Swanson Memorial Pool, built in 1975, sits on a small part of the 21.75 acres that make up Standley Park on Governor Drive in University City. Swanson is almost 40 years old, and, like a lot of 40-year-olds, it is showing its age and needs more than a cosmetic facelift. It is in need of a 21st-century upgrade.
A volunteer group of residents is interested in bringing Swanson up to these standards to serve the University City High School (UCHS) water polo and swim teams as well as the Swanson aquatics teams and others who love to swim laps or join classes in the pool.
At one time, Swanson served the students at Standley Middle School and Spreckels Elementary School, both within walking distance of the pool. Brook Feerick, a community activist and former EdUCate president who grew up in UC, recalls learning to swim at Swanson as a child. Swimming was part of her phys-ed program at Standley.
Current UCHS swimming coach Jim Vance has hope that Swanson Pool can be expanded, a goal of 52nd District Assemblymember Scott Peters and current Councilmember Sherri Lightner. Vance laments the fact that Swanson is too small in terms of available lanes and too shallow to be a viable option for UCHS swim teams or private swim teams. “The shallow depth,” Vance said, “leads to lack of ability to train for starts off the block, which is crucial for success in swimming and for water polo programs. With only five lanes, Swanson cannot accommodate the 60 kids on the swim team.”
Closures for more than three months interfere with the continuity of swimming programs. How can you build a successful, competitive program when the pool is closed a quarter of the year?
UC families, Vance continued, have to look elsewhere for swim and water polo programs for their kids. Traveling well outside the UC area is a great inconvenience. The rental fee for a high school swimming team at UC’s Jewish Community Center is $100 an hour, another hardship for parents to pay. Vance had to move his private swim program from the community center to Coronado High School because of the rental costs. UC High swim and water polo teams had to move from the community center to UCSD just to make sure the programs would survive amid high costs.
“These issues,” Vance said, “must be addressed if Swanson Pool is worth the money and operational costs. If you are going to have a pool, you need to have it open so it can be used enough by seniors, adults and youth year-’round. Until this issue is addressed, funds are wasted, and the UC community suffers.”
Seven years ago, a group of dedicated volunteers rallied the community to support an expansion of Swanson. Under the guidance of Julia Cooper, at that time the mother of University City High swimmers, this group engaged the swimming and non-swimming communities to get involved. Amanda Weinbrecht, on a full scholarship to University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was an example of a record-breaking swimmer and Olympic hopeful who got her start at Swanson. How many little girls and little boys are missing out on those opportunities today?
Catherine deGroot-Hedlin, a member of Cooper’s committee, put it this way: “The more closures we have, the fewer programs they’ll be able to start or maintain there, which will bring attendance down. If this city can point to lower attendance numbers, it becomes easier for them to close the pool periodically to save money. How quickly it becomes a vicious cycle!”
Our neighbors to the west in La Jolla have a first class pool in the Coggan Family Aquatic Complex, adjacent to La Jolla High School. This Olympic-size pool, 25 yards by 50 meters, features a spa and men’s and women’s locker rooms. Hopefully, University City locals can point with pride to a new Swanson Pool someday soon. If you want to help make this dream a reality or you want to underwrite the costs for naming rights, contact this writer at [email protected].