George F. Haines International Swim Center — a pool in Santa Clara more than 60 years old — was abruptly closed on January 11th, 2024 due to maintenance issues with the aquatic facility. Currently, more than 1,500 swimmers, divers, and aquamaids of the International Swim Center are lost and distressed without a local pool.
During the Santa Clara City Council meeting Tuesday night on January 30th, city faculty discussed the mechanical issues with the swim center and the swim club’s future. Many swim club members came to the meeting to show support for their group. Nicholas Sifferman, a butterflyer in the National group at Santa Clara Swim Club expressed his concern saying, “It is disheartening to witness the legacy of the swim club and the reputation of our city being compromised by the neglect of this facility.” The club is renting various pools around the area like in Fremont and Sunnyvale, for members to train at. Kevin Zacher, the head coach of the swim club, explains that swim training has been a mess because of the changing pools. It is very stressful for swimmers to adjust to the constantly changing schedule, and for parents who need to drive more to get their children to practice.
The 80 members of the Santa Clara Diving community also struggle to find facilities for training. Unlike swimming pools, which can be found all over the area, it is more difficult to find diving facilities that offer proper diving boards. Over the weekend, several divers had to drive for over an hour to Novato in Marin County to practice. Todd Sophn, the head coach for the Santa Clara Diving Club, says that “We’re kind of losing our training base so the kids aren’t feeling very confident about their diving,”
In the meeting on Tuesday, the city showed them the shocking state that the swim facility was in. The city reported 21 items that were not up to maintenance code, which determines if an infrastructure is safe to use. The diving tower had corroded, making it unstable, and had a high chance of collapsing. The overhead roofs on the bleachers were deteriorating, the electrical system was corroded, and the foundations had eroded on several of the concrete steps. On top of this, the city noted that there were not enough exits in the facility for potential emergencies.
The city is deliberating on three options to reopen the pool — either rebuilding it, redesigning it, or establishing an entirely new swim club.The estimated cost that the Santa Clara City will have to fix the piling issues with the facility amounts to $6.2 million. The rebuilding of the swim club has been talked about for over three years now with the existing problems with the pool. The old pool that current Santa Clara swimmers have been using has been made back in 1966, and has been breaking down constantly over the past couple of years.
Santa Clara Swim Club has a rich history and strong connections with the Santa Clara community. It was founded in 1966 by George Haines, known to be one of the most successful swim coaches in the sport. Out of the many Olympians that the club has produced, the most famous is Mark Spitz, who won 11 Olympic medals. The swim club has 23 world records set in the pool, one of which is by Michael Phelps. Other Olympians like Katy Ledecky, Ryan Lochte, and Caleb Dressel have also raced in this pool. Several Santa Clara swimmers like 14-year-old Mia Su and Shareef Elaydi are outstanding athletes, preparing for Olympic Trials this summer.
Coach Zacher and the Santa Clara swimming community hope that the city will take action as soon as possible and open the International Swim Center for all of Santa Clara Aquatic members. Given its history and utility to the community, swimmers hope the center can be opened for all Santa Clara Aquatic members soon.
