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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels October 1, 2004 Closing of pool causes ripples By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings In two weeks, hundreds of youth swimmers and their families would have visited Ashland for the weekend-long Shakespeare Invitational swim meet, hosted by Superior Aquatics of Medford. All together, approximately 3,000 people would have spent three days and thousands of dollars in the city, had the Southern Oregon University pool been serviced in time for the mid-October event. On the coldest day since the Rogue Valley Masters swim team started using the outdoor Daniel Meyer swimming pool, six swimmers attend this morning's 5:30 practice. The water was 69 degrees. Photos by Andrew Mariman | Ashland Daily Tidings But the pool is closed, and will stay that way until at least Nov. 1. "This is the biggest and most popular swim meet from Redding to Portland," Superior Aquatics coach Suha Tokman said. "We canceled our meet in mid-August." The cancellation will also affect area hotels, restaurants and shops because the meet comes at a crucial time, just following the close of the outdoor theater season. "We drop about $20,000 into the Ashland community," Tokman explained, noting the Superior program itself only boasts about 100 athletes. The other 900-plus meet entrants would be staying in town from Oct. 14 or 15 through Oct. 17. The meet, always held at the SOU pool, draws too many competitors to find accommodations in any other facility in the Rogue Valley. Although Superior Aquatics had experienced difficulties with university scheduling and requirements in years past, the situation has never reached such an extreme. The entire meet had to be axed when university officials announced the sanitation problems the pool had experienced would not be corrected until the beginning of November. "There's nothing going on with that pool," Tokman said. "If it were your pool, you could have made your decision first and then closed the pool. But it's just sitting there." University officials reported the repair process would begin early in October, following three to four weeks of consultation and discussion of possible solutions. "We'd rather allow a little bit of time to ensure the new system is installed properly," SOU Vice President Ron Bolstad said. "We certainly regret the inconvenience, not only to our students and staff, but to the high school teams and community groups." Beyond the embarrassment of canceling a large-scale competition just weeks before the event - advertising and registration for the Shakespeare Invitational kicks off seven to eight months prior to the meet - Superior Aquatics saw its sole fundraiser of the year go down the drain. "The school absolutely had no plans, knew nothing about what to do and they closed the pool," Tokman said. "It's still sitting there. It's our only single fundraiser," Tokman said, explaining the $3,000 profit the team usually nets funds everything from a scholarship fund and subsidized club participation fees to team T-shirts and an awards banquet. "We have absolutely no fundraiser at all this year." Superior Aquatics may put on a smaller-scale event in March, though the meet would involve approximately half of what the estimated Shakespeare Invitational attendance was. Floundering programs While the Shakespeare Invitational cancellation will have the largest financial consequences for the Ashland community, several other groups have been displaced and disappointed by the pool closure. The Rogue Valley Masters swimmers, a group of 30 to 35 experienced adult swimmers have held daily practices at the university facility for two decades. "This college closure has really thrown a wrench into our program," outgoing club president Craig Mather said. "They close it every year [in the middle of August], but it's never been closed this long." Even though Ashland has no lack of swimming pools - with the SOU pool, the YMCA facility, Jackson Wellsprings and the Daniel Meyer pool - the university facility is best-suited for the needs of the Rogue Masters because of its temperature and scheduling options. The majority of the Rogue Masters swimmers are 40 and older, and, for many, the only form of exercise they have access to is swimming, due to the low-impact nature of the activity. Currently, the Rogue Masters descend on the Meyer pool from 5:15 to 6:30 a.m. three days a week. The facility has already closed for the season and is not heated, but the parks department has agreed to allow the swimmers access during that time slot. "The city has been fantastic to let us use it," Mather said. "But at some point the water may be too cold. I don't know what we're going to do." The swimmers show up in the pitch black and swim until dawn, many wearing wet suits to protect themselves from the sub-70-degree waters. "It's cold and it's dark, but we just want to swim," Mather said. "We'll go on as long as we can, but there's not a lot of other options for us." The lack of a facility has not touched the Rogue Masters swim meets, though it did play into the club's decision to not host any events this fall. "It's affected a huge number of people," Mather said. "Our little masters group is just one." The pool closure has also put out the 20-25 community members and 15-20 students who purchase pool passes for the lap swim times at the SOU pool, as well as the water aerobics programs organized by the Extended Campus Programs office at the university and the athletic programs that take advantage of the pool for cross-training and rehabilitation. The Ashland High water polo teams have altered their schedule to work around the pool problems and the university has said the pool will be functional by the start of the prep swim season, letting Ashland and Phoenix high coaching staffs relax a bit. 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