After a decade on the move, swimming school makes a home in East Providence

By Christy Nadalin
Posted 3/23/17

"I doubt there's another swim school that's had more locations," says Susan Pascale-Frechette about Pods Swimming. We have basically been operating — and growing — out of a car for …

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After a decade on the move, swimming school makes a home in East Providence

Posted

"I doubt there's another swim school that's had more locations," says Susan Pascale-Frechette about Pods Swimming. We have basically been operating — and growing — out of a car for years."

Susan, a former dental hygienist and Barrington resident, has been a swim instructor and coach for close to three decades. She launched Pods almost 10 years ago, with her sister Jamie serving as the school's program manager. Pods is accredited by the United States Swim School Association, and in fact was the first USSSA established swim school in the state of Rhode Island.

They had a great staff, a great program, and a loyal and satisfied client base. But they didn't have a pool. So they rented space in various facilities from one end of the state to the other. It was not unusual for Susan and Jamie to find themselves in a different pool every day of the week. With over 1000 clients, things got a little crazy. "It wasn't sustainable," said Susan. "We couldn't thrive."

That's all going to change this month. Pods' brand-new, permanent home will be opening its doors in March, at 111 Commercial Way in East Providence.

"We realized we needed to own a facility that could provide this programing under one roof," says Susan, of their previous arrangement, in which they would conduct some classes in shallow, warm water teaching pools, and others in large, 25-yard pools. "We needed a place for swimmers to grow. Once a child can swim a short distance, they need larger space to continue to learn, to experience what it is like to swim in deeper water."

Pods' new facility has both a shallow, warm teaching pool ideal for the littlest swimmers, as well as a six-lane 25 yard pool.

While there are private clubs with pools, Pods is the state's first privately owned full-service aquatics center. "As an industry it was completely unknown to lenders," Susan said. "There was nothing comparable." Susan and Jamie brought in a swim consultant and designed a state of the art facility with the cleanest water technology available.

"We wanted to do this the right way."

You don't have to take lessons to enjoy Pods' sparkling new facility — they will be offering lap swim several hours most days, as well as family swim times. Susan has also been approached by schools hoping for practice time for their teams, and she should be able to accommodate some of them.

But her first priority will remain her loyal clients, many of whom have followed her nomadic travels around the state for several years. With Susan and Jamie finally opening their doors Friday, March 17, Pods will finally have a home of their own.

For more information, visit podsswimming.com.

Pods Swimming

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