BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
Erika Garza will have no trouble relating to her team’s struggles this season. She’s already experienced them first hand.
Not much has changed since the first-year Edinburg North swimming and diving coach competed for the Cougars her senior year during the 2007-08 season. For Edinburg CISD swim teams, the challenges remain the same.
With roughly 160 swimmers across four schools, Edinburg CISD boasts one of the Valley’s largest swim programs. The school system does not have an indoor facility, however, but instead has an agreement with the city which allows teams to share South Park, an open-air public pool, on a rotating basis. Though South Park is an Olympic sized pool, it’s aimed for recreational use as opposed to building high school talent.
“We don’t have a lot of equipment or a lot of the same setups that other schools have,” Garza said. “We don’t have the diving blocks set up the way others do. We don’t have the timers everyone else has. We don’t have lanes. The first meet we go to every year, it’s just a learning experience for a lot of our kids.”
During the triple-digit heat of late summer or the chilly conditions of winter, Edinburg swimmers are exposed to the elements, as well. Though the pool has a water heater, coaches say it doesn’t always work. When mechanical issues occur, or the weather doesn’t cooperate, teams hit the gym or cancel practice altogether.
“During the three coldest months of the year, we’re outside wondering if we’re even going to have practice while other teams are inside getting better,” Garza said.
Five Valley school districts have received new or renovated swimming facilities in the last five years. According to The Valley Morning Star, Harlingen ISD spent $7 million on a natatorium which opened in 2014. According to public records, the city of Pharr spent $10 million on an aquatic center that opened in 2013, the same year the city of Mission spent $2.8 million to renovate the pool at Bannworth park. Weslaco ISD spent $5.8 million on an indoor pool in 2010. According to The Progress Times, La Joya ISD is constructing a $9.5 million natatorium scheduled to open in 2016.
Newer facilities has meant an increased swimming presence at various age groups, while Edinburg is left to recruit eighth graders with little to no experience in a pool.
“You look at the Mission teams or the Pharr teams, and they’re doing good,” Edinburg Economedes swim coach Jeff Pena said. “They have second grade swimming, they have middle school swimming, and it shows at meets. They’re improving. Edinburg schools share one pool, and we’re not progressing as much as we would like to be.”
That’s not to say there isn’t a movement for Edinburg to get its own state-of-the-art natatorium, it’s just that discussion rarely ventures past the preliminary stage.
“Every year it seems like there are rumors about us getting a pool,” Edinburg Vela coach William Oullette said. “But it never really progresses that far for whatever reason. The school system has a lot of bills to pay, so spending $10 million on a swimming pool isn’t always of the utmost necessity.”
In a bond passed by voters in 2008, Edinburg CISD spent $111 million to build four elementary schools, two middle schools and a multi-purpose fine arts center at each high school. Former Edinburg North swim coach Fernando Delgado says there were initial plans to include a swim facility during construction, but it quickly became a victim of cost cutting.
Coaches say a renewed push for a natatorium came in 2012, when former athletic director Joe Filoteo presented them with blueprints for a 53,000-square-foot indoor pool to be built near Cats Stadium. The schematics closely resemble that of the Margaret M. Clark Aquatic Center in Brownsville. Once again, nothing came of those discussions.
“Supposedly, from what I recall, the school system was supposed to donate the land and the city was supposed to build it,” Delgado said. “That’s where the differences are. Everyone agrees on the need for better facilities, it’s just who’s going to pay for it.”
A new or renovated pool would do more than benefit high school athletes, according to Edinburg High coach Oscar Garza.
“We would save on travel costs for sure,” he said. “We don’t host any meets because we don’t have the facilities. We could definitely save on travel expenses if we weren’t always taking a bus somewhere. It’s also a safety issue. Teaching someone to swim is important. It could save their life someday.”
As of now, there are no official plans from either the city of Edinburg or Edinburg CISD regarding the construction of a natatorium. Despite the continued stalemate, coaches are optimistic regarding the resiliency of their swimmers.
“Our kids know we don’t have the best place to swim,” Oscar Garza said. “But they come out for more than the facilities. They come out to have fun, to get better and to experience competition. They spend so much time together throughout the year, they’re like family.”