At 10 a.m. on Wednesday about a dozen older women gathered by the pool at the Hansborough Recreation Center in Harlem, dressed in sleek black racing suits and rubbery red swim caps.
The Honeys are the female half of the Harlem Honeys and Bears synchronized swim team, a group of older New Yorkers who have met at the center regularly since 1979. The youngest member of the Honeys is 59. The oldest is 90.
On Wednesday, the topic of conversation was not the best way to execute the Pyramid, the Star or the Accordion ? all moves that appear in their routines when they perform in public or compete in senior tournaments ? but rather how they are going to find a new practice space. Last week, the city?s Department of Parks and Recreation informed the teams? coach, Oliver Foot?, that as of Thursday, the pool at Hansborough Recreation Center would close for renovation for a year.
So for the first time in more than 30 years, the Honeys and Bears have found themselves homeless.
?It?s very frustrating because a lot of people depend on this,? said Dorise Roberts Black. Ms. Black described herself as ?over 60? and has been a member of the team for at least a decade. A stroke and a hip fracture have not stopped her from participating, though on land she relies on a wheelchair to get around.
The Honeys and Bears are open to anyone 50 or older and have a total of about 40 active members. The Bears also use the Hansborough pool for practices and they, too, are in search of a new home.
?I?m furious,? said Ms. Black, who also teaches water aerobics to people with arthritis and to other people who have had strokes.
Mr. Foot? said that several months ago the parks department informed him that the pool would close for renovations in December, and that his team would get a new practice space. According to Mr. Foot?, the city told him the team could use a pool at the Harlem Y.M.C.A. on 135th Street.
But when the city decided to change the schedule for renovations at Hansborough, Mr. Foot? had no time to make arrangements for a new space. ?Once they told us they were going to close this Thursday, we spoke to the director of the Y.M.C.A.,? he said. ?They didn?t have a time slot for us.?
He said it was also unclear if the Y.M.C.A. would have space for the team in December.
Vickie Karp, a spokeswoman for the parks department, said that because the Honeys and Bears were not part of an official parks program, the city was not responsible for finding them a new practice space during the renovation. ?We want to remind them that the new pool will be beautiful and up-to-date and ready for them as soon as possible,? she wrote in an e-mail. While the pool will close, Hansborough Recreation Center will remain open during renovations.
After a feverish debate about the swim group?s future, a few women on Wednesday jumped in the pool for a few final underwater twirls at Hansborough. Among them was Lettice Graham, 90, a Harlem resident who started swimming regularly at age 81. She says she now swims 44 laps every day, Monday through Friday. On Wednesday, just as she does on many practice days, she paraded out of the locker room wearing strappy orange stilettos.
Her teammate Thoney Freeman, a Bronx resident in her 70s, explained why the team was so important. ?I have to keep swimming,?? she said. ?I don?t want to get in the habit of staying home. That can easily happen ? just laying back and getting old.?
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