Best wellness/rehab center/fitness club: Motion Fitness and Racquet Club, New Berlin, Wis.

There's a "5-foot rule" at this pool, and it doesn't have to do with depth or required participant height. At the Motion Fitness and Racquet Club in New Berlin, Wis., if staff is within 5 feet of a member, they must greet that person warmly.

It's all part of growing the membership at the club, which opened just 2 1/2 years ago under less than ideal circumstances. Namely, the aquatics staff had to be hired and trained before the opening of the club, without any water in the pools.

To test-run the staff candidates, the aquatics director had to bargain for pool space around town. She offered trainings and CPR classes in exchange for pool time. Thirty-five staff members--including fitness instructors, training staff, lifeguards and swim instructors--were hired and trained that way.

But the effort's paid off. In the past 2 1/2 years, the club's aquatic program has soared. Parents have little reason not to register their children for swim lessons because the instructors will pick up, teach and drop the child home afterward. No wonder the club's swim lessons have a wait-list of 100 kids.

The facility also hosts after-prom lock-ins for high school party ...