GULF SHORES, Ala. — After almost a year of making improvements to the Bodenhamer Recreation Center, the City of Gulf Shores is inviting the public enjoy free access to the facility on Nov. 5.
Brook Monroe Hopkins stands by the aqua climb. Staff photos by John Mullen
One of the most unique improvements and additions is the aqua climbing wall at the inside pool in the area where the diving board used to be.
“It’s actually sparked some interest,” Aquatics Director Brook MonroeHopkins said of the climbing wall. “We’re going to have an open, free pool day. Anybody that wants to come, we’ve got new lane lines, we’ve got a basketball goal down there now for people to play and we got new lounge chairs. We’re kind of showing off, get everybody in there to try the aqua climb. “
With the opportunity to try the wall for free, MonroeHopkins believes patrons will want to try it again.
“We’re trying to spark that by having a couple of things for them to actually do,” she said. “ Hopefully they’ll come back.”
Director of Recreation and Cultural Affairs Grant Brown says MonroeHopkins was “instrumental” in getting the rock wall for the pool.
A water aerobics class works out in front of the aqua climb wall.
“It’s got hand-holds and grips for your hands and feet and you climb the wall,” Brown said. “When you get to the top you jump off the wall into the pool. The kids are loving it.”
The city took out the diving boards which are becoming less common in recreational pools. Brown says there are many issues with the boards.
MonroeHopkins saw one of the walls in Pensacola during a swim meet and the team members immediately took to the wall.
“There was one over there and our children on our swim when they go over there, they love it,” she said. “So I started doing some research and I do know that of the 178 pools that have put them in, they have had a 23 percent increase in patrons.”
Which is something she wants to see happen at the Bodenhamer pool.
“It’ll hit the group we need to hit here,” she said. “We already have water aerobics classes and our swim team. We need young adults, we need teens, late teens. There’s been dads going up it.”
Lifeguard supervisor David Lloyd hopes the wall brings a new type of patron to the pool.
“We program a lot of things here, we just don’t have a lot of walk-in traffic of people that just want to come play and swim,” he said. “We don’t see that anymore.”
The wall has a few rules to keep folks safe. The kids line up on each side of it and only two can be on the wall at a time. They are supervised by lifeguards to make sure no one is underneath them when they begin climbing.
“When we started looking at renovations to our existing facilities, which we’re going quite a bit of now, that was one of the things she really wanted to put in,” Brown said of MonroeHopkins. “Something new, something exciting, something the kids could really relate to. And adults, too. I don’t see adults using it a whole bunch, but it’s definitely been covered up with kids since we put it in.”
The wall is composed of 16 one meter squares and each square has five grips on each one.
“About 15 percent of the people who climb it can make it to the top,” Lloyd said
“A lot of them try more than once and they get up there,” MonroeHopkins said.