More than 2,000 would-be registrants were left waiting on the pool deck for the City of St. Albert’s Learn to Swim programs last year.
A budget information request by the mayor revealed that in 2015 there were 2,010 wait-listed participants for swim programs ranging from baby and tot lessons to the Swim for Life levels 1-6.
“It is a pretty big wait list,” said aquatics manager Shaun Percival.
The information request shows that there were a total 13,577 registrants for aquatics programs in 2015.
The programs with the most wait listed participants were the Swim for Life lessons, with 920 people registered. The biggest wait lists came during the spring and fall sessions.
The next highest number of wait listed participants was for the preschool level programs, where 674 people were wait listed. The spring and fall programs were again the highest in demand.
There were 74 participants wait listed for special needs programs, and 345 hopefuls on the list for the parented programs for babies and toddlers.
About 59 per cent of the 13,577 registrants were residents while 41 per cent were from outside the city.
The highest total demand tends to be for the preschool courses, Percival said, though demand for the swimming program is consistently high as well.
“In conversations with the program staff, it’s kind of hard to gauge when you walk on the pool deck which night or weekend day is busiest, because it’s always really busy,” Percival said, noting Saturday mornings and Tuesday and Thursdays tend to be particularly popular.
Not every city-run swim program is full, however. Percival’s most recent data, drawn from the parks and recreation department’s 2014 year-end report, shows an 81 per cent fill rate.
“That is very high, to have 81 per cent of your courses full to capacity,” he said.
While there is consistently reassessment to see if more courses can be squeezed in or created from the wait lists, those efforts are hindered by the fact that the available pool space is limited.
“We are pretty much at max capacity for space allowed for programs to run,” Percival said. He said it’s inspiring to see the individuals and groups’ demand for pool space in St. Albert.
One of those groups is the Olympian Swim Club, which runs competitive swim programs and its Mini O’s Learn to Swim program in Edmonton and St. Albert.
“I would say we’re stretched,” said head coach Dave Macdonald. He said the majority of their competitive swimming groups are nearly at maximum capacity.
The Mini O’s program is where the club is busier, particularly the fall session. Macdonald said those lessons are typically either sold out and taking names, or very close to it.
This crunch is the case in St. Albert, though the club’s programs at Edmonton’s Terwillegar Community Recreation Centre are also getting quite busy, Macdonald said.
“We definitely could use more,” said Macdonald of pool availability in St. Albert.
Mayor Nolan Crouse predicted that a future council will have to dive into the “aquatics question.”
“The short answer is no, not this term,” he said, noting the facility prioritization model that’s been developed suggests a pool in the 2020s.
“I think the challenge is going to be convincing a council,” he said. “This council is not going to be ready for that because we just went through an arena and a library debate.”
He does hear complaints of problems getting into swimming lessons or the need for more lane swimming, but those are “all one off.”
“There’s not an organized body,” he said, unlike the library board or hockey association that could rally supporters to campaign for more space.
“There’s no waiting list for hockey or ringette or library, but there is a waiting list for swimming lessons and for swim clubs,” he said.
“I think it’s not going to be a group of users that rally for an aquatics facility, I think it’s going to have to be a mayor and council,” Crouse said.
He also noted the demographics of those trying to access swimming lessons.
“The people who are putting their young kids into swimming lessons are young parents … and they’re not politically engaged yet, don’t know how necessarily to rally toward a cause,” Crouse said.
