Swim club president downplays camp comment

PHILADELPHIA, July 10 (UPI) -- The head of a swim club said Friday he regrets how he explained why his site would not host kids from a predominantly minority day camp in Philadelphia.

Valley Club president John Duesler said he did not intend to make it appear his suburban swim club was severing its contract with the Creative Steps Day Camp because the camp was predominantly black and Hispanic, the Philadelphia Inquirer said.

"This is a terrible misinterpretation of what I stand for. This is just wrong," Duesler said of his prior comment. "That was a terrible choice of words, I admit."

"There is a lot of concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion ... the atmosphere of the club," Duesler had originally told a Philadelphia TV station about his club's severed contract with Creative Steps.

Duesler said his original comment was intended to detail how his site simply does not have an adequate number of lifeguards to properly supervise the visiting campers, the Inquirer reported.

"It was just too many kids on top of each other," said Duesler, whose Huntingdon Valley, Pa., club has been tabbed for a racial discrimination investigation by a state agency. "Many of them couldn't swim."