Swimmers are again without a pool in Ontario as the University of Windsor pool: the St. Denis Centre has been closed due to the CUPE 1393 strike. The pool is home to one of Ontario’s division one teams, the Windsor Essex Swim Team. The team has produced many high caliber swimmers including Olympian and former world record holder Amanda Reason (who transferred to the Etobicoke Swim Club). Due to the cancellation, the club has been forced to train in a smaller pool at Riverside Secondary School.
The smaller pool is negatively affecting the team as training conditions are not optimal. With a larger team, the crammed pool is no comparison to the training facilities that the team is used to. The constant worry is that the training conditions will affect the times of many swimmers. With a large amount of senior swimmers and college scholarships hanging on the horizon, this could seem detrimental to senior members of the team. Based on photos from CBC News, the highschool pool is not a pool suitable for training a highly competitive team.
The Forge Fitness Centre where the team does it’s dry-land sessions, has also been closed due to the strike. The team has cancelled their dry-land sessions for the duration of the strike.
With the strike lingering, two major Ontario teams now have their training facilities closed as the highly recognized Etobicoke Swimming is without the infamous Etobicoke Olympium (due to renovations, not the strike). With Ontario events such as the Division I Team Champs coming up, the results might differ from the norm, seeing certain teams take the stand over teams facing facility issues.
Representatives of the University of Windsor met with members of the CUPE 1393 on September 28th to try and discuss possibilities of ending the strike but were not successful. The strike is currently on it’s 32cnd day.
