Leisure class: the leisure pool of today is more community center than waterpark. Is your facility keeping up with the times?

For years, experts predicted that leisure pools would supplant traditional flat-water pools as the aquatic venue of choice across America. Now there's evidence that has happened--albeit not necessarily as predicted.

Today, nearly 85 percent of facilities offer leisure pools or a combination leisure/competition pool, according to an exclusive Aquatics International survey. Further indicating the maturity of the market, only 22 percent of operators who currently do not offer a leisure pool plan to add one in the next five years.

But there's more going on than just a leisure pool transition and a maturing market.

Indeed, the bigger trend happening at aquatics facilities seems to be that they are expanding the definition of leisure activities beyond the pool. That trend dovetails with what many experts are now telling operators: To attract today's user, leisure pools must model themselves more after community centers with wet and dry leisure activities that appeal to a wide range of users.

"The leisure pool needs to become much more community-oriented with amenities both on the deck and in the pool that allow people to stay and play longer," says Treadwell Jones, director of Larkin Aquatics in Kansas City, Mo.

Already, operators seem to be heeding that advice. Along with traditional leisure pool elements, more than 62 percent of respondents said that their leisure pools also offered fitness areas. Many leisure facilities offer other untraditional aquatic activities as well. Almost 90 percent of operators surveyed said they offer either group events or birthday parties; more than half said they hold theme events, such as "Dive-In Movie Night." Day care and story hours are among the other popular out-of-pool programs that foster a community center experience instead of a waterpark feeling.

Alison Osinski says operators are just trying to appeal to a wider demographic. "Aquatics in general are becoming more activity interactive," says the owner of Aquatic Consulting Services in San Diego. "People