The South Metro Has Been Left Behind
The south Denver metro — home to more than 1 million residents across Douglas, Arapahoe, and surrounding counties — has no year-round 50-meter competition home of its own. When it's time for a major sanctioned meet, every south metro family drives north. Arvada. Thornton. Because that's where the premier public competition pools are.
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El Pomar at DU hosts a few sanctioned youth meets each year, but outside club practice access is highly restricted. Carmody in Lakewood has a 50-meter pool, but club rentals are currently paused.
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And that's the pattern: Cherry Creek School District has pools in its schools. Adams 12 (Thornton's school district) owns and operates VMAC. Jeffco Public Schools co-funded the Arvada Aquatics Center, where its teams practice and compete. Douglas County School District owns zero pools, holds a stake in none, and Parker high school teams rent practice space from neighboring school districts.
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For competitive divers, the commute is even longer — 45 to 50 minutes each way just to reach a springboard. For water polo, south metro players have no local home at all.
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The Douglas County Aquatics Foundation is working to change that.
1 Million +
South metro residents with no 50-meter competition pool
38–42 Miles
From Parker to the nearest premier public competition venue (Arvada/Thornton)
45–50 Min
To the nearest competitive diving practice facility
0
Pools owned by Douglas County School District
Douglas County Pays. Douglas County Gets Nothing.
Every year, Douglas County School District writes a check to neighboring school districts so Parker area high school swimmers and divers have somewhere to practice. Not one DCSD school owns a pool. Not one Douglas County student competes at a home aquatic facility. Parker's teams — Ponderosa, Legend, and Chaparral — have no local pool arrangement at all. Every practice means leaving the county. Every meet means driving north. The Douglas County Aquatics Foundation is working to end that permanently.
$0
Invested in DCSD-owned aquatic infrastructure