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School swim teams in need of pools

Mention West Virginia to someone that lives outside of our state, and those individuals may respond with comments such as: hillbillies, moonshine, John Denver’s “Country Roads,” or the beautiful mountain landscape that drapes a good portion of our state.

Take a moment and reflect back to the late 1980s and early 1990s. A vast majority of the U.S. population did not want to give soccer a fighting chance when it was being introduced back then. Many thanks to those brave individuals that believed, pushed, and persevered to push that vision to fruition back then. If it were not for those individuals, youth soccer would not be a staple sport across the U.S. and within our West Virginia communities and school system.

Now mention swimming in West Virginia, and most may envision doing so in one of our many rivers, lakes, or creeks. Many individuals that were born and raised in West Virginia may recall, I sure do, doing just that during the summer months as a kid. With the passage of time, the world changes and as it changes we need to adapt and change with it so as to not be left in the past or left dying on the vine.

Our state’s competitive swimming community has rapidly grown over the years in popularity with our youth across West Virginia. It is where soccer was back then. While this is a great opportunity for the youth of West Virginia, our young student athletes face a huge barrier; the lack of indoor pools throughout the State to swim/practice in. Imagine how much interest in swimming would exist if the indoor pool space was made available to our youth.

The WVSSAC (West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission) informed me that West Virginia has 52 high schools that have a swimming program. Unfortunately all of these high schools use someone else’s facility, such as the YMCA, the Boys and Girls Club, a City Community Center, a college/university pool, etc.; except for Brooke High School and Wheeling Park High School, who have their own pool on site.

Thus, the W.Va. Department of Education relies heavily upon other establishments/organizations to provide a service that our swimmers in the various counties throughout West Virginia require; a pool. Unfortunately, many of these facilities throughout the state are much older and are requiring much more maintenance and upkeep than in the past. In some cases the pool runs the risk of being closed for good.

Please insure that our West Virginia high school swimmers continue to have these facilities to continue their passion for the sport of swim. You can call David L. Roach (W.Va. State Superintendent of Schools) at 1-833-627-2833 and ask for his and the West Virginia Department of Education’s unwavering financial support to these establishments/organizations regarding our high school swimmers needs.

Henry Sasyn

Vienna

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