A group of islanders interested in the benefits of swimming and other water sports has set its sights on extending the Vashon Pool’s season and expanding its programming to benefit islanders of all ages.

The five-member Friends of the Vashon Pool formed in August, hoping to keep the pool open  through the summer-like days of September, group members say. When that proved not workable this year, they began looking ahead to next year and beyond. In recent weeks, they have been reaching out to a variety of stakeholders, including officials at the Vashon Park District, which manages the pool, and to several community members and groups, ranging from the island’s schools and sports teams to Vashon Community Care and the Vashon Senior Center.

Group members say they are trying to determine how these groups and others might like to use the pool and how it could remain open longer and serve a wider swath of the community without additional financial support from the Vashon Park District.

“Our primary mission is to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible,” said Mark Nassutti, a group member.

The Friends of the Vashon  Pool, whose members did not all know one another before they created the group, includes people with a variety of backgrounds but a shared passion for swimming.

Shirit Yarkony, DMD, is trained as a dentist and is a longtime entrepreneur in the health care field. Mark Nassutti is a writer and a former marketing executive. Ann White came to the group with a background in education and accounting. Bob McMahon is retired but was in management in the ship building industry for many years, and his wife Barb, whom he calls an athlete in about five different ways, does consulting work in organizational development.

On Tuesday evening, after The Beachcomber’s press time, the group held a community meeting, where they said their primary mission was to listen. Additionally, they will give a brief introduction to their group at Sunday’s talk by well known open-water swimmer and author Lynne Cox, who will be on Vashon at a fundraiser for the Vashon Seals swim team. After the meeting this week, the friends will meet again with park district staff, share their information and determine next steps.

So far, the friends group says, they have been met with enthusiasm by all the people they have approached, as well as those who have heard of their efforts by word of mouth.

“Everywhere I go, people are talking to me about it,” White said.

Elaine Ott, the executive director of the Vashon Park District, said she appreciates the group’s broad and inclusive approach — and their intent.

“I love this notion of friends of parks and users (of facilities) coming together and formulating plans and sharing their desires,” she said.

Ott noted that the timing of the group is good, as she plans to begin updating the park district’s master plan in December and will be reaching out to all the district’s user groups to see what they would like to see in the plan.

“It should be what the community wants, not what I want,” she said.

Ott added that she has encouraged the friends group to come up with a business plan and think about revenue as they work to expand hours and use.

Scott Bonney, the manager of the pool, said he, too, welcomes the group’s effort and the support they may bring. Stressing they are still putting the numbers together to determine whether an extended season might be financially feasible, Bonney said the group’s help with programming, raising awareness about the pool and making it accessible to more people could be a considerable benefit.

He added that there are ongoing maintenance issues at the pool, which is an aging facility built in the 1970s, and capital improvements, common at pools, are being considered, such as a winter cover that would keep debris out, and a thermal cover, which would make heating the pool more energy efficient and less expensive.

Bob McMahon, long involved with swimming, joined the effort with his wife, he said, because they would like to see the Vashon’s pool better utilized.

Indeed, with its Memorial Day to Labor Day schedule, the pool is closed most of the year, and keeping it open even one more month would enable some access for the schools, members say.

Vashon High School vice principal and athletic director Stephanie Spencer said she recently met with McMahon and will be paying attention to what might come from the group’s efforts.

The school district does not have resources to invest in the pool, she noted, but she believes that if the pool were to extend its season, the school district would likely be interested in conducting programs there, both for physical education classes and as cross-training for athletes. If the pool were open all year, she added, the school would likely consider adding a competitive swim program.

An extended season and programming could also be tailored to fit the needs of island seniors, a segment of Vashon’s community that is currently underserved at the Vashon Pool, group members say. The island has an aging population, they note, and swimming and water exercise is often good for seniors and the health challenges they commonly face.

White, a member of the friends group who swims in the island’s pools and Puget Sound, said she is passionate about making swimming accessible to all people on the island, in part because swimming is a vital, potentially life-saving skill, and a public pool, without membership fees, can provide access to a wider group of people than private pools.

While the group’s focus right now is on learning, outreach and next summer, Nassutti said members are thinking ahead five years and would like to explore covering the pool. Pool covers do not have to be exorbitantly expensive, he noted, and can be permanent structures or seasonal domes that community members can take up and down themselves. McMahon said he knows of such a cover at a Mercer Island pool, and its members erect the cover easily in the spring and take it down in the fall. A removable dome also allows for outdoor swimming in the summer, which many people say they prefer to swimming indoors.

In many communities, Nassutti noted, having a year-round pool is a given, and he would like for that to be true on Vashon as well.

“This is not some hair-brained scheme,” he said. “There are hundreds, maybe thousands of communities our size and smaller that have year-round pools. It is just a question of how we do it here.”

For more information about the Friends of the Vashon Pool, go to its Facebook page.