Waterloo’s Sondag Pool was closed over the winter of2010 due to safety concerns.
The club team, the perennial champion Piranhas, had piled up one trophy after another through the years in the Kaskaskia Swim and Dive League.
But all that hardware couldn’t keep the pool afloat and the fish of Waterloo were, ironically, waterless.
The Piranhas turned to the Monroe County YMCA a season ago and found a new home to practice in. This summer the same locale has obliged.
“We are still swimming at the YMCA pool,” Waterloo coach Bart Jones said. “Except for one, we swam all of our meets away this year.”
The lack of comfy confines at home has led to a totally imbalanced race schedule for the team.
Because the YMCA doesn’t have a diving board, Waterloo has been forced to take its strokes on the road.
“Every year when we had a pool, half the meets would be away and half would be at home,” Jones said. “It is kind of an understood thing now in the conference. We are without a pool and that is just the way it is going to be.
“Hopefully next year we will be able to host meets and just not include diving, which we did against Columbia this year. It was pretty successful. It was held at the Y and everyone really enjoyed that meet. It was good.”
Hopes have been sunk for those thinking Sondag could be salvaged. Once the cold weather strikes, the trucks will roll into town with their heavy payload.
The asphalt jungle is going to reclaim its own.
“I have heard from a woman with the park board who spoke with me just the other day,” Jones said. “She said that over the winter they are filling in the pool with concrete and turning it into a state park. There is not going to be a pool in Waterloo.”
Jones is familiar with the situation. Growing up in Columbia, he never had a city-owned pool either. Both of the pools in Columbia are private and though they were intended to become public, the transition never occurred.
Jones said that he understands Waterloo’s assessment of the situation, particularly during the current recession.
“It is the choice of the taxpayers,” Jones said. “Operating a pool is a very expensive thing and it isn’t a moneymaker. Pools routinely lose money, so it is hard to convince the community to develop something, especially in economic times like these.
“Our team has been successful in this conference, but I can totally understand the situation.”
The Piranhas continue to chew through the opposition. Through six meets, the team was 5-1, dropping one of its two encounters with Trenton.
Participation has slipped since Sondag went dry, but talent has prevailed.
“I am happiest that we continue to get enough kids every year to be competitive the way Waterloo always has been,” Jones said. “It is not necessarily the most attractive thing to kids to swim indoors every day and to know that you are never going to have a home meet.
“I know that they like to be successful in Waterloo and they always have been, but it is a tough sell to kids and that is why our numbers have been so much lower recently. Kids have to travel to Columbia, because that is where the Y is, and they have to swim inside. So it is good that we have been able to have as many kids this year as last, even though it has been a lot less than previous years.”
The Kaskaskia Swim and Dive League Championship kicks off this weekend, closing the summer season. Waterloo will be looking to defend its title from a year ago, when the Piranhas won despite a lack of points from the diving portion.
Even with a diminished squad from the salad days, Waterloo is a threat, but it will take all hands on deck.
“We need as many people as possible to be there, that is the most important thing, so we can enter kids in events and spread things out,” Jones said. “Because our numbers are so low, we can’t really rely on a max number of kids. We need all our kids to be there.
“Beyond just showing up, the kids are going to have to swim really well, especially our younger kids. All of our swimmers below the age of 11 are going to have to really show what they have learned this summer and qualify as much as they can for the conference finals.
“The older kids have come a long way this year and have learned the tougher strokes. We hope that they will do well and we are going to need them to do well.”
