Federal Way becomes ‘Swim City’ | Letters

The July 20 issue of The Mirror had two articles about swimming and swim facilities in Federal Way.

There was a front page article about Mike Dunwiddie, the manager of the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center (KCAC). The other article was about the Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club summer swim team, the Twin Lakes Penguins.

Last year, The Mirror carried an article about a Twin Lakes neighbor and competitor, also part of the Seattle Summer Swim League, the Marine Hills swim team, who won the 16-team All-Cities swim meet last August (by the whipping Marine Hills gave our Penguins last Thursday, it looks like they are headed for another All-Cities crown).

There is a lot of swim competition going on in Federal Way, especially during the summer when the outdoor pools at Twin Lakes and Marine Hills are in action with 100 swimmers on each team.

The Summer Olympics start this week with big name swimmers from our country like Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin participating — and likely to bring home gold medals.

When you watch the American swimmers compete, think about the fact that every one of them has likely been in Federal Way at least once in their career because the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center is one of very few venues able to handle major swim events in this country.

I doubt if there is another city the size of Federal Way that can boast the amount of swim activity we have (Omaha hosts many major swim events, but they have a larger population).

Is it time to call ourselves “Swim City?”

Matt Sato, Federal Way

 

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