The pool at Firestone High School is back in business and ready for swimmers.
The natatorium had been closed for renovation while the new high school was being built as part of Akron’s nearly $800 million districtwide construction project.
Cindy Dial, natatorium manager and head swim coach, said the teams practiced at the University of Akron from March of last year until November, when they were allowed back in.
The high school swim team and the competitive swim program FAST (Firestone Akron Swim Team) have already been in the water. The school also has a synchronized swimming club.
Now it’s the community’s turn to dive back in.
The Firestone Swim Academy is once again offering spring classes and will offer them again this summer in Firestone’s refurbished swimming facilities.
In addition to the swimming lessons, the natatorium also offers adult swim workouts, lifeguarding certification classes, the youth swim team and beginning diving classes. Open swim is a possibility but issues such as security need to be worked out, Dial said. Participants do not need to be residents of the city of Akron.
The work on the natatorium was part of the planned cost of the school’s construction but it was not co-funded by the state, said Mark Williamson, spokesman for Akron Public Schools. The project was funded locally with money from bonds sold by the city through the .25 percent income tax increase voters approved in 2003.
Along with the pool renovation, the project included renovations of the locker room and an auxiliary gym and its locker rooms; HVAC improvements; roofing; exterior work; and other enhancements to an entire wing of the old high school that remains. The total cost was $3.2 million, Williamson said.
The wing from the former facility is attached to the new high school, which opened this school year.
Parents and alumni raised $45,000 to pay for a new scoreboard and record board for the pool, Dial said. In addition, Firestone alumnus and former swim team member Todd Tober, president of Tober Building Co. in Richfield, donated the replacement of the wood bleachers with aluminum ones, an $18,000 value that paid for labor and materials.
“We were there for four years, twice a day and once on Saturday,” said Tober, who went on to swim at Duke University.
He has memories of lots of time spent in those bleachers.
“We had team meetings. People gave speeches on their experiences. Alumni would come in and give talks about their experiences as swimmers,” he said. “We would sit up there and watch meets. Good memories.”
With the improvements, Dial now has the ability to control the humidity as well as the temperature of the air. Thursday afternoon it was 79 degrees, the same as the water. When swimming lessons begin, the water temperature will go up to 82.
“We want it nicer for the little guys because there’s no body fat on them,” she said. “We hate to see the shivering kids.”
The all-tile pool, floor and mosaic wall are the same. Changes have been made to the filter room.
“We’ve gone green,” Dial said. “We aren’t using as many chemicals in the pool. We do have UV for disinfection as well as chlorine.”
Other improvements include opening the wall behind the diving board for access to the control room, which houses all the computers for meets, and a training room. There is a wall of all new windows, plus new lights, ceiling and ventilation. Spectators have access to wi-fi.
The natatorium is now accessible for people with disabilities with the addition of an elevator and a lift that goes onto the deck.
Everything in the locker rooms has been redone, too, Dial said, and there is a new entrance into the building that is also accessible to people with disabilities. Once the demolition of the old high school is complete, there will be a small parking lot for the natatorium overlooking the athletic fields.
A fun feature that remains is the underwater room below the pool, where kids who took lessons can go and get a fish-eye view of their instructors showing off their skills through the two bright-blue squares that are the windows.
Firestone’s swimmers like the changes.
“It’s nice having a new facility,” said Molly Chelovitz, 17, a junior from Akron. “The new facilities have given Firestone a better look and it’s given more of a draw to the community, which has given us more swimmers and more people at the school.” Molly swims the 50-yard freestyle, 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke events.
Distance swimmer Joe Garro, 16, a junior from Akron, is happy for the better lighting.
“It’s nice to be able to see what you’re doing,” said Joe, who swims the 200 and 500 freestyle. “The water’s a lot less murky than it used to be. It’s overall nicer.”
Diver Jacob Stephens, 17, a junior from Akron, likes the new board. It had been 4 inches too short throughout the year.
“We just got that fixed, so that’s really nice,” he said. “The old one was really old so it was not in great shape.”
Monica L. Thomas can be reached at 330-996-3827 or mthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @MLThomasABJ and www.facebook.com/MLThomasABJ.