Would doubling the size of your planned high
school pool, hiring a full-time aquatics director, and forming a
partnership with your city parks and recreation department to operate
the new aquatics center still make sense three years later?
The community of Crawfordsville, IN, believes it
does. In fact, most residents say the aquatics center is the øbest
thing that ever happenedÓ to the town of 13,500 people, located 45
miles west of Indianapolis, IN.
When Gail Pebworth took over coaching duties for
the Sugar Creek Swim Club team in 1974, few people realized that her
success with a small group of kids would lead to the construction of a
multi-million dollar aquatics center.
By 1983, the Crawfordsville School Corp. knew that
its 70-year-old downtown school building was rapidly deteriorating and
needed to be replaced. Pebworth had been using Wabash College's 25-yard
pool on a daily basis, and began lobbying for the inclusion of a
similar pool in the plans for the new school.
Pebworth soon realized that while a 25-yard pool
would meet the school's needs, the community would still be
underserved. She and a number of other citizens pressed the school
board to enlarge the planned pool to a 50-meter design.
With backing from community industrial leaders and
aquatics personnel, the Crawfordsville High School plan was approved
with a 50-meter, 600,000-gallon aquatics center across from the main
gymnasium. Architects Counsilman Hunsaker were
selected to design the aquatic center.
Pool Leadership
The school superintendent, city mayor, parks and
recreation director and Sugar Creek Swim Club board president all
agreed that effective leadership of the Crawfordsville Aquatics Center
would require the addition of a full-time aquatics director.
The board nominated me for the position based on
my previous experience as the community aquatics director of Albany,
OR, where I had opened a similar 50-meter pool. In the fall of 1993, I
moved my family to Indiana and prepared to open the aquatics center.
Tony Ressino would serve as assistant aquatics director.
Crawfordsville's modest population became a major
obstacle in finding qualified personnel to form the aquatics staff.
Luckily, there were several untapped resources close at hand.
The high school swim team became the nucleus of
the lifeguard staff along with several Wabash College students who
served as evening and weekend head lifeguards.
Ressino assumed the duties of staff training along
with teaching high school swim classes. Several ex-Sugar Creek Swim
Club members, now married and living in the community, became American
Red Cross (ARC)-certified water safety instructors and began an
after-school community lesson program.
Parks and recreation department summer water
aerobics instructors certified by the Aquatic Exercise Association were
hired to teach morning, evening and weekend classes. Soon a water
therapy class was added and taught by a staff member who was certified
by the Arthritis Foundation. In time, a senior exercise class was
offered along with water walking classes.
Aquatics Curriculum
By February 1994, a water proofing program began
with all second-through-fifth graders from the five community
elementary schools each receiving 10 class periods of swimming
instruction. Two elementary school physical education teachers assist
with these programs.
Middle school instruction followed, with all
sixth- and seventh-graders receiving 15 class periods of instruction.
The middle school swimming curriculum was developed using the ARC Basic
Water Safety and Emergency Water Safety materials as guides. I teach
this course with assistance from the middle school's two P.E. teachers.
Ressino's high school swimming classes certify all
freshman students in ARC CPR, and an ARC lifeguarding course is offered
each semester to prepare students for summer jogs at surrounding pools
and lakes.
Meeting the needs of the school system didn't stop
with the students. In a short time all school staff members - teachers,
custodians, cooks and their families - received free use of the
aquatics center during the pool's recreational swimming hours.
My staff also works closely with the parks and
recreation department during the summer months when Ressino and I
supervise the city's 50-meter outdoor pool. All summer scheduling of
activities and programs for the city pool is coordinated through the
Crawfordsville Aquatics Center offices.
The aquatics center pool is used approximately 10
hours a day, 351 days a year. While Crawfordsville High gets more use
out of its pool than most schools, it also has to deal with higher
operation costs.
Annual operation of the pool is budgeted at
$200,000. The city of Crawfordsville is committed to an annual $55,000
subsidy, and the pool itself raises $70,000 in user fees and equipment
rentals. The balance is paid by the Crawfordsville School Corp.
The planning process to replace the original high
school took years of school committee and community meetings, all with
the focus of meeting the students' needs in the 21st
century. Luckily for Crawfordsville, a few forward-thinking individuals
ensured that the whole community could benefit from the aquatic
opportunities offered to its students.
The Crawfordsville Aquatic Center
At-a-Glance
Eight-lane, 50-meter indoor pool with an 8-lane,
25-yard cross course. A connected 2- to 3-feet-deep shallow pool allows
for instruction of young children and easy access by the handicapped or
elderly.
Pool type: concrete shell lined with 1-inch ceramic tile.
Volume: 600,000 gallons
Depth: up to 7 feet, with a 14-foot diving well.
Sanitation: four Tanpure Industrial TPU5-2
/ 4 liquid sanitizers with an LMIB121-71S hypochlorinator feeder
controlled by a Stranco 790 controller. Chlorine levels are maintained
at 1.2 to 1.5 parts per million.
Pool equipment and features:
- One 3-meter and two 1-meter maxi-flex diving boards and Durafirm diving board stands by Duraflex International Corp.
- Filtration system consists of two
PACO bronze15 hp, 800 gallons per minute (gpm) centrifugal pumps and
two 800 gpm high-rate Neptune Benson sand filters.
- Stranco control system adjusts CO2 levels to maintain a pool pH of 7.4 to 7.5. Muriatic acid controls alkalinity levels at 90 parts per million.
- Climatemaster dehumidification air
handling units maintain 45 to 50 percent humidity and 85 F air
temperature. Air-handling unit control is provided by a Johnson
Controls Zone Terminal microprocessor.
- Natatorium space heating and
cooling is provided by two Recovery 500 systems. Dehumidifying coils
and compressor superheaters maintain 83 to 84 F water temperature, with
gas reheat.
- G.A.
Gus Arzner is aquatics director for the Crawfordsville School Corp., Crawfordsville, IN.