

Elton Erickson

Three years ago, Elton Erickson broke his left ankle and right femur in a work accident. A long road was ahead: three to four months of required aqua therapy and another three to four months of weight-bearing therapy and cardio.

He had to be in a wheelchair at first, but found it convenient to wheel himself straight to the pool from the parking lot. Then, after graduating to crutches, he started lifting weights and using the cardio machines at the fitness center.

“The convenience of getting myself from the parking lot to the fitness center gave me independence and the hope of getting back on my feet,” Elton said. “I’m very thankful for my town to have this place for me to go.”

Brenda Newton

Brenda Newton started some gentle yoga classes at Fidalgo Pool & Fitness Center about four years ago, needing some release from the strain of being a caregiver to her mom and sister, who were living with her. The classes helped her shed tension and stress and become stronger, healthier and happier.

Now she helping others as a yoga teacher at the center with 50 regular students.

“We have grown and learned and worked together to create an amazing class, friendship and an environment in which everyone feels at ease with wherever they are in their yoga practice,” Brenda says. “I have been approached many times to go to a private studio to teach, and I just say you can never match the kindness and compassion of the teachers and staff at the Fidalgo Pool & Fitness Center.”

Island View Students

“I didn’t know how to swim, and now I’m comfortable in the deep end. I always wanted to go in the deep end!”

Island View Elementary School Principal Brian Hanrahan hears comments like this from excited kids all the time after Island View third grade and Life Skills students finish their six-week water safety course at Fidalgo Pool.

Here’s another: ”We spent about 30 minutes on our water moves, and the teacher kept making the moves harder and harder. Hard is fun for me.”

“We appreciate our partnership with the pool!” Brian says.

Carla Bigelow

Dave Brunson

A Thunderbird Aquatic Club meet in January brought 400 swimmers and their families to Anacortes for a weekend of fun and competition. These people poured thousands of dollars into grocery stores, restaurants and hotels during the slowest retail time of year, says Dave Brunson, who has been involved in Age Group and High School swimming here in Skagit County for nearly three decades.

“Every aquatics project has a cost,” Dave says, “but few sports facilities can put this kind of influx into retail businesses many weeks out of the year and serve the community 52 weeks out of the year.”

In fact, Fidalgo Pool serves, and brings in money from, the whole county, Dave notes, since it is the home pool for Sedro-Woolley and Burlington Edison high school swimming. That creates a lot of synergy. Many of those high school swimmers are attracted to the Thunderbird age group program, and their families often come to Anacortes with them and pay fees to use the pool’s facilities.

“Fidalgo Pool’s economic impact is overlooked by most people,” Dave says. “It’s huge, and more than the meets and the swim teams — everything from jobs and direct spending to making Anacortes a more attraction destination for visitors and prospective residents.”

Dave is pleased the Fidalgo Pool & Fitness Center’s board has shown the vision to build a bigger and better facility that will serve more people and meet more needs. As for the naysayers — “it’s too expensive”, “what’s wrong with what we have”, “they should have built it right the first time” — Dave says those comments and concerns come with every aquatics project.

“When the new pool opens, people will be amazed – and asking instead why wasn’t it built sooner!”

Pinky Walker

Pinky Walker has been part of the Fidalgo Pool family for 40 years — training and competing, but also teaching and coaching. She has coached the 6- to 12-year-olds on the Thunderbird swim team for 20 years, and for the last 15 years she has proudly coached the Fidalgo Flippers, the pool’s Special Olympics swim team.

“I see the joy the parents get from watching their kids improve and learn something new,” she says.

Some of the team’s 30 or so members are scared to death of the water at first. Pinky and her team of volunteers just dive right in and help them all whatever their level.

“I make them work,” Pinky says. “They can’t just get in and play. My goal is to get them to swim. It takes time, but that is my goal.”

A highlight each spring is a the Special Olympics Swim Meet that Pinky puts on at the pool with a big assist from volunteers and Anacortes High School swim team members. It’s complete with announcers, timers and ribbons. Teams from nearby cities come to compete.
The meet is more inclusive than the larger Special Olympics meets. Everyone gets to race no matter their skills or times, which is the point, Pinky says.

“The swim meet makes them push themselves. They look like different people. They really turn it on!”

Kristine Murray

Kristine Murray and her family have given the Fidalgo Pool & Fitness Center a real workout. They have used the pool for swim lessons, recreational swimming and kayak rescue training, and for required swim tests for sailing, camping and scouting programs.

Kristine has a first-hand appreciation for the fitness classes as well, both for the variety of offerings and the dedicated instructors providing quality experiences for students. The equipment in the weight room is state of the art and is beneficial for physical therapy recovery as well as general fitness, she says.

Add it all up and we have a tremendous asset, she says. “Fidalgo Pool & Fitness Center is as essential to our community as our schools because of all that is offered for individual well-being.”