Cost of Club Swimming

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pool space.

Let's build more pools in that empty office space!

+1. There is a shortage of indoor pools in the DMV, relative to other large metropolitan areas. It would be great if swim parents could help to advocate for more indoor pools. (Coming from the Midwest, we just had a ton more facilities than I find in the DMV, whether it be indoor pools or ice rinks.)

In some parts of the USA, where there is a warmer climate, outdoor pools are used year-round. And so that helps to keep costs down for them. But in the DMV, we need indoor pools for winter swimming (although I know some clubs do now use outdoor pools to some extent).

[Anonymous]

I think my question would be why doesn't all the high schools have swimming pools? I think all the public HS in DC has it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think my question would be why doesn't all the high schools have swimming pools? I think all the public HS in DC has it

Cost and space

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The cost of pool rental and insurance for starters is very $$$

Came here to say the same. Clubs rent space per lane per hour, which isn’t cheap given the high cost to operate an aquatic facility. Then there’s coach and any other employee compensation. Then whatever fees the club I assume has to pay to the LSC and USA Swimming. Then insurance (which is high for anything pool-related), technology platforms, etc.

It doesn't add up though, compared to what you pay to use lap lanes there are way more kids per lane. Usually, six to eight but way more if it's a popular summer league. Even crowded public lap lanes are seldom that full and general admission is way cheaper per person the expensive private pools usually just one or two people per lane.

I think it is more driven by the cost of the meets and swim coaches.

IMO, they should make it way cheaper for kids to swim together on swim teams so as to keep the kids from splashing the old ladies in deep-water running lanes.

People take that sport way too seriously for what it is and what the kids get out of it.

Well what you “think” isn’t actually true and it very much comes down to the cost of lane space.

I used this is example in another thread but the cost to rent a lane in Fairfax County is $29.87/hour so an 11 month group that practices 5x/week for 2hrs and has 8 lanes of space has a lane rental cost of ~$115,000 for the season which means you need 29 swimmers paying $4000 a year just to cover pool rental costs and not even coaching.

It may very well be $30 an hour for a lane, my observation is that at many pools I pay ~$6 an hour to use the lane and never have five people in the lane, especially at 6:00am. So, it is five times as expensive to use the lane, which is 8times as crowded. Doesn't add up. Especially if you consider a membership(family) is even cheaper per lane hour.

The deep water running ladies should pay up so they don't get splashed, because that is a bad deal for kids.

DP. It would help them if it’s like a gym and they have a bunch of inactive members paying dues and not in that lane you’re in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think my question would be why doesn't all the high schools have swimming pools? I think all the public HS in DC has it

This was a big surprise to me too. All the high schools where I grew up in California had their own pools, but they were outdoors so the cost was less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think my question would be why doesn't all the high schools have swimming pools? I think all the public HS in DC has it

There are several, but it's not all public HS have them. Feels like it's more lower income areas other than JR (I think the pool is actually part of the connected rec center that's still named Wilson).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think my question would be why doesn't all the high schools have swimming pools? I think all the public HS in DC has it

There are several, but it's not all public HS have them. Feels like it's more lower income areas other than JR (I think the pool is actually part of the connected rec center that's still named Wilson).

I grew up in western NY and every high school has a pool. Even many middle schools had them. And swimming isn’t even a big sport there! I really don’t understand why our high schools don’t have them here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Simple supply and demand plus parents able and willing to pay whatever the clubs want to charge. Just another rich kid sport now.

Yes, just think about how these exorbitant prices are making all the swim coaches and club owners so rich.

I can’t tell if this is sarcasm, but the money isn’t trickling down to coaches. It’s a second job for most. (I’m a parent not a coach.)
Club owners do likely turn a nice profit, but plenty of posters have laid out that expenses are exorbitant to run a club. Margins can’t be great.

It’s sarcasm. If you’re running a business in which margins aren’t great, you’re not reinvesting in infrastructure, core employees are working a second job, and the owners aren’t getting rich, then you aren’t charging exorbitant prices.

When a business charges too much and still sells out of its product, the “overcharged” revenue has to go somewhere, usually into the owners pockets.

Sounds like someone should start their own team since it’s such a cash cow!

The owners of these large clubs are found quite well. York, ASA, FISH, Marlins, etc are doing quite well in their net worth.

Oh really? What’s the name of the owner of ASA who is doing so well in their net worth?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think my question would be why doesn't all the high schools have swimming pools? I think all the public HS in DC has it

There are several, but it's not all public HS have them. Feels like it's more lower income areas other than JR (I think the pool is actually part of the connected rec center that's still named Wilson).

I grew up in western NY and every high school has a pool. Even many middle schools had them. And swimming isn’t even a big sport there! I really don’t understand why our high schools don’t have them here.

The answer to all your questions is money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think my question would be why doesn't all the high schools have swimming pools? I think all the public HS in DC has it

There are several, but it's not all public HS have them. Feels like it's more lower income areas other than JR (I think the pool is actually part of the connected rec center that's still named Wilson).

I grew up in western NY and every high school has a pool. Even many middle schools had them. And swimming isn’t even a big sport there! I really don’t understand why our high schools don’t have them here.

School taxes are much higher in NY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think my question would be why doesn't all the high schools have swimming pools? I think all the public HS in DC has it

There are several, but it's not all public HS have them. Feels like it's more lower income areas other than JR (I think the pool is actually part of the connected rec center that's still named Wilson).

I grew up in western NY and every high school has a pool. Even many middle schools had them. And swimming isn’t even a big sport there! I really don’t understand why our high schools don’t have them here.

The answer to all your questions is money.

Western NY towns have no where near the money as around here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think my question would be why doesn't all the high schools have swimming pools? I think all the public HS in DC has it

There are several, but it's not all public HS have them. Feels like it's more lower income areas other than JR (I think the pool is actually part of the connected rec center that's still named Wilson).

I grew up in western NY and every high school has a pool. Even many middle schools had them. And swimming isn’t even a big sport there! I really don’t understand why our high schools don’t have them here.

The answer to all your questions is money.

Western NY towns have no where near the money as around here.

DP - it's a space thing as much as (more than?) a money thing. DH is from WNY and we go there often - they have SO much more space for pools than we do. Not comparable in the slightest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think my question would be why doesn't all the high schools have swimming pools? I think all the public HS in DC has it

There are several, but it's not all public HS have them. Feels like it's more lower income areas other than JR (I think the pool is actually part of the connected rec center that's still named Wilson).

I grew up in western NY and every high school has a pool. Even many middle schools had them. And swimming isn’t even a big sport there! I really don’t understand why our high schools don’t have them here.

The answer to all your questions is money.

Western NY towns have no where near the money as around here.

DP - it's a space thing as much as (more than?) a money thing. DH is from WNY and we go there often - they have SO much more space for pools than we do. Not comparable in the slightest.

I guess. There’s space there, but most MoCo high schools have space too if they wanted. Churchills campus is about 15 acres. Bigger than the HS I graduated from. They could get a 25-yard pool in there if they wanted.

[Anonymous]

DH grew up in one of the Chicago suburbs and his HS has a pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think my question would be why doesn't all the high schools have swimming pools? I think all the public HS in DC has it

There are several, but it's not all public HS have them. Feels like it's more lower income areas other than JR (I think the pool is actually part of the connected rec center that's still named Wilson).

I grew up in western NY and every high school has a pool. Even many middle schools had them. And swimming isn’t even a big sport there! I really don’t understand why our high schools don’t have them here.

In the northeast and Midwest, outdoor pools are less plentiful and less accessible due to weather than in the south. Public schools built indoor pools to teach water safety and to have year round pool access.

In the south, there were more outdoor pools available and although I haven’t seen any data for this, I wonder if its history of segregation and Jim Crow laws also played a part. I’m from Alabama, and many questions about why things are the way they are can be at least partially traced back to Jim Crow.