We are writing as thirty year residents of 145 Campo Bello Lane, Menlo Park.
We strongly support the selection of Team Sheeper, Inc. as operator of Menlo Parks Aquatic Facilities.
We have read the council and staffs RFP and criterion for selection. We applaud the stated need to ensure that the operation of the pools serves the needs of all our citizens.
We are happy to share our view, gained from almost three decades of experience with Team Sheeper and its programs, that this operator has demonstrated a commitment to the values outlined in the RFP.
Specifically:
1. By providing programs which meet the needs of diverse groups of Menlo Park citizens:
a. Youth - swim lessons
b. Elderly - water aerobics and physical therapy classes
c. Working people - early am, lunch-time and evening hours choice of lap or Masters workout.
d. Dedicated swimmers of varying abilities - In the hours dedicated to the Menlo Park Masters, the group accommodates 9 degrees of swimming ability from champions to older and slower swimmers. This use of a portion of available lane time enables more participation than the dedication of all lanes to single lap swimmers at all times.
e. Specialized groups such as youth swim teams, womens water polo, Team-In-Training tri-athaletes to benefit Leukemia Society etc.
2. Building Community
a. Team Sheeper has hired and retained a staff who are consistent, invariably welcoming and dedicated to our health and safety.
b. Menlo Park Masters brings a broad range of swimming abilities and ages into a community sharing the desire to maintain health thru exercise.
c. Menlo Park Masters have demonstrated their community spirit thru the Beyond Barriers Program to introduce swimming and water safety to members of the community for whom access to pools has previously been restricted by the historic segregation of public and private facilities and/or financial considerations. In addition, thru February Can-Do, the Masters community donates cans of food for every thousand yards swum in their yearly February Fitness Challenge.
d. The Aquafit program consistently attracts seniors from all over Menlo Park, morning after morning; this year they too are participating in Can Do.
3. Flexibility
a. Team Sheeper has evolved, and continues to do so. We as a community evolve and change: we go from age group competitors in swimming and tri-athalon to users of the Water Aerobics and warmer Instructional Pool. The programs are there for us.
b. During the COVID lock-down, Team Sheeper and staff pivoted gracefully and as soon as county regulations permitted, to a registration system which allowed Menlo Park swimmers of all abilities to access the pool while surrounding public and private pools did not.
Yours truly,
Richard L. Sites, M. Lucey Bowen, Connor Sites-Bowen and Fiona Simpson
I cannot learn from what I think I already know.
Darby English
