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View Winners → New Aquatics Center and Sports Medicine Complex Opens at Arcadia High
Arcadia Weekly Sep 30, 2015
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– Courtesy Photo
By Titus Wu
Arcadia High School officially opened its state-of-the-art aquatics center and sports medicine complex on Sept. 11 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, ending years of construction of brand new facilities that include the Science Building and Performing Art Center (PAC).
“I am proud to say how beautiful and how fortunate the district is to have a facility at a world-class level,” said Superintendent David Vannasdall during the ceremony.
This new pool is much larger, with dimensions of 25 yards by 33 meters and depths varying from 3.5 to 7 feet. These dimensions, unlike the old pools, meet new depth requirements, qualifying Arcadia to host more swim meets. Additionally, the extra space means AHS can host water polo games for the first time and CIF games as well.
A more sophisticated feature of the new pool is a sensor at the end of each swim lane, wired directly to the scoreboard. “With these sensors,” said Mr. Michael Brewer, building manager of the pool, “we are able to time the athlete’s swim to the millisecond.”
Along with this Olympic-level addition is the scoreboard itself—an electronic scoreboard located at the south end of the pool. Before, much of the scoring was done manually, obviously a hassle for the home team. Now, all of that will “be much, much easier,” as said by Mr. Brewer.
Coach Janice Clark, head of both the water polo and swim teams, pointed out extra bonuses that resulted from the construction. The swim team has its own bathrooms, “which is good because the teams now don’t have to walk all the way to the P.E. locker rooms,” said Ms. Clark. There are new outside showers and systems that control the level of chlorine, a big problem in the old pools.
Most importantly, though, “We can finally stay home on campus to practice and compete,” said Ms. Clark, referring to how in the past few years, the teams had to go off-campus to swim due to the construction.
Senior Royal Gong, a member of both the swim and water polo teams, was satisfied: “It is nice to be able to play in a good pool.” Non-athlete students, such as junior Jennifer Zhou, generally liked how the pool looks a lot nicer and matches the rest of the school’s upgrades.
In addition to the pool, there’s the new Career Technical Education (CTE) Sports Medicine Complex, a building designed to support athletes and the AHS Sports Medicine class. It is full of weight training rooms and other broad open spaces “that can very possibly be used by Cheer or Color Guard,” said Mr. Brewer. As Mr. Vannasdall explained, “It is a facility that will support all Arcadian athletes as they train.”
Both the complex and the pool are a culmination of the Measure I Bond, an approximately $218 million initiative approved by voters to fund buildings and facilities within the Arcadia Unified School District. The complex and the pool are the final two of the many facilities which have been built.
Mr. Vannasdall described his vision of the bond as creating “facilities that match our high-ranked programs.” He mentioned how, for instance, the theater program was winning numerous awards. “Yet, for years, they’ve been practicing out of a small black room.” As a result, the PAC was built to match that same high-tier quality. “The same goes for our athletic teams,” said Mr. Vannasdall. “With these world-class programs and performances, students deserved the right to have world-class facilities.”
The new pool and sports medicine complex have definitely fulfilled this goal.
