By Aaron Stuckel

Pool closure hurting Sharks Swim Club

Feb 28, 2012 | 5:23 AM

The closure of the Frank J. Dunn pool in Prince Albert has been a real pain in the neck for the Prince Albert Sharks Swim Club.

When the pool was officially closed on Feb. 8, the team was left without a place to practice. After contacting pools in towns around Prince Albert, the Goldfins Swim Team in Saskatoon offered to provide some pool times at the Shaw Centre in Saskatoon.

“They have a bit of extra space usually,” said Steven Hay, head coach of the Sharks Swim Team. “They’ve arranged the lanes a little bit so that they can allow us to have some space, so that we don’t have to pay for it either, which has been great.”

But despite finding a place to practise, the drive to Saskatoon has been challenging for the team and the amount of pool time the swimmers get has been cut in half.

“We’re driving to Saskatoon four times a week,” Hay said. “We’re still doing a bit of exercise. It’s not as much swimming as we really need to be doing.”

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Hay said they would normally have swimmers in the pool eight times a week to prepare for big meets.

They’ve stepped up their dry-land training to make up for the lack of time in the pool, but Hay is still worried that the team’s conditioning will not be as high as they would like.

“We’re actually just coming into a very major part of our season. This weekend we have A provincials and the Junior Cup,” he said. “I just can’t guarantee how well they’re going to swim.

They were looking very good three or four weeks ago. I’m just not sure how much conditioning we’ve lost now.”

The two meets were originally scheduled to be hosted in Prince Albert. But with the Frank J. Dunn pool being deemed unsafe, the meet was moved to Yorkton.

The experience has had a profound effect on the team who Hay said was having an excellent year.
“As a team we were really building our numbers.

We had some good talent coming through,” he said. “It was kind of exciting seeing that coming towards these next few major meets … and it’s just been frustrating for me just seeing such a good base being ruined.”

With the boil water order still in effect in Prince Albert, the Frank J. Dunn Pool will remain closed while the city cleans out its water supply.

Hay said he hopes to get back in the pool as soon as possible, but for now they will make-do with what they have.

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