Positive Engagements

One of the greatest epiphanies I’ve ever had as a watershaper came many years ago when I was asked to tell a group of businesspeople what I did for a living.

I’d been invited to attend a meeting of the Miami Chamber of Commerce and, as a newcomer, was asked to say a few words about my company and my work. I was to go second: The first speaker was in the carpet-cleaning business and, as I recall vividly, described what he did in such a way that it would’ve been a great cure for insomnia.

Standing up after his sleep-inducing performance, I was determined to take a different path and find something compelling to say about the way I earned my living. I was younger then and maybe a bit naïve, but I felt good about my work and did what I could to share that pride and excitement.

I started by saying, “I’m in the business of providing a product that brings people together and offers them a place to exercise, improve their health, relax and relieve stress.” I went on to talk about giving people places to entertain their friends, enhance their pride of home ownership, experience beauty and enjoy relaxing sights and sounds before observing that I also gave families a place to spend time together and have fun.

Only then did I conclude by saying, “I design and build swimming pools and spas.” Well, it worked: My message came across clearly, and I received an unexpected ovation.

Up until that point, I’d never really thought about pools and spas in exactly those terms – but since then, I’ve never thought about them in any other way. Better yet, my belief in the profound benefits our products has informed everything I’ve said and done about watershaping through all these years.

NEGATIVE TIDES

Unfortunately, our industry has never done a particularly good job of promoting those benefits. In fact, just the opposite has too often been the case.

A specific example can be found in the Virginia Graeme Baker Act and the cascading morass of rules and regulations that have emerged to prevent suction-entrapment incidents. Yes, it’s important to do all we can as an industry to prevent these terrible occurrences, no question about it – I just wish that, as an industry, we had come up with safer pool system designs on our own instead of having them mandated by others. A regrettable side effect of these recent events is that the public has been bombarded by negative information about dangers associated with pools and spas.

It’s terribly unfortunate that these regulations were so muddily conceived that, in some cases, they’ve provoked the needless closure of public swimming pools – not because they’re unsafe, mind you, but because what’s needed for compliance is so confusing or terribly expensive.

In essence, this current round of controversy is an extension of the public debate over child drowning that took center stage starting in the mid-1980s. For decades now, in fact, the leading message the public hears about pools is that children are at risk of dying in water.

To be sure, it’s in everyone’s interest to prevent any and all aquatic-related incidents, whether it’s child drowning, suction entrapment, diving accidents or even waterborne illnesses – and I praise those who’ve gotten involved for tackling what are inherently emotion-packed issues.

For all that, however, I believe this focus on the negative has led to the downplaying of the even more profound benefits our products bring to our society. This is where we’ve always come up short, at least in my 20-plus years of close observation of what’s been happening. It’s almost as if we’ve collectively been afraid to stand up and herald the fact that we provide venues for swimming – the healthiest physical activity ever found.

Indeed, recent studies are telling us that swimming, aquatic exercise and hydrotherapy are good for everybody – children and senior citizens as well as the physically disabled and those with a variety of illnesses, including multiple sclerosis. I am profoundly grateful to the National Swimming Pool Foundation for funding many of these studies, which are being led by some of the nation’s leading health-research scientists.

Now more than ever, we must find ways to make these amazing benefits known to the public at large: They take the benefits I once used to describe what I did for a living and raise them to a level of much greater value and significance.

Unfortunately, however, we’ve never been good at that as an industry, at least not on any sort of consistent or enduring basis. I’m nonetheless encouraged by the fact that information is there, ready-made, to advance our cause: All we need to do is pick up that ball and run down the field.

THE POWER OF GIVING

It occurred to me recently that perhaps the most powerful way to bring this message across is for us, as an industry, to become involved in some sort of public-health-related philanthropy. I don’t know exactly what that would be, but I do know that we have a lot of intelligent, well-meaning people in our industry as well as products with huge societal value and a common need to spread the news of those benefits to the public at large.

I would argue that, given the times, we need to find a cause and take action – the sooner the better.

To illustrate what I mean, I can recall a handful of isolated cases in which our industry has stepped up with meaningful charitable actions. I think back, for example, to the work Region 1 of what was then the National Spa & Pool Institute undertook on behalf of Paul Newman’s Hole-in-the-Wall Foundation. Closer to home, I remember working with the Miami Chapter of what was then (even earlier) the National Swimming Pool Institute to build a pool at a school for severely handicapped children.

In that case, chapter members solicited contributions of equipment and materials and donated the labor it took to renovate a pool so wheelchair-bound kids could enjoy the water. It was a wonderful endeavor, drew its share of local media attention and, most important, demonstrated the benefits of immersion for children who otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to get in the water. It also energized the chapter for a time and gave us all a wonderful feeling of having done well by others in our community.

The problem, at least in the Miami Chapter’s case, is that this was a one-time deal and went no farther. As an industry, I think we need to develop recurring, enduring programs that consistently will spread the good word about our products and at the same time provide benefits to the public on an ongoing basis. Only in this way will we sustain the message and extend the excitement.

As an example of how well this can work, I was involved years ago with “Days of Taste” with the American Institute of Wine and Food. In this program, local AIWF chapters staged events that involved kids in learning about nutrition, cooking and dining. After groups of children were taught some food basics, they were taken on shopping sprees at local farmers’ markets under the guidance of local chefs. The program still exists and has introduced tens of thousands of children to the joys of food, cooking and dining.

I don’t see much of a leap from that sort of program to one about learning to swim, for example, or about broader “Pools and Wellness” events that will engage children as well as their parents and other adults. There’s little doubt in my mind that national programs along those lines would not only expose people to the benefits of swimming and other forms of aquatic exercise, but would also elevate the profile of our industry and its products.

FINDING THE TIME

We live in a time in which we’re seeing rapid growth of an aging population that’s increasingly concerned with health; we’re face to face with unprecedented levels of childhood obesity; our cities offer diminishing resources for healthful aquatic activities. Isn’t it time to address those issues and advance our cause?

This might seem a counterintuitive suggestion at a time when many of us are wondering if our businesses are going to survive the current economic situation. To me, however, the fact that our entire society is facing these economic and social challenges spells opportunity if we adjust our mindsets and move forward boldly, despite our collective worries.

For starters, if there ever was a time when we need to feel good about what we do for a living, it’s right now – and I see no better way to improve our collective mood than by stepping out and helping others. Years of prosperity have made us unusually self-centered, and there’s a lot to be said for the idea of changing pace by calling for everyone in our society – affluent, poor, middle class, old or young – to get involved in community-oriented, philanthropic activities.

Call it karma, goodwill or just good, common sense: We all know that when we move beyond our routines and act selflessly on the behalf of others, we benefit from the effort as well. We may not appreciate or even care that such efforts serve our own interests or that those benefits come from unforeseen, unanticipated directions, but there is no question that charity of almost any sort benefits both recipients and those engaged in the act of giving.

In tight times, many of us might not have financial resources to dedicate to charitable activities, but it’s a virtual certainty that we now have the time. And that’s great, because charitable programs are almost always built primarily on donations of time and effort. I also think there’s a lot to be said for bold action in troubled times, when the natural inclination might be to hunker down, circle the wagons and hide until the situation changes.

I say all of this as someone who leads a self-centered lifestyle, and I’m certainly not proposing that self-interest is a bad thing – quite the opposite. For all that, I can’t help thinking that now’s the time to reach out with a charitable spirit, collectively or individually, and seek positive, long-term results.

The gap in what I’m saying here, of course, is that I don’t already have an ideal national program in mind. For that, I’m calling on you to define a need and your ideas about meeting it. Some of you might already be involved in local programs that have national potential. Others might already know of great programs that could use an infusion of fresh energy and willpower.

STARTING A MOVEMENT

If you’re in the know, I’d like to hear all about it. Better yet, I’ve discussed this concept with WaterShapes publisher Jim McCloskey and editor Eric Herman, and they’ve indicated that they’ll happily use the power of the press to forward this sort of agenda. So please, don’t hesitate to contact me (or them) with your ideas.

The benefits of our products are such that enabling others to experience them can only lead to good things down the line. Whether we think of what we’re doing as driving future demand, increasing safety, working for public health or giving the underprivileged access to the joys of swimming, I believe we can’t go wrong by making the effort.

We need to start on this path – soon.

Brian Van Bower runs Aquatic Consultants, a design firm based in Miami, Fla., and is a co-founder of the Genesis 3 Design Group; dedicated to top-of-the-line performance in aquatic design and construction, this organization conducts schools for like-minded pool designers and builders. He can be reached at [email protected].