Outdoor $4.5 million swim facility slated to offer training, swim lessons in Palm Shores
Swim Melbourne officials believe a future $4.5 million aquatic center off U.S. 1 in Palm Shores will create a "farm system" to develop competitive swimmers who advance to powerhouse college programs.
And, the facility will save kids' lives by providing a three-lane "teaching pool" for swimming lessons in water-centric Brevard County.
"The higher tide raises all boats. So we're trying here to create a program, create an atmosphere, to raise the entire county," Swim Melbourne coach John Walsh said during a Thursday groundbreaking ceremony for the Palm Shores Aquatic Facility.
"To raise everyone back to what swimming used to be here back in the '90s, back in the 2000s, back in the '80s — when national records were being set in Brevard County," said Walsh, who broke multiple school records at Florida Atlantic University.
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The Indialantic-based Swim Melbourne Foundation, which has raised $1.4 million thus far, is spearheading the large-scale aquatic project. Target opening date: early summer 2024.
Thursday afternoon, roughly 100 people gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony at the site, which is now an open field next to the Mobiland by the Sea mobile home park.
Green tape staked along the ground marked the borders of the future 10-lane, 25-yard-by-25-meter competition pool. Nearby, a pink-tape perimeter showed where crews will build the smaller three-lane pool for swim lessons and other functions.
"Every single toddler should be swimming. By the age of 3, every child should be able to swim to shore, or to the wall, to safety. Brevard County needs this," Mike Mirda, president of the Swim Melbourne Foundation, told the crowd.
"We have an ocean, rivers, canals, lakes, pools. Water safety is paramount," Mirda said.
Indeed, Janet Carbin, a Swim Melbourne masters swimmer who competed in the television series "Survivor: Island of the Idols" in 2019, said Brevard County Ocean Rescue lifeguards and local firefighters should train at the future facility.
Launched in 2019, Swim Melbourne now fields more than 100 competitive youth swimmers (ages 18 and under) and more than 140 masters-division swimmers of varying skill (ranging in age from 19 to mid-70s).
The younger athletes swim at Satellite High, while the older division swims at the city-operated, six-lane Sherwood Park pool in Melbourne.
Mirda swam at Satellite High and FAU, where he competed in sprint freestyle events. He said the aquatic center will offer the public membership plans and limited open-swim hours.
The three-lane teaching pool will also house adult fitness classes, water aerobics, rehabilitation and triathlon training.
Swim Melbourne officials say Brevard swimmers are underserved with scant facilities and programming. Mirda hopes local schools and out-of-state universities will train at the future aquatic center — and Swim Melbourne membership should at least triple.
"The school board has three or four pools. The cities have three or four pools. And that has to go around to all the constituents, to all the schools," said Mirda, who noted the Cocoa YMCA Family Center pool closed in 2020.
"Not all of them have the right equipment: they don't have heaters, they don't have chillers. And there's only so much space that you can run this type of program," he said.
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Palm Shores $4.5 million swim facility slated to open off US 1 in 2024
