You are probably aware from a previous post that Georgia Southwestern University in Americus, Georgia has announced it will close the pool which has been the home of AAAA swim team (aka Quad A/Americus Blue Tide). The supporters of this swim team, community member, alumni, etc. are trying desperately to get GSW to change its plans. You can help us in two ways.
Find the thread titled, “Don’t Let This Swim Team Drown” and follow one of the links and write a short note to GSW asking them to keep the pool open. It doesn’t matter where you are from, just let the powers that be know how important aquatics are.
I would also like everyone who has a child/teen on a swim team, or who was on a swim team as a child/teen, to answer these questions.
In addition to the physical benefits (strengthening, endurance, coordination) how does being on a swim team benefit a child/teen?
And, how does a children’s/teen’s swim team benefit the community?
Thanks in advance,
Lainey
Geek, I will take another look at the amount the group says each meet brings to the community. No not a lot of kids coming to S GA, but maybe they should. They would find some great competition. I am quoting a post from the Save The Deriso Pool group. ...12 of the swimmers on AAAA (Americus Albany Area Aquatics) are better than 71% of the swimmers in their USA age group, and 4 swimmers are in the top 6% in the country in their age groups.
There are fast kids in every club in every pool in America. The point is that if you aren't flying people into your area you aren't generating as much local revenue. I'd be careful rolling out stats about your swimmers as that sets you up for comparisons versus other clubs. You need to stand on your own two feet.
The pool is Georgia Southwestern University's pool. It is on GSW's campus.
There are the next closest swim teams are at least an hour each way. Not terrible for an adult but, too far for most children who have school work that needs to be done, siblings that have to be taken to their activities, and who need an early bed time.
Several contingency plans are in the works.
Is the pool a stand-alone facility or like ours, part of a much larger rec complex? If its standalone, perhaps the local park district could purchase the facility. Of course, simple operations and maintenance costs require that the pool be seriously booked with paying groups. Our local university has (had) two pools. The older pool had a rather low utilization level and was requiring some expensive renovations. The decision to close the pool and turn it into classrooms annoyed quite a few and has made our pool much more crowded. Sadly, I really cannot argue with the financial logic of it - the operations and maintenance costs when divided amongst the people using it was just too high.
Has the swim team looked into taking over operations of the pool? Just over 2 years ago, our city was planning to shut down a newly built swim center. Our swim team worked with the city and came to an agreement where we would take over operations of the pool. So in addition to our own swim team operations, we also run all of the regular programming that the city was running before we took over. Good luck.
I will find the reference to swimmers having the highest GPA.
Geek, I will take another look at the amount the group says each meet brings to the community. No not a lot of kids coming to S GA, but maybe they should. They would find some great competition. I am quoting a post from the Save The Deriso Pool group. ...12 of the swimmers on AAAA (Americus Albany Area Aquatics) are better than 71% of the swimmers in their USA age group, and 4 swimmers are in the top 6% in the country in their age groups.
Have I watched swimming in the last 24 months? Well the olympics of course, but other than that, I haven't. The only sport I really watch on TV is college football (Go Dawgs!)
Thanks everyone. Any other ideas on how to build the case for keeping the pool open?
Lainey
Anyone else have
Can you add in other benefits besides the age group team? Is the pool used by the Red Cross to conduct swimming lessons? Do the local seniors (Masters?) use the pool for fitness or rehab? Us Silver Panthers have a strong political presence. Bring down the voice of AARP.
We worked over several years to get a grant from the state to build an aquatics park including a competitive lap pool. Its not a sure thing yet - we need to match several hundred thousand dollar before the grant activates.
AquaGeek does have a good point - You will only have a chance if you can show true fiscal benefit to, in this case, the university. Times are tough and money is tight. Unfortunately, the university appears to have already decided to close the pool. The battle will be much more difficult. My guess would be that you will need to show that the continued operation of the pool is a profit maker for the university.
Thanks you two.
I think I saw a study that looked at GPA by sport and :bliss::bliss::bliss:
swimmers were at the top of the list followed by cross country runners! (granddaugher=swimmer, grandson=cross country :bliss:). So I wouldn't be surprised if swimmers had the highest graduation rate.
High GPA is not virtuous.
Wherever you got that from, I don't think it controlled for socioeconomic status. Swimmers tend to be able to afford pool time.
