February 2021: New Central American Listings and a Pool Type Cleanup
In February 2021 we added listings in the United States and Central America and corrected pool type data ahead of a planned filter. The update also notes a UK chain in receivership and features a Virginia sports complex.
February 2021 split into two kinds of work: gathering new listings in the first half of the month and correcting pool type data in the second. This pool listings update covers both.
Site activity
We spent the first half of February picking up new listings. In the United States we found that the Vasa Fitness chain had expanded considerably since we last checked its locations, and we also added a few YMCAs, JCCs and other types of pool. We gathered a batch of new listings in Central America as well, in Panama, Costa Rica and Honduras.
In the second half of the month we cleaned up erroneous data in a field that is not yet visible on the site. That field records the type of facility, for example municipal (or council-owned), YMCA, JCC or private health club. Because the field does not affect how the public uses the database, we had not maintained it carefully over the years.
We plan to let you filter listings by type, so that you can see only YMCA pools, or only public municipal or council-owned pools. We expect to offer that option in our next site update, which means going back through the listings to correct misclassifications. The work is slow, but it should pay off when the new site goes online in a few months.
In January we spent a lot of time removing listings for branches of private health club chains in the United States that had closed because of bankruptcies. Near the end of February we learned that the DW Fitness chain in the United Kingdom had also gone into receivership. We have not yet sorted out the situation with its locations and probably cannot until the current UK lockdown is lifted. UK users should confirm that a club they plan to visit after the lockdown has survived the pandemic.
Pool of the Month
Our Pool of the Month for February 2021 is The St. James Sports, Wellness and Entertainment Complex in Springfield, Virginia, a large indoor training center in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. Read why we chose it.
Springfield, VirginiaFeatured pool
The St. James Sports, Wellness and Entertainment Complex
Springfield, Virginia, United States
- Drop-in
- $40.00. [May, 2025]
- Pool
- 50m, 10 lanes x 25y, 20 lanes, indoor