The sports and recreation facilities for local residents to enjoy received frequent praise during the recent Estevan 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games.
Many of our venues were in excellent condition before the Games arrived. Those that weren’t are now an asset for our city. The track at Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) received a much-needed upgrade, while the tennis courts at both ECS and the Estevan Leisure Centre have been renovated.
The organizations that operate our sports and recreation facilities now face the challenge of making sure those venues remain in great shape. It would be prudent to take the moderate financial surplus generated by the Games (estimated to be in the $60,000 range) and create a fund for the maintenance costs of these facilities.
But there are other options for that money. Perhaps the most exciting option would be to use the funds as the starting point for a new outdoor swimming pool in Estevan.
The RM of Estevan Aquatic Centre, located inside Estevan’s Leisure Centre, is a fine facility that has hosted many provincial competitions. The Summer Games triathlon and swimming competitions were the latest to make use of the pool.
But the pool is indoors. And there just seems to be something missing when competing in an indoor pool during the summer months.
Granted, there are issues associated with an outdoor pool. After all, it is seasonal nature. You spend a lot of money on construction, and more money on maintenance and operations, and you get a few months of service every year. Some will say it’s a waste of money.
But there’s something to be said about going for a swim outdoors on a hot, summer day. For kids, it’s a great experience, and for many, it becomes a cherished childhood memory. Adults use the pool, too, and they get to cool off on a hot summer day.
It’s a great way to encourage summer fitness in the community.
And it can be the site for high-profile summer events in the future. As great as the swimming action was at the Leisure Centre during the Games, it would have been even better at an outdoor pool.
The acoustics are also much better at an outdoor pool.
Estevan has been without an outdoor pool since the old facility at Woodlawn Regional Park shut down many years ago. There are the wading pools at the local playparks, but those don’t meet the needs of the community as a whole.
Now might be the time to take a long, hard look at the return of outdoor swimming in Estevan. Examine the feasibility, the potential location and the economics of such a facility. And if it makes sense, then forge ahead with it. If it doesn’t, then we still have the luxury of having a great place to swim at the RM of Estevan Aquatic Centre.
