Teaching swim lessons is the basis of the Mt Rainier Pool program.
Mt. Rainier Pool is located in Des Moines Washington. It sits on the edge of the Mt. Rainier High School campus and the Mt. Rainier RAMS High School Swim Team, a championship team, practices there during the school year.
The pool itself was constructed as part of the King County Forward Thrust program in the late sixties. Original price for a swim at the pool was 10¢.
In late 2002 the pool was threatened with mothballing if the local municipalities did not step forward and accept ownership or subsidize the pools revenues. Fortunately, the local communities decided that the Mt. Rainier Pool was an asset that could not be abandoned.
Beginning January 1, 2004 the cities of Des Moines and Normandy Park became joint owners of the pool and along with the City of SeaTac and the Highline School District will contribute financially to pool operations for the next three years. The agreement can be extended until a new sub regional pool is built. Aquatic Management Group (AMG) was selected as the new pool operator and will offer a full range of quality swim programs.
Leadership:
Ken Spenser
Ken Spenser is the Manager of the Mt. Rainier Pool. In
addition to the expertise in pool management he brings to AMG, Ken is an
experienced swim coach for the highest level of competitive swimming. From the land of pleasant living
(Maryland/Virginia), Ken Spenser brings his 15 years of
coaching experience to King. Formerly the head coach of the largest team in
Maryland swimming, Ken is proud to be a part of the strongest staff on the West
Coast. On his former club, Ken's swimmers routinely produced top 16 times, US
Open and National cuts. Ken was an active member of Maryland swimming, acting as
the coach's representative to the administrative board and consistently serving
as a zone coach.
Ken earned his degree in psychology at Villanova University and is currently
completing his masters degree in Kinesiology at the University of Maryland. In
his other life, Ken worked seven years for the Howard county public school
system, teaching 4th, 6th, and 7th grade. In the past year Ken has gotten
married, taken a trip around the world covering five continents in six months,
and made the move to Seattle. He is an ASCA level 4 coach.
Sean Hutchison
Sean is CEO of AMG. Among his responsibilities are coordination of the management team and assessment of operations for quality and suitability. Sean is head coach of King Aquatic Club and is very popular with his athletes. His experience ranges from aquatic management to developing community swim lesson programs, to coaching Olympic Gold Medalists. On several occasions he represented USA Swimming as a coach at National Team events and US Select Camps. Sean is currently coaching multiple athletes who are qualified to swim at the Olympic Trials in July.