Washington Swim Club, one of the top swim clubs in central Indiana, has been locked out of its own pool at North Central High School in Indianapolis since June due to COVID-19 concerns, and has started a fundraiser to help keep its swim club alive during the COVID-19 pandemic. The club has been able to use facility time elsewhere to hold practices, but without a home facility, the club is unable to host swim meets to help raise revenue.
The club has posted a fundraiser online for its alumni and anyone willing to help, and has raised over $30,000.
“Due to circumstances surrounding COVID-19, WTSC is in a financial situation where we are sending out a SOS,” the fundraiser said. “Help! Help save our swim club! WTSC’s budget relies heavily on the successful swim meets that we host throughout the season. Because we are not currently able to host these swim meets, we need to creatively supplement our revenue.”
Jennifer Buddenbaum, business manager for the club, said the Washington Township school board has not made it clear why this club is not allowed to use the pool, but the board president told the Star that the situation is being re-evaluated.
The club, which is coached by Joshua Saylor, submitted a return-to-pool plan to the board on August 28. But at a September 9 meeting, swimming was not on the agenda but other sports had been able to return to practice.
Washington Township Swim Club has been utilizing time at nearby Lawrence Central High School, Riviera Swim Club, and various country clubs in the area, while other clubs in the Indianapolis metropolitan area is back in their home pool. The school is limiting only teams and athletes from Washington Township schools to use the facilities. According to the Indy Star, 90% of WTSC swimmers are in the district.
I do hope this club can right the ship, but I’ve got to keep it real. WTSC has been a case study for years on how NOT to run an age group swimming program. Their school district built them a beautiful 10-lane 50 meter pool in 2009 and this program is now in much worse shape than it was back when they had the old 25 yard pool. Between poor coaching, inept and backstabbing leadership from the board and crazy parents running around with torches and pitchforks at the slightest issue, is it any wonder they have a poor relationship with the school district and are locked out of the pool? When they get good coaches they either don’t want to pay them or they don’t want to support the direction they need to take to be competitive. Unfortunately, the current head coach and head age group coach aren’t the answer, either. Good coaches know to stay away from this program when openings come up. It’s a sad toxic situation and the board really needs to decide if they want to be competitive or not and start developing the kids in their program.
This has been an amazing program the last 3 years for our family! The HS team has produced 3 D1 swimmers that last 2 years so not sure what the above mentioned is reading these days but the HS has been at the top of the rankings for several years! This gives hope to my 12 year state level swimmer to look forward to the HS team!
Very sad. It looks like a gorgeous pool.
So,kids can’t swim in a pool. But I bet football got to have normal practices, with little/no restrictions.
I am the commissioner of the youth football program. I have been with the program over 20 years. We were not allowed to use the facilities at North Central this year. We didn’t get the news until late July. We start our season at the beginning of August. Due to the late notice we had to cancel our season. We sent our kids to other programs outside our township to play. With no season we are facing the same financial problems as the swim club. So we were also locked out and the damage to our program will be hard to repair with our limited resources. So your statement is a totally un-informed and you know very little about how the other youth programs were impacted by the same lockout as swimming received.
@julie Spicer, I don’t know what results you’re looking at (perhaps sectional and not state), but with the exception of an 8th place finish in 2017 for the girls, North Central hasn’t even sniffed top-10 in the last five years at the Indiana State HS meet (boys or girls). North Central used to compete for state championships in both boys and girls on a regular basis when they were in the old pool and had more passionate and professional coaching and board leadership. Now it’s nothing but a feeder program for Carmel High School and Carmel Swim Club. In fact, if I were on the Carmel board, I’d donate to this fundraiser so the feeder system would continue. Just sayin’ but… The club needs to get their act together, especially if they are going to solicit donations for their past mismanagement.
Hey Ryan,
Thanks for keeping it real. If you think the parents at WTSC are nuts, I would invite you to visit Germantown Academy in Fort Washington PA.
There is always that one Debbie downer that brings negativity to things, misery loves company!