Written by Whitley Kilcrease

Locals seek refuge at the country club pool

Beaux Mizell sloshes water in all directions as he climbs out of the cool, clear pool and races his sisters, Kaylee and Kassidy, back to the diving board.

“Mom, Mom! Look at this! Are you watching?”

A few pounding steps, a “cannonball splash” a second later and the process begins all over again.

As the summer moves into its hottest month, families in the area try to find ways to beat the heat. One quick and easy fix most residents usually enjoy is the local swimming hole.

For Tiffany Mizell and her family, intense summer heat means outings to the Troy Country Club’s swimming pool.

“In this heat, what else is there to do?” Mizell said. “We come out here a lot. If we’re not up here swimming, then we’ll put the sprinkler on the trampoline and splash around. We go to the lake a lot during the summer too. They were born swimming.”

The club also hosts a popular “Family Night” event each Thursday where local kids and their parents come for food, fun and, of course, swimming.

“My kids live for Family Night.” Mizell said. “There’s usually 30 or 40 kids out here around the pool then. We all have a good time.”

Mizell said Family Nights usually starts around 5:30 p.m. and are a great time for friends and family in the community to come out and enjoy spending time together.

“The past few weeks, though, we’ve had storms come through every Thursday afternoon right around the time we get out here,” Mizell said. “Hopefully that won’t be the case this week.”

According to LeeAnne Schlarman, she usually makes daily visits to the club’s pool with her three sons Joe, Ben and Matt. She said she chooses to come to the club because the pool features a smaller “kiddie” pool area.

“The only thing you can do to beat the heat this time of year is go to the pool,” Schlarman said. “We’re usually out here just about every day.”

While it may be tempting to stay cool indoors with air conditioning, Mizell said she prefers to keep her children outdoors and as active as much as possible.

“They are outdoor children,” Mizell said. “Other than their Kindles, we don’t even have a computer at the house. I just want them to be out and active and having fun instead of in front of the TV all day.”

For more information about club membership, visit troycountryclub.org or call 566-3463.