Tell me about the swim and tennis clubs/rec centers in Fort Hunt, Alexandria area
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Anonymous
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My family and I will be moving to Fort Hunt this summer. I imagine we're too late to get into any pools this year, and I know some have years-long waitlists, but can you tell me about them? Are some waitlists shorter than others? What's the personality of the various communities?
Looking at a map I see the following. Any other pools I'm missing? Riverside Gardens S&T Waynewood Rec Hollin Meadows S&T Little Hunting Park S&T Stratford Rec Hollin Hills Pool |
Anonymous
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What neighborhood?
Mount Vernon Park is one of the largest (I think Little Hunting Park may be close), both draw very widely. The wait list at Waynewood if you aren't in Waynewood is essentially forever. Mansion House is welcoming and usually doesn't have much of waitlist and is nearby. |
Anonymous
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Hollin Hills and Mansion House are both really nice.
Parking at HH can be a pain sometimes but the grounds are beautiful. |
Anonymous
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We are members of Hollin Meadows. The pool is going to undergo a major renovation starting in the fall of '23. There is an assessment which all current members must pay and I think new members will have to pay a portion. Once complete, the new renovations will probably attract some new families. We have alot of shade. Right now, our pool is very shallow, which is great for toddlers and adults (I can walk across the pool in the lanes, which is great exercise.) When the pool is rebuilt, they are going to make it deeper, which is better for the swim team. We are also open from 9:00am - 9:00pm on the weekends and have been open at 9:00am in August during the week. I believe most of the other pools don't open until 11:00am, even on the weekends.
My kids are members of the swim team so I've been to all the pools along the corridor, except Hollin Hills. Stratford Landing has a gorgeous new bath house, a sloped entry into the pool and really nice eating area. Mount Vernon Park has alot of land and two pools but I'm not crazy about the long walk from the parking lot to the pool. Also, their bath house needs renovating. Waynewood also has two pools and has a nice bathhouse. They don't have much shade. Riverside Gardens has a smaller pool (my kids complain about the size of their lanes) but I hear they are extremely social - "the party pool." Little Hunting Park recently renovated their bathhouse (they had a fire.) It is really nice and they have a lot of land. They also have a concession stand, which can be a good or bad thing. Another option is Mansion House, which is in Mount Vernon. It has a nice bathhouse and indoor lounge area. I'm pretty sure they have memberships because I see signs advertising the pool all over the MV area. |
Anonymous
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We are at Stratford Landing and it's very nice. Renovated bathrooms, eating area, new tennis courts this year, playground, volleyball, zero entry area. Only thing is I believe you have to be in the zoned area in order to join.
This is the link for the map of the boundary. https://www.google.com/maps/@38.7256704,-77.0653246,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!6m1!1szbOUdhUJoHEg.kWS9IEm6M0wA?hl=en We've been here for about 10 years, it's very nice and they have done a lot of work to the pool. |
Anonymous
+1 we love the pool and it's a good way to meet people in the neighborhood as well! |
Anonymous
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Join the pool closest to home and get involved with it (swim team if you have a kid or help the pool if you do not). You will make tons of friends in the community. |
Anonymous
Lots of your neighbors are going to Mt Vernon Park or Riverside. OP, think about what you want and look around broadly. Most would be happy to give you a tour, |
Anonymous
| We joined Waynewood for a season and not one person said hello to us. It was like we were invisible. |
Anonymous
| Different poster revising the thread— I have been looking into places with reasonable wait lists or current openings for our URM family (live in Del Ray so there’s nothing super close to us), but the pics seem to show zero diversity. Are the pools in the area really 99-100% white? I’m aware of the history of segregation for the origins of most of these places, but thought things would be different by 2023. |
Anonymous
I'm the poster who posted about Hollin Meadows. At least at HM, there is almost zero diversity. When my kids go to meets against the other pools in Ft. Hunt, the swimmers on the other teams are also 90%+ white. The only pool that I know of in the area that would have any diversity is Pinewood Lake, which is on the other side of Rt. 1 in the Pinewood Lake townhouse development. I don't know if you have to live in Pinewood to join their pool. |
Anonymous
It is the area you chose to live in. Our summer pool is in Annandale and has diversity - Black, Hispanic, and White mostly with a few Asians. But look at Annandale High School with the low Great Schools ranking because lots of FARMs kids. Families move to neighborhoods for the white high performing schools and then wonder why there is no diversity. West Alexandria, Falls Church, Annandale (not Woodson) are diverse. The swim teams show this as well. |
Anonymous
Swimming requires a pool membership and a SAHM for most younger kids. Not many families in RT 1 apartments can do it |
Anonymous
Thanks I almost applied to join HM last year but was concerned that might be the case. Prefer a place with tennis and swimming, which reduces the options. Guess we’ll expand our geographic area. |
Anonymous
Good luck finding diversity at any pool in NOVA unless you have access to on base facilities |