Olympic hopefuls with no Olympic pool

The city of Livermore currently has some of the fastest high school swimmers in the world, swimming on the Granada High School Men's and Women's teams.  Granada high school has four boys and one girl who are all swimming at the National level, including two swimmers who have broken age group records set by Michael Phelps.  Last season the Granada High boys relay teams broke two NCS records and this year, with each relay swimmer returning, they have a legitimate shot to break two National Public High School Records.  There are at least five young Livermore swimmers who are expected to compete at the 2016 Olympic Trials, yet there is no Olympic sized pool in Livermore.  

Dublin, with 44,000 people has a 50 meter pool.  San Ramon, with 49,000 people has two 50 meter pools.  Pleasanton, with 67,000 people has a 50 meter pool.  Tracy with 79,000 people has a 50 meter pool.  Livermore with 80,000 people has no 50 meter pool.  For the past twenty five years, swimmers from Livermore have left this town to practice with club teams in other cities including Pleasanton and San Ramon.  Of the five national level swimmers who compete on Granada High School's team, only two practice year round in Livermore, the other three swim on a club team in Pleasanton.  With so much talent in our area, why do swimmers feel the need to travel to a neighboring city in order to be trained successfully?  A large part of the reason is the lack of adequate facilities in Livermore.  

Over the past five years, Granada High School's Coach JD Avilla has grown the Granada High School team from 40 swimmers to 80 swimmers.  Granada holds its practices in a 6 lane 25 yard pool.  In comparison, when used for yards swimming, a 50 meter pool has 24 lanes.  This amount of space could easily fit a team of 300 swimmers.  The popularity of swimming in Livermore has grown to such an extent that there are now approximately 2,000 swimmers competing in the Valley Swim League's summer programs.  The Livermore Aquacowboys swim team, which has been active in Livermore for the past seven years have grown from 13 swimmers to 140 swimmers, with another 300 swimmers involved in their summer league.  There is a very real possibility that sometime in the near future, there will be 150 or more swimmers on Granada High School's team, and with the current facilities, there will not be enough space for them.  Unfortunately the facilities at Livermore High School are even worse.  Livermore High School swims at a pool that is unsafe to use for swim meets, meaning they have to rent out another facility for their competitions.  

A 50 meter aquatic complex that could have joint use by both high schools could  host swim meets which bring business to local communities, could offer programs for adult swimmers, could run lessons programs, and would be large enough to help any year round team cultivate national and international level athletes.  These athletes, many of whom earn college scholarships, go on to inspire younger swimmers on their teams.  A 50 meter facility could also be used in PE for the high schools and could be used to run programs for at risk youth in Livermore.  

It is time some of these outstanding young swimmers from Livermore are given credit for their awesome accomplishments, and it is time the city of Livermore began to support our youth at a higher level.  

It would be great to see an article about some of these issues in the local media and it would be great for the Independent to interview some of these young swimmers, like Nick Silverthorn, who last year broke a 13 year old national record in the 100 breaststroke, and who wakes up at 4:00 am three days a week to practice  in Pleasanton because when he moved to Livermore at age 7, there was no competitive team in the city.  It would be great to interview Trent Trump, who recently placed 6th at the Junior National Championships (National Championships for swimmers 18 & under) and who has been selected to represent the USA in a dual meet to be held in Japan in February, and who trains in 5 different pools throughout the season in Livermore because there is no 50 meter pool.  It would be great to interview Granada High School Coach JD Avilla, who, when he was an elite level swimmer at Livermore High School 13 years ago, used to drive 20-30 minutes each way to practice in San Ramon because there was no high level team at the time in Livermore.  

I think if you interview some of these people about the history of swimming in Livermore and about the future possibilities of swimming in Livermore, you will find a newsworthy article that has the potential to create positive change in our community.