By Katie Compagnone
Although our water polo, swim, and dive teams are extremely impressive, finding a location to practice has proved to be a struggle. Swim is required to fit its 50-person team into just 5 lanes at the Peninsula YMCA. Girls water polo is forced to practice all the way out at Mesa College due to the lack of pools in the Point Loma area. Boys water polo has to go all the way out to Memorial Pool in Barrio Logan just to practice. And on top of it all, dive doesn’t even get to practice at the Peninsula YMCA with swim because there aren’t any diving boards, even though both sports take place during the spring season. While almost every other PL sport has the opportunity to practice at the school or in the immediate neighborhood, our aquatic teams are obligated to travel for every meet, game, and practice.
There’s discussion of putting a community pool owned by the city of San Diego in Liberty Station, and local Mary Kay Faryan has been a strong activist for an aquatic facility for PLHS. Over the past 15 years, there has been a strong debate on whether or not to install a pool for the use of the Point Loma community and PLHS aquatic teams.
According to Faryan, “It’s been a long, long winding road." The resources are already there- the property is bookmarked for an aquatic facility, there is an abundance of funding, and a strong committee full of voluntary locals, but it purely comes down to political will.
“I’m a community advocate, someone with some skills that can contribute, but I don't have control,” she said when asked about her thoughts on the possible instillation. “We have been to Olympic sized pools because we travel around the whole county to them because we don't have anything and there are high performing athletes making CIF who deserve to train in our [Point Loma community] own backyard.” Because the pool wouldn’t be strictly used for PLHS purposes, a schedule would be enforced, allowing all members of the community to use it.
As a member of the PLHS swim team, I know the challenges of not having a pool strictly dedicated to practicing teams. By having 50 people squeezed into just a few lanes, it strips us of the opportunity to become faster and practice correctly. Because we are also required to travel for all of our meets and games, the students who partake in swimming, water polo, and dive are sometimes forced to leave their classes at the end of the day early, depriving them of necessary instructional time. With the addition of a pool closer to the school, it would not only allow the aquatic teams to stay for the entirety of the school day but also allow the practices to become more efficient, leading to an overall stronger team.
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