Me, Her, the Boy and a Dog
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After nearly two years of delays and missed deadlines, the Christiansburg Aquatic Center finally opened on Saturday, July 17, to much fan fare and publicity. It’s two miles from our house and I was excited to be able to get in a great cardio exercise early in the morning that didn’t involve putting thousands of pounds of pressure on each knee as I jogged around the neighborhood.
Yesterday, after work, dinner and mowing the yard, I hopped in the shower to clean off and head to the new pool and do some laps. When I got there at 8 p.m. (they’re “open” until 9) it was closed to the public for a swim meet. No biggie, I’ll just get up early on Friday and head over there.
So, this morning, I get out of bed at 5:45 and head over to the pool. I walk in and the smiling face of the girl behind the desk looked me up and down and immediately, I knew something was wrong.
“Are you here to swim?” she asked as if delivering bad news.
Dressed in swim trunks, flip flops, t-shirt and towel over my shoulder, the early morning grumpiness wanted to respond with, “No, I thought I’d dress like I was going to go swimming but just stare at the water.”
“Yes,” I responded warily.
“Well, we’re actually closed today.” she said.
“Ah.”
Then another staff member, a young man who was standing nearby, came over and handed me a little piece of paper with their hours of operation during the swim meets.
Basically, the “comp pool” which I assume means competition pool (where you can swim laps) is closed today, tomorrow and Sunday for a swim meet. Oh, but it gets better. It’s also closed next weekend - July 30 - Aug. 1 - for … wait for it … a swim meet.
Look, I’m glad local swim teams have a new place to swim, but if it’s a “community” pool and you want families to shell out $450 a year in a membership, it had better be open to the public more than four days a week.
And swim meets are a year round thing, so it’s not like it’s “just that time of year.” If this is how the community can expect the new aquatic center to operate year round, I see interest waning if the customers can’t have regular access to the pool.
Where exactly did these swim clubs practice and compete BEFORE the pool opened? Are those facilities no longer suitable for practices?
