‘It is sparkling:’ Las Vegas inaugurates new Olympic-sized pool in Summerlin

A ceremony promoted as a “ribbon-cutting” for a new Olympic-sized pool in Summerlin on Thursday morning required no scissors.

Instead, eight young athletes stood by diving platforms that were splashed with water to cool them while officials gave speeches on an unusually hot morning.

Then the athletes took their positions and dove in, inaugurating the pool amid cheers from dozens of attendees.

The pool — part of an $18.9 million addition to the Pavilion Center Pool Complex near Palo Verde High School — was officially open for business.

“This is going to be with us for generations to come,” Mayor Shelley Berkley said. “This facility will be serving the people of Ward 2 and the entire city of Las Vegas.”

‘Sparkling and beautiful’

Funding for the project came from three sources: a grant of about $9 million in federal dollars from the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, general city funds, and $1 million from the booster club of the Sandpipers of Nevada.

The Las Vegas-based youth swim team has produced Olympians including Erica Sullivan, Bella Sims, Katie Grimes and Bowe Becker. Newer-generation Sandpipers showed up to Thursday’s inauguration wearing matching black-and-yellow T-shirts.

The Korte Co. constructed the seven-foot deep pool that measures 50 meters long and 25 meters wide. It also built a new equipment building, a large classroom and a lifeguard break room. The city’s public works department managed the project.

“It is sparkling, it is beautiful, and it’s going to be such a benefit to not only the swim teams and the world-renowned Sandpipers, but also for our residents in Las Vegas,” Ward 2 Councilwoman Kara Kelley said.

Her predecessor, Victoria Seaman, who is currently a regional director with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was a big proponent of the new pool. She showed up to the ceremony and brought along other federal officials.

‘Something for everybody’

Tammy Hawkins, the city’s aquatics coordinator, said that planning for new activities is ongoing, adding that she’s tasked planners to think of new pool uses.

“We’ve come up with some really unique programming that I don’t think you will see in many other municipalities,” Hawkins said.

The pool is deep enough to allow for kayaking classes, and the city has discussed setting up water golfing with lily pads that simulate a fairway, she said.

“We’re trying to make it something for everybody as much as we can,” Hawkins said. “It’s just us putting on our creative thinking caps and coming up with those programs so we can allow other people that are not involved in the swim community to come participate in the pool.”

Already booked for the coming months is a USA Water Polo Champions Cup, the first tournament of its kind for Las Vegas, she added.

The new pool doubles the complex’s swimming capacity, opening up lanes for competition, swimming lessons and other public uses.

Originally located outdoors, the center’s first pool was built in the late 1990s and enclosed in 2010, Hawkins said.

The new classroom can accommodate about 80 people, facilitating CPR training and lessons for lifeguards and other gatherings.

Growing swimming community

“I hope that most people agree that Vegas is a great place to have an outdoor pool,” said Maggie Plaster, Las Vegas’ Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs director.

She said she expects the city to be able to host larger swim meets to complement the swimming lessons and other public activities hosted at the center.

“Our swimming community in Las Vegas continues to grow because we have teams like the Sandpipers who are sending kids to the Olympics,” Plaster said. “We just keep seeing more kids want to swim, but we don’t have the space to allow that. So, I think that having a second pool is going to allow us to have more competitive swimmers.”

Sandpipers coach Ron Aitken said he’s been working with Las Vegas Valley swim teams for more than three decades.

“We all wanted the same thing. We all wanted more water,” he said.

He said it took Las Vegas nearly a quarter-century to build another pool of its kind.

“When we come together in projects like this, it benefits everyone,” Aitken said.