On September 18th, the Martin County School Board is voting on the future of the Dick Wells Training Center aka Community Pool aka MCHS pool. This pool was donated to the Community in the 1970s by the Kiwanis Club.

Decisions being made about the pool seem to be by people who don’t know or care about swimming as a sport. Anyone knowledgeable about swimming understands that swimmers cannot improve in overcrowded pools, which would be the case at the Sailfish pool. Sailfish is beautiful and we all enjoy using the facility, but it already hosts large meets, practices for two high school teams and a club team. Adding more teams to Sailfish would diminish practices for all swimmers, in a sport where consistency and the opportunity to physically challenge oneself (with room to do a flip turn) are key.

The community has grown along with the demand for swimming services, since this decision was last on the table. Now is not the time to reduce our pools. If anything, we should be trying to increase opportunities for kids to participate in wholesome activities like being part of a swim team!

Please try to attend the School Board meeting on September 18th at 4pm. Everyone, even if you are going to the meeting, please respectfully let the School Board know you are against closure of the pool by phone, email, social media, and by signing this petition.

Points to Consider

Reducing access to the Dick Wells Training Center Pool would be a disservice to:

• families trying to keep their kids mentally and emotionally strong by being part of a wholesome team sport
• families trying to keep their kids healthy, especially with the increase in childhood obesity.
• families trying to keep their kids safe from drowning by giving them the chance to be strong swimmers.
• all high school athletes. High school athletes either do or should use the pool for cross training.
• all high school and club swimmers in the county, due to overcrowding
• adult swimmers trying to stay fit
• to Extended Day kids who prefer the smaller (safer) venue to Sailfish.