The Works athletic facility in St. John’s, Newfoundland has announced that they do not have any current plans to re-open their ‘Aquarena’ pool. The pool was built in the 1970s when St. John’s hosted the 1977 Canada Summer Games. Since the club’s inception in 1978, the Aquarena has been home to the St. John’s Legends Swim Club and until its closure in March 2020 was the team’s main training facility.
The 250-strong club recently hired Roman Ramirez as their new head coach, who took over for previous head coach Dave Ling in July. The club won the 2019 Provincial Swimming Championships and took home the men’s team title at the 2019 Swim Nova Scotia Provincials Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
In the Works’ press release, the facility explained that it is not currently financially feasible given government-mandated restrictions;
“The health and safety of our employees and customers is [their] number one priority. Given the guidance on gatherings outlined in public health documents, The Works will not re-open the Aquarena pool in the short term. At this time, it is not financially feasible to operate the Aquarena pool with limited capacities.”
As of September 2, 2020, the island province of Newfoundland has 1 active case of COVID-19 which was reported on August 28. This brings the total number of cases since the outbreak of the virus to 269. According to the provincial government’s report, this case was a result of international travel and the infected individual has been isolating since their arrival in the province.
Swimming Newfoundland & Labrador shared the Works’ statement on Twitter and Instagram. Their posts invite members of the province’s swimming community to respond to the news by leaving a caption explain why the pool is important to competitive swimming/aquatic sports.
Swimming NL Family!
Please leave a comment below that finishes this sentence,
“The Aquarena is important to competitive swimming/aquatic sports because…..”@SJLSwimming @CbsBluefins @GLSClub @cbrapids @FureyAndrew @melvillemantas @Sheilagholeary @DannyBreenNL @sportnl #BeHeard https://t.co/7BLB0xErvD— Swimming NL (@SwimmingNL) September 2, 2020
Some responses to prompt include the following;
— Carla Row 🇨🇦 (@carlamarymorri1) September 2, 2020
Love this. I’m a past competitive swimmer with the legends, I clued up in 2008. Swimming honestly changed my life and some of my best memories are from swimming related events – meets, socials, trips and even practices. This will negatively impact many youth!
— Kristina Ennis (@kristinaennis) September 3, 2020
Swam competitively, lifeguarded & coached @ Aquarena. There I developed team/people, time mgt & coaching skills that I still use today. Experience was so positive, my 3 kids swam there. Sad that the pool built for the 77 Canada Games to develop aquatic sports in NL remains closed
— Travor Brown (@brown_travor) September 3, 2020
Additionally, Deputy Mayor of St. John’s, Sheilagh O’Leary who swam competitively at the Aquarena as a child shared her thoughts on the matter;
https://twitter.com/Sheilagholeary/status/1301481665131405312?s=20
The Aquarena is the only long course pool in Newfoundland and one of four in Atlantic Canada. Of the four, two have reopened; the Dalplex, at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the Canada Games Centre in Saint John, New Brunswick. Halifax’s second 50-meter pool, Centennial Pool has yet to reopen but is expected to resume operations in October.
In the wake of the announcement, the St. John’s Legends have said that they are currently exploring all options to alternative training facilities. The city has one other 6 lane 25-meter pool and a 6 lane 20-meter pool which are both open with limited capacities.
In addition to the St. John’s Legends, the Aquarena is also the main training facility of Edge Diving Club, and Sea Stars Synchronized Swimming Club.
The situation facing the Legends Swim Club is similar to that of swim clubs in Sudbury, Ontario. The Laurentian University Olympic Gold Pool which is home to both the Sudbury Laurentian Swim Club (SLSC) and the LU Voyageurs varsity team recently announced that they would remain closed as some other pools in Ontario begin the reopening process.
The decision by Laurentian University faced a similar backlash from the community. Phil Parker, head coach of the Laurentian Voyageurs swim team, and Peter Hellstrom, the LU Athletic Director released a joint statement saying that “the Laurentian University Olympic Gold Pool is just that, the best 50-meter pool north of Toronto, the golden gem of the north,” “This facility has been and continues to be the home to Olympians and future Olympians. The thought of our pool not being utilized as a training/competing facility to water sports athletes from all over Ontario is quite disturbing.”
