by Patricia M. Murret | Staff Writer
Deepa Muchalambkar was first in line and waiting patiently for the doors to open at 4:30 a.m. on March 5. Her daughter, Shreya, 5, was counting on her.
She wasn’t waiting to buy tickets to Hannah Montana or get the latest electronic gadget, though.
Muchalambkar, and 50 other moms and dads coveted something else for their wee ones: swim lessons.
The lessons are in such high demand at county pools that parents show up in scores before dawn for the first-come, first-serve 6:30 a.m. sign-up. The county has four indoor pool facilities and parents wait in line ‘‘like its Rolling Stone tickets,” said Robin Riley, a county parks and recreation department spokeswoman.
‘‘Every six weeks we have to come here,” Muchalambkar said while standing outside the center at the South Germantown Recreational Park in Boyds.
Within 20 minutes eight people stood in line behind Muchalambkar, of Germantown, and by 6 a.m., close to 50 folks waited for the center to open.
‘‘I got lucky number 13,” said Derelys Peterson, 27, also of Germantown. Her own morning had a 4 a.m. start and involved a trade, Peterson said. Her daughter Demara Felder, 6, went to a friend’s house at 5 a.m. so her friend’s mother could bring the girls to school while Peterson enrolled them for lessons.
‘‘It’s a great center, it’s a great place, it’s clean, and for the price,” interested parents will do what it takes, said Sonia Mable, 34. She and her brother Sere, both of Germantown, arrived at 6:30 a.m., she said. Their numbered ticket read 42 — better than last time’s 83.
Online and in-person registration start at the same time and Riley said that during one session the system registered 800 concurrent users.
Classes for 4- to 6-year-olds and ‘‘Water Babies” tend to fill up first, said Melanie Sasse, the county’s aquatics director. Her department can add classes to meet burgeoning wait-lists, but pool space, staff, and time are limited. Spring registration is especially tough because there is only one session and outdoor pools are not yet open, she said.
‘‘Some families, they take this very seriously,” Sasse said. ‘‘If a kid misses a session, it’s OK, there’s another opportunity that’s going to come along six weeks later to take another lesson.”
Next session, Mable said she might try the tag-team strategy. Some families have one parent assigned to the pre-dawn outside wait, while the other works on the computer from the comfort of home.
She watched the clock, and said she hoped to register her 4-year old son Shalom Adewi for pre-beginner level-one swim lessons, a water adjustment class that Peterson wanted, too.
‘‘I don’t know how to swim and I have a terrible fear of water,” Peterson said. ‘‘It’s easier to teach them when they’re younger.”
By 7 a.m., the tenth person in line had not registered and two of 12 pre-beginner level two classes were closed.
‘‘Next year I’m going to have to get here at 4 a.m., I already see this,” Peterson said. Moments later, staff called 13 at 7:13 a.m.
Oscar Giraldo, 33, had no such luck. He had arrived at the center at 5:30 a.m. to enroll Abby, 11 months, in a ‘‘Water Babies” class and like Mable was wait-listed.
‘‘Number three brought a stack this high,” said Deb Weiss of Germantown, her thumb and fingers three inches apart. ‘‘She had her entire neighborhood she was signing up...that was inappropriate.” County staff cited a rule that allows registering one child from outside the family.
Weiss began to reason with herself, and weighed her son’s ability with the available classes.
Could Zach Collins, 6, who belongs in level four, swim two lengths of the Olympic-sized pool without stopping? she wondered at 8:30 a.m. Maybe she could put him in level six — and get a transfer if his skills weren’t up to par. ‘‘This is how you start thinking!” she laughed, resigned to private lessons in Gaithersburg.
Next time, she would work the system, she said.
