3C2A Pasadena City College has decided to postpone the 2026-27 swimming season. The decision also postpones the 2026-27 water polo season.
In a post on Instagram from savepccswim, the men’s team was informed of the decision to postpone the season and is asking supporters to sign a petition to give the team its season back, rather than asking for donations.
Below is the full post.
The PCC Men’s Swim Team has been informed that our 2026–2027 season has been postponed. We are sharing this not out of frustration, but out of love for this program and our desire to continue competing for Pasadena City College.
This past season, we gave everything we had as student-athletes. Our 200 medley relay earned a South Coast Conference Championship title and went on to compete at the California Community College State Championships, the highest level of competition in the 3C2A. A swimmer also qualified for states in two individual events. We are proud of what we accomplished, and we believe this program has a future worth fighting for.
We have started a petition asking PCC Athletics to restore our season. We compete not just for ourselves, but for our school and our community. All we want is the opportunity to represent PCC.
If you believe student-athletes deserve to compete, please sign the petition, we don’t need any money donations, link in bio.
#PCCSwim #PasadenaCityCollege #StudentAthletes #CommunityCollege #3C2ASwim
In a conversation on Reddit, a moderator, who appears to be a member of the team, mentioned that the school let go of head coach Terry Stoddard for not bringing in enough women to the women’s swimming and diving team and women’s water polo.
The petition page noted that both the men’s and women’s teams should not have their seasons taken away for reasons beyond their control.
“Despite these accomplishments, PCC Athletics let our head coach go because he was unable to recruit a full women’s roster, and then decided to postpone the entire aquatics program for the 2026-2027 season. Neither the men’s nor the women’s team was responsible for that. Both teams showed up and gave everything they had all season long,” the petition page reads. “This is a resource that is being taken away from us. We are student-athletes who have earned the right to compete, and we are advocating for the chance to continue doing that. Competing for PCC is something we have worked for, and it should not be taken away when we did nothing wrong.”
The men’s team recently finished 28th at the 3C2A State Championships last month. Just a few weeks earlier, they finished 5th at the South Coast Conference Championships, that 5th place team finish included a win in the 200 medley relay.
“Postpone” is a pretty bogus word.
Recruiting women in the current 3C2A environment is difficult to say the least. Out side of major city areas that can get a few numbers, most of the state is presently having trouble recruiting 18 women. If the only reason for his dismissal is recruiting 18 women, it’s a bogus reason to dismiss.
They have not competed at their on-campus pool since the 2019-2020 season; why is this? Will they ever be able to use that facility again?
According to instagram account admin – The PCC pool is in disrepair. They plan to relaunch the program with new coach and team next spring or after when the pool is renovated. The postponement seems to be the administrations way of removing the current team leadership and revamping the program as a whole.
Ron Ballatore would be the first to sign..
Let’s get this program back up and going…
Not only would Stix sign but so would Don Gambril-who preceded Ballatore at PCC. The two worked together. Pretty good coaching staff.
Some guys I swam with in High School went to PCC and were coached by Ballatore. I remember hearing good things about him.