Adam Mc Lean
Konstantin Danailov demonstrates a stroke at the Richvale Pool for young swimmers in the large and growing Richmond Hill Aquatic Club. The club has several hundred recreational and competitive swimmers using four pools in Richmond Hill, but finds there’s not enough space to accommodate the swimmers they do have and those they’d like to attract. They are asking the Town of Richmond Hill to consider making the future pool in Oak Ridges big enough for their competitive needs.
Richmond Hill
October 04, 2008 10:43 PM
By: Adam Mc Lean
For students and coaches, life at the Richmond Hill Aquatic Club is like a crowded swim upstream.
With numbers growing every year and the recent success of American swimmer Michel Phelps winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympic Games, the aquatic club’s pools are overflowing with swimmers, causing many children to placed on waiting lists or having to search for clubs in other municipalities.
Currently using Richvale Community Centre, Elgin West Community Centre, Bayview Hill Community Centre and Centennial Pool as swimming venues, it may sound like enough water to accommodate the flood of students.
But, according to Richmond Hill Aquatic Club head coach Konstantin Danailov, the opportunity for many would-be swimmers is drying up.
“In the club right now, we have 143 pre-competitive and 120 competitive swimmers, but we have much trouble accommodating new swimmers,” Mr. Danailov said.
OVER CAPACITY NOW
“We are over capacity as it is. The interest is there, we just lack the facilities to grow the sport,” he added.
According to Mr. Danailov, the problem is not only in a lack of pools, but also in the lack of space for swimmers at those pools.
“This pool (Richvale) is only 25 metres with six lanes. We need a 50-metre pool with eight lanes to keep up with demand and the growth of the town,” he stressed.
In response to this need, the Richmond Hill Aquatic Club has set up a petition on its website, lobbying the town to make the future Oak Ridges Community Centre pool equipped with eight lanes, rater than the proposed six.
But it seems the Town of Richmond Hill has thrown cold water on that idea.
“We dealt with it and said no. We weren’t interested in building a competitive pool, we were interested in building a community pool,” Mayor David Barrow said.
NEED POPULATION
“This request isn’t about swimming lessons, they want to host competitions and we don’t yet have the population for these things,” Mr. Barrow added.
The club would like to host swimming competitions like the national championships in Calgary last July, where ten Richmond Hill Aquatic Club swimmers raced in a 50-metre pool, and two swimmers won medals.
Kourosh Ahani won both a silver and a bronze, calling his second-place swim the best race of his life.
“We would definitely benefit from a 50-metre pool. It can get crowded in here, but it is not impossible,” the Thornhill Secondary School student said.
Though leaving the club for another with a larger pool has come up, he said he couldn’t do it.
“Leaving has crossed my mind before, but my teammates are my best friends. What kind of person would that make me to leave them?” Ahani added.
At present the aquatic club rents an eight-lane pool in Aurora to host swim meets. Mr. Danailov said that a larger competitive facility would serve the needs of recreational swimmers as well as various athletic groups, thereby better supporting the social well being of the community.
“We cover all aspects of teaching kids how to swim and we focus on a team atmosphere that promotes discipline and hard work.
“We provide a good service to the town and good lessons to kids, so it is important we are able to accommodate growth,” Mr. Danailov said.
“We need to ask the question; are we building strictly for today, or are we building for the next 20 years?” he said.
For more information on the club and their petition, visit their website at www.rhac.ca.