War Memorial Park Pool — Local services in Martinsburg

A little lengthy but worth the read.

PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON LESSONS FOR KIDS! Recently I enrolled my 6 and 7 year olds in this learning to swim program. $200 later, my children are no closer to being proficient in the water.

My daughter is in the youngest class. Every day they spend 10-15 minutes talking, not in the water. The class is only 30 minutes. The in water time ranges from what seems like stretching, to wearing a life vest. If we get lucky she gets to retrieve rings in 1 ft of water. Maybe even get to jump in the 4ft side with a life vest on, once.

The instruction is similar to what I imagine someone who has watched swimming but never actually swam themselves, would give.

As for my 7 year old son's class.... I'm sitting here trying to think of the most negative post possible, that Google would publish. Yet even then, I couldn't truly encompass the level of sheer amateur hour (sorry, half hour) that is on display.

Day one 10 minutes actually in the pool. The guard threw rings in the water and said "go get them." My son walked over in waist deep water,leaned down and picked it up without getting his hair wet. The other days were spent with him "swimming" from one end of the pool to the other, with a life vest on. ZERO instruction. He was struggling severely at many points. I was admittedly at the edge of the pool almost everyday ready to save him because he was exhausted trying to perform tasks that he was never taught. He never once, received any direct instruction. The guard just watched him suffer. If he did not have the vest, he would have drowned.

This whole program is just a couple high schoolers in red bathing suits who visually don't care at all. There is no organization or structure. At no point was there a adult member of staff on site.

On their website it claims weather updates will be posted on Facebook if it will effect class. LIES.. you show up and get turned away. Listen I have no issue closing for weather. Everyone needs to be safe. There is no communication though. Short of showing up and getting turned around. The one day it was sunny and warm. There was a storm about 60 miles north and no lightning within 40 miles. I use the lightning map app. Nothing. No recourse to the bs. You have a 15-16 year old making the call. No adult in sight.

I could go on but if your reading this, I know you don't want to waste your time, so I'll end it here. You get the point. It's a waste of money at best, and a danger to your child at worst. A true bush league setup. Oh btw,there are no refunds...

It seems like fairly nice pool. Was there for private party.. but bathrooms are gross and honestly the lifeguards at the party (well all but 1 who was working the deep end) were a joke.. sat together talking and hanging out and not paying hardly any attention.. i wouldn't trust them with my kids... actually had 1 parent who had to jump in to save a kid.. and multiple other accident almost happening that I and other parents had to stop.. I would retrain your staff and make sure they are actually doing their job- and the 4 in the picture provided need reprimanded and retrained. Updated: After the kid Almost drowned and parents got involved, lifeguards stopped fooling around and started paying attention for the most part.....

Water was very clean. They have a nice area to dive (no diving board) that is 8.5 ft deep, that is roped off from another swimming area that is 5ft. There is a separate pool for smaller children that has nice water features and a fun frog slide. Our 2 yo loved it!. Most life guards were not paying attention to a kid in the diving area that was not following the '2 divers in the water at one time' and 'don't stay in the diving area too long' rules. We had to ask about the rules, as we could not find where the diving area rules were posted. The bathrooms were not very clean. The pool is located in a lovely park with multiple playgrounds, and also...