The U.S. Olympic Trials swimming pool will be relocated to Fort Wayne after the quadrennial qualifying event next month, filling a “dire need” for more water space in Indiana’s second-biggest city.
With a population of more than a quarter million, Fort Wayne currently has just one aging 50-meter pool shared by nine high school teams and a couple club programs. The state capital of Indianapolis (population 880,000), by comparison, boasts 16 50-meter pools.
John Gibson, owner of the Fort Wayne Swim Team and a founding member of the Fort Wayne Swim & Wellness Alliance (FWSWA), says the few facilities offering swim lessons in the area are forced to turn away hundreds every session. With so much demand, some parents are even renting out their backyard pools for swim lessons this summer.
“We haven’t built a new competitive pool in over 20 years,” said Brian Hench, a swim parent and FWSWA board member. “We’ve built one small YMCA 25-yard pool in the last 10 years. Our population in Fort Wayne has grown by 20% over that same time.”
The non-profit FWSWA is busy fundraising to construct a new facility around the relocated Olympic Trials pool that can host major competitions. With another “zero entry” pool for lessons and therapy, Hench said the facility is expected to add 40% more water than currently exists in Fort Wayne, alleviating pressure on other local pools and allowing them to make room for more programming options.
“Our goal is to make it both a world-class competition facility — because we know, being in the competitive swimming world, what that could mean for the community and the economics — but we also want it to be a day-in, day-out benefit for our community to be able to use for their wellness,” Hench said.
An economic impact study conducted by Purdue University Fort Wayne indicated the aquatic facility could bring $18-21 million annually to the surrounding area. In Greensboro, North Carolina (population 302,000), the Greensboro Aquatic Center generated $182 million in added economic activity in its first decade since opening in 2011. Not only will Fort Wayne seek to host collegiate and pro swim meets, but the city also plans to bid for major Para competitions in partnership with the Turnstone Center for Children and Adults with Disabilities, the fourth-largest Paralympic sports club in the country.
When the U.S. Olympic Trials conclude a month from now, the steel-panel skeleton of the pool will be deconstructed and delivered to Fort Wayne in four semi trucks. The materials will then be stored at a warehouse until the facility is ready. Fortunately for the FWSWA, a Fort Wayne Swim Team parent is taking care of all the trucking and warehousing for the project. Funds have already been raised to purchase the pool, but fundraising is ongoing for the facility at fwswim.org.
If all goes well with partnerships and fundraising, Gibson says he expects the facility to be completed around late 2026 or early 2027.
Indianapolis is blessed with 50 meter pools. By comparison, St. Louis, which has a metro area population of 2.8 million and a large swimming community, only has one or two indoor 50 meter pools (depends if you count Edwardsville in the metro area), and maybe 5-8 outdoor long course pools.
Here’s the Indy and Indy metro area pools I can name that are 50m
Brownsburg High School
Fishers HS
The multiple that Carmel has
IU natatorium
Westfield Aquatic Center
Azionaqua (outdoor pool in Zville where the club does LCM)
Pike HS
North Central HS
Center Grove HS
Meridian Kessler, outdoor where Riviera club practices
I think Crawfordsville can go LCM, but I’m not sure
Man, there really are a lot here huh
I’m also definitely missing some more HS pools.
What are we considering “Indianapolis?” Carmel, Noblesville, Center Grove, Fishers?
No, within Indianapolis city limits. Considering 6 high schools have a 50m pool, the IU Natatorium, Riviera Club, and many outdoor pools, there’s quite a few within the city limits. Add in all of the suburbs and you get to at least 40 indoor and outdoor combined. Expand out to the entirety of central Indiana and you can’t go 30 minutes without hitting a place that has a 50m pool (indoor or outdoor).
Northeast and southern Indiana have substantially fewer which is why the need is so large. Elkhart Health and Aquatics was built and is the anchor facility for aquatic activity in the region because of a lack of 50m pools. Same with Deaconness Aquatic Center in Evansville—which… Read more »
16 is amazing!
Here in the DC area, off the top of my head we only have 7 that I’m aware of within the city and burbs on both the MD side and VA side, and at least one of those is not at all competition-ready. There are a few out towards Baltimore, such as UMD, and some further south on 95, but this entire region is definitely underserved for 50m pools compared to Indy.
We all trip over hundreds of SCM summer pools.
Seriously?? DC and the surrounding counties (DC, Arlington, Fairfax, Prince Georges, Montgomery) have an abundance of 50M pools. I could list 15 of them around the Beltway, but the post would be too lengthy. Add several more if you include Prince William and Loudoun County. And UMD is not “out toward Baltimore,” it’s 8 miles from the DC line.
Swimming competitive interest has risen in FtWayne tremendously the last few years. One 50 meter pool is not enough. People forget FtWayne has had an Olympic star from our good city.
We are certainly “pool poor” in Louisiana. I think we have four 50M pools in the state. 2 of them are pretty much worthless as far as being used for competition. And the other 2 are almost worthless. The pool at LSU is a good pool, but a terrible facility. And it’s not available for anything other than Varsity and the age group club. There’s only 6 pools in the state with a gutter system. Pathetic.
What’s the price tag for buying a pool like this?
I’d also be curious what the cost savings is versus not utilizing the trials pool
16 50 meter pools in Indianapolis. Holy cow. There is not 1 within 2.5 hours of me