In 2018 the East Boston YMCA breathed new life into the Mario Umana Academy pool after years of budget restraints and lack of staffing left the pool idle. That year, the Eastie Y partnered with the Umana, Boston Public Schools (BPS) and BCYF to bring its swimming programs and lessons that are part of the Y’s ‘Strong Swimmers. Safe Kids’ initiative. The Eastie Y zeroed in on the unused Umana pool, which had been closed for five years, and restored the pool and locker rooms back to its original glory.
Over the next two years the Eastie Y ran successful aquatics programs at the Umana until 2020 when the COVID pandemic hit.
Out of an abundance of caution the Eastie Y’s administrators decided to close the pool during the pandemic until it was safe to reopen.
This week Eastie Y Executive Director Joe Gaeta announced the pool will finally reopen at the end of this month after a two year hiatus.
“It’s been a long two years but we will finally reopen the Umana pool in East Boston,” said Gaeta. “On May 31 the East Boston Y will reopen their Umana Academy Aquatics site for their first Mini Session swim lesson offering since March 2020.”
Gaeta said the four year partnership between the Eastie Y, the Umana, BCYF and BPS allows the Y to operate the pool site that had laid dormant for a number of years.
Gaeta said as part of the reopening the Eastie Y will welcome back Patrick Kearns as the Y’s Aquatics Director. Kearns served as a swim instructor at the Umana prior to the pandemic.
“Patrick is from Eastie and is ready to get our community ready to be water safe for the summer,” said Gaeta.
Prior to the partnership the Eastie Y was the only site in the Greater Boston YMCA system without a pool. Gaeta said Eastie is one of only a few communities in Boston that is surrounded by water so it is very important to teach neighborhood kids how to swim.
“Access to water is a social justice and equity issue,” said Gaeta. “Most East Boston adults don’t know how to swim, that’s why their children don’t swim, we aim to curb that by offering not only lessons for youth but for teens and adults.”
Gaeta said this Mini Session will lead to a regular season of lessons as the Y builds back staffing capacity at the pool. They will also increase their inclusivity by offering some classes in all Spanish.
The pool site will operate on weekday evenings and weekends for lessons and soon lap swim for members.
“We want to thank our partners at BPS and BCYF for working with us to make sure that we could get this site open and ready as soon as we were safely able to,” said Gaeta.
The Y will also resume lessons for students at the Umana during the school day as part of the partnership.
Registration is open now for the Mini Session but Gaeta says summer lesson registration will be available soon.
You can check out the Y’s Aquatic offerings here: https://ymcaboston.org/healthy-living/healthy-living-swimming/swimming-lessons/.
Gaeta said scholarships are also available to those who need assistance.
“The Y wants to ensure everyone has the ability to learn to swim, especially with May being National Water Safety Month,” said Gaeta. “Cost should not be a barrier, our goal is to teach every kid in Eastie how to swim.”