After a very successful fall semester, the Aquatic Center is once again open to students, faculty and staff for the spring semester’s fitness swim season.
Photo Sergio Robles / Collegian file Photo
March 1 kicked off the first open day of the program, which will run until May 31. The hours for this season are Monday through Thursday 4:30-7:30 p.m. and Fridays 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Students are granted free access with a valid Fresno State ID card, and faculty have the option of purchasing either a $15 monthly pool membership or a $35 monthly recreation center and pool membership. Fitness swim is not open to the public.
“I love it because I swam in high school, so coming here and knowing that I can swim for free by showing my ID card was great,” said Laura Donovan, a third-year agriculture communications major from Salinas. “I live right across the street from campus, so it’s really convenient.”
Fitness swim gives students and faculty use of the state-of-the-art competition pool for lap swimming. The pool is set to either 25 or 50 meter lanes, depending on swim team needs. Lap patterns are determined based on lane availability and the number of swimmers.
The kinesiology pool, starting blocks and diving boards are not available for use. However, the locker rooms and showers are open and available for use. Balls, horseplay and lessons are prohibited during the fitness swim hours. The center provides trained lifeguards and pool attendants to maintain safety and assist as needed.
“I have gone to the pool a couple of times for lap swim. It was a good experience,” said Elizabeth Brown, a third-year mathematics student from Merced. “I think that opening up the aquatics center for students is quite necessary. They have a beautiful facility and should use it for the good of all of the students and faculty.”
The facility, which was dedicated in October 2011, opened up to students and faculty for the first time in August of 2012. Prior to this, the Aquatic Center had been reserved for the Bulldog swimming and diving team as well as kinesiology courses.
“The idea was students were asking about being able to swim over there,” said Derek Walters, recreation sports and fitness director. “Fortunately, Dr. Oliaro said that student affairs would go ahead and financially support that program to open it up and have it going at least for this year.”
Walters said they accounted for 393 unique users with a total of 1,352 overall uses, during the fall semester’s fitness swim season of August to November. They considered the debut of the program to be a great success.
Walters also noted that the administration involved in the opening of fitness swim wants to continue the program as long as funding is available. They hope to expand it to include water aerobics and intramural water sports.
“It’s a good complement to what we offer here at the rec center. I think students need to come out and try it and see if they like it,” said Walters.