Swim club has place to practice — for now

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For the past three years, the Sahuarita Stingrays swim team has been playing a complicated game of “musical pools.”

After the Sahuarita High School pool broke down, the search was on for a place to practice and hold meets.

The main roadblock? Most of the suitable pools in Southern Arizona belong to either Green Valley Recreation or homeowners’ associations.

Plans to hold practices at Rancho Sahuarita and GVR fell through. Most practices and meets have taken place at Sopori pool, roughly 20 to 30 miles south of where most of the Stingrays live.

“Last season, the high gas prices really hurt us with all of that driving we had to do,” said Stingrays’ head coach Norma Jaeger.

As a result, membership in the age 5-18 swim club dropped from the triple digits to 65.

But it appears as if the Stingrays have finally found a home — at least for their preseason practices.

La Posada has allowed the Stingrays to use their indoor pool from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while Monday-Wednesday-Friday practices take place at Sopori from 5-7 p.m.

Preseason practices run until May 21, when the Stingrays will focus on their Santa Cruz League meets. The Stingrays will host three meets at Sopori pool this season.

Last year’s practices at Sopori took place early in the morning, when pool temperatures were still below 60 degrees. This season, the conditions are much more comfortable, allowing Jaeger and the other Stingray coaches to focus on technique instead of staying warm.

“We see this as a good community outreach program,” said La Posada fitness pavilion head Kim Murphy. “They have excellent pool etiquette.”

In the meantime, there is still some discussion about the Stingrays possibly using the pool at Madera Highlands. A handful of residents have pushed to allow the Stingrays limited access to the pool, which has drawn the ire of other residents.

“There are some serious concerns regarding liability insurance and what could happen in the instance of a lawsuit,” Madera Highlands resident Bette Rose Immel said. “There are bound to be damages, and we’d have to pay more in janitorial upkeep, which would go to increasing our HOA fees. It just doesn’t make sense.”

There is an advisory committee set up to discuss the issue, but Immel and people on her side believe that the pool should remain private.

“This is our amenity,” Immel said. “It should stay that way.”

Immel suggested that the members of Madera Highlands, Rancho Sahuarita, Quail Creek, GVR and the rest of the people in the area stage a fundraiser to help the Stingrays renovate the pool at Sahuarita High School.

“I’d be one of the first people to sign up for that fundraising drive,” Immel said.

Jaeger argues that she believes it would be a “great thing for the Madera Highlands community” to allow her team to swim there, while pointing out that nearly each of the 25 Tucson swim clubs “use community pools at La Paloma, Ventana Canyon and Eastern Hills.”

Anamax Park remains committed to potentially building a pool, but Jaeger said that “it won’t be until 2014 when anything happens at Anamax.”

Meanwhile, the Stingrays have settled into a routine at La Posada and Sopori, hoping that this game of “musical pools” will end soon.

nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747