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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nJohn Poma of Lakeland, Florida, was on the job in Hudson when two pickup trucks rolled into the dirt lot, kicking up a cloud of dust. Talking Pools Podcast host Rudy Stankowitz and Don Douglass of Revdup Apparel handed Poma a championship belt and broke the news. He\u2019d just been named the 2026 Talking Pools Podcast Pool Industry Mentor of the Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a pool pro calls John Poma late at night, he picks up. Say the plaster looks wrong. Is it the water chemistry? Did something go wrong during construction? Poma shows the caller what to look for so they can make that call on their own next time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Poma asks what they\u2019re seeing at the pool and what they\u2019ve checked so far. He calls his approach \u201cAncient Pool Warrior Methods.\u201d To Poma, being a \u201cpool whisperer\u201d means \u201clistening to the pool,\u201d then using those clues to decide what to check first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always thought the point of mentoring was to teach someone to think for themselves. A good mentor helps you test your own reasoning,\u201d Stankowitz said. \u201cWhen someone calls from an equipment pad, ask what they checked, what they found, and what they think it means. The best moment is when they can tell you what\u2019s wrong and how they know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nIn an interview with podcast host Natalie Hood, Poma recalled an early mentor named Ollie, who took the time to explain why a job was done a certain way. Poma now does the same for others. He also helps run the 14 PSI Facebook group with fellow Top Ten honoree Jeff Hampe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How Poma was selected<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The award honors pool professionals who volunteer their time to mentor others outside their paid duties. Advice offered as part of a sales pitch does not qualify. Before the hosts scored the nominations, names and other identifying details were removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Talking Pools Podcast received 103 nominations from around the world and narrowed the field to 20 finalists. Names and other identifying details were removed before the podcast hosts scored the finalist entries on merit. Stankowitz did not score the entries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The judges learned Poma had won at the same time he and the public did, during the Nov. 10 jobsite reveal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Poma made the Top Ten for the second straight year. He succeeds Rich Gallo, CEO of Pure Swim in Van Nuys, California, who took home the first championship belt in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A supplier to WWE and UFC made both belts. This year\u2019s belt has a wide, gold-tone center plate with black scrollwork. A crown sits above the Talking Pools Podcast name, and \u201cPool Industry\u201d runs across the middle in block letters. A banner reading \u201cMentor Award\u201d sits above an engraved globe marked \u201c2026.\u201d Two smaller plates flank the center plate, one bearing the Blueray XL logo and the other the United Chemical logo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each of this year\u2019s Top Ten mentors received a mentor polo from Revdup Apparel, a 2026 TOP TEN plaque made by TrophySmack, a Pool Industry Mentor challenge coin, a keychain with an inspirational message and a hat embroidered with the Talking Pools Podcast logo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blu-ray XL and United Chemical are the title sponsors. LaMotte Company is the gold sponsor, Revdup Apparel is a silver sponsor, and AquaComfort Water Group is a supporting sponsor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About Talking Pools Podcast<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pool pros talk shop on Talking Pools Podcast, from what works in the field to what goes wrong on the job. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lee Salisbury, Shane Sneddon and Nick Ryrie host Mondays on the Talking Pools Podcast. Jacobi \u201cPool Boy Tru\u201d Truman hosts Tuesdays, Natalie Hood hosts Wednesdays, Wayne Ivusich and Steve Sherwood host Thursdays, and Rudy Stankowitz hosts Fridays. Kelli Clancy hosts the monthly Saturday show. Dan Lenz, a former host, now serves as a consultant to the podcast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Rudy Stankowitz, Talking Pools Podcast John Poma of Lakeland, Florida, was on the job in Hudson when two pickup trucks rolled into the dirt lot, kicking up a cloud… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzExXC9QaG90by1Ob3YtMTAtMjAyNi0xMi0yMy01OS1QTS03Njh4MTAyNC0xLndlYnAiLCJ0eHQiOiJTdXJwcmlzZSBKb2JzaXRlIFZpc2l0OiBKb2huIFBvbWEgTmFtZWQgMjAyNiBQb29sIEluZHVzdHJ5IE1lbnRvciBvZiB0aGUgWWVhciIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.0pHYNgcodIyTKSgGAwvb6fxBmH4UUSv1rod7WFjc-fkMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzExXC9QaG90by1Ob3YtMTAtMjAyNi0xMi0yMy01OS1QTS03Njh4MTAyNC0xLndlYnAiLCJ0eHQiOiJTdXJwcmlzZSBKb2JzaXRlIFZpc2l0OiBKb2huIFBvbWEgTmFtZWQgMjAyNiBQb29sIEluZHVzdHJ5IE1lbnRvciBvZiB0aGUgWWVhciIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.0pHYNgcodIyTKSgGAwvb6fxBmH4UUSv1rod7WFjc-fkMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[19295,19304,19299,19296,19302,19298,19297,19305],"class_list":["post-87835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-john-poma","tag-pool-care","tag-pool-industry","tag-pool-industry-mentor-of-the-year","tag-pool-maintenance","tag-pool-professional","tag-talking-pools-podcast","tag-water-chemistry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87846,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87835\/revisions\/87846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}