Problems with existing water-space capacity:
The facility is booked to the max.
Water space is being fully utilized.
More visitors, more events and more programs are no longer possible. Additional teams are unable to be accommodated at St. Pete for their training trips. There isn't any available room in the pools. New business rentals are being turned away. The demand to use the pools is present, but the supply is absent.
Local swimmers need pool access too.
Growth should not come at the expense of locals swimmers.
Local lap swimmers and citizens should be able to use their pool without continuous closures, yet again, for special events, meets and training trips.
Doug Fonder
Audio Clip
Main purpose: This is going to be more of a training pool....
Lets work to avoid the closing of the swim pool to local swimmers due to rentals and special events by making more water space with this expansion.
Lets work to avoid the closing of the swim pool to local swimmers due to rentals and special events by making more water space with this expansion.
ISCA understands the need for increasing diversity in swimming and aquatics.
Swimming is a global sport with millions of people participation worldwide, but in the United States, only 1-percent of the more than 600,000 registered swimmers are of African-American decent.
Up to 64% of African-American children surveyed (ages 4-18) report that they had no or low swimming ability, compared to 45% of Hispanic children and 40% of white children.
Children, ages 1 to 4 have the highest drowning rates. Fatal drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional injury death behind motor vehicle creases for children ages 1 to 14.
Drowning death rates for Black people are 1.5 times higher than the rates for White people. Disparities are highest among Black children ages 5 to 9 (when the rates are 2.6 times higher) and ages 10 to 14 (when the rates are 3.6 times higher).
In swimming pools, Black children ages 10 to 14 years drown at rates 7.6 times higher than White children. Black children and youth are more likely to drown in public pools, and White children and youth are more likely to drown in residential pools.
Participation in formal swimming lessons reduce the risk of drowning among children and young adults.