I think the plans for the new sports complex is a wonderful project for the youth of the county and City of Newberry. Newberry County has made much improvement in the facilities for the youth of this county and other major projects in the past years since the One Cent Tax was approved.
I do feel that there is one population of our youth that has not been addressed with an athletic opportunity…our county swimmers!
Currently the only pool, that I know of, in the county for competitive swimming is the pool at the YMCA. This pool has served the county well in the past, but I think it is time to plan for the future of the youth that want to pursue swimming as an option, as opposed to softball, football, baseball, tennis or basketball. Colleges offer scholarships for swimming also.
We currently have three schools in the county that have swim teams, and the YMCA has a swim team also, bet there are a lot of people out there that do not know this, especially regarding the school teams. These high school teams are made up of middle and high school students and the YMCA team is made up of youth from age 5 to 18 yrs. Some youth swim on their high school team and also the YMCA team. Each school has identified swim coaches for their teams. The YMCA has a very dedicated and enthusiastic coach that works tirelessly with the YMCA team each and every weekday that weather permits and in the winter when the bubble stays up. All of these teams have to jockey for practice times during their seasons. The YMCA competition season goes year round, so therefore, practices need to be held during winter months also. This is not an option when the weather is really cold or “the bubble” decides to deflate.
With a better facility, the youth of the county that want to swim, would have a pool that would be available year round for practice and competition. Currently Newberry County YMCA can only hold competitions during the summer months, due to no enclosed building.
With a better facility, the pool would be more available to the community as a whole. Perhaps there could be water aerobics, water therapy, year round swim classes, in other words more availability for others in the community to use the facility year round. It perhaps would encourage more students to participate, along with any other schools in the county that currently do not participate. Practices and usage could be held later in the evenings, and after dark.
Swimming is a great form exercise for all ages and not everyone can afford a pool. I think that at some gathering of the county administrator, County Council, YMCA Board and/or School Board, perhaps this could be discussed, and some future plans made for some of the One Cent Sales Tax. We want our youth to be prepared to take advantage of any future educational opportunities that might come their way in the form of scholarships or educational aid.
I would ask that this be taken as a request for our county to investigate the opportunity to build a facility for this group of youth in our county that want to swim and for the community of people that might want to take advantage of this in some manner.
Sincerely,
Brenda Gallman
Newberry