Author: Andrew Valdes
For years, the school has intended to add a modern aquatics center to its athletic facilities, and for years, a vacant parking lot has stood in its intended space. After an intended 2008 opening failed to materialize, many wonder if it ever will.
I have been wondering ever since my first visit to Occidental College as a high schooler four years ago. During the tour of the athletics facilities, I quickly came to the conclusion that the school’s facilities were in dire need of an upgrade. As an aspiring water polo player, the decidedly small, shallow pool left me questioning an athletic career at Oxy.
The only saving grace was the assurance from Coach Zubrin, who proudly claimed that a new aquatics center was close to being approved to be constructed and hopefully opened by either Spring or Fall 2008.
The reality of a new aquatics center seemed so real at the time of Spring 2006 when there were announcements and discussions held about the center. Interim President Kenyon Chan vowed it would be only a matter of months until ground would be broken for the new pool.
Today, there still is no aquatic center. In fact, the old plan was completely scrapped last year in favor of combining its construction with the upgrading of other facilities like the weight room, gymnasium, locker rooms and offices.
In search of an answer, I turned to water polo coach Larry Zubrin and swim coach Peggy Carl, who both expressed frustration and confusion about the lack of action.
“It’s quite obvious to me that a new aquatics facility is a significant need on our campus,” Zubrin said. “Speaking from a competitive standpoint, we are not only using an outdated facility, but a competitively disruptive one as well.”
The pool differs in size and depth from the collegiate standard, putting the team in especially unfamiliar territory during away games.
“Imagine if our football field was actually an arena football field, and yet they were required to compete on normal field every Saturday. This is what we ask of our water polo players,” Zubrin said.
“Imagine if Alumni Gym were the only facility available on campus for our men’s and women’s basketball players […] and then imagine that the court were shortened by four feet and narrowed by five more feet. That would be a facility comparable to what we expect our men’s and women’s water polo players as well as Coach Carl’s swimmers, to train and compete with,” he said.
Coach Carl knows little about any recent developments in the seemingly never-ending problem.
“I was involved in their selection of the committee, but have not been invited to sit on the College’s Steering Committee meetings as a representative of the Department. To that end, I don’t know much of what is transpiring,” she said. “The discussion of a new aquatics center has been an on-again, off-again conversation for not the past five years, but for the 18 I have worked at Occidental.”
Athletic Director Jaime Hoffman confirmed that the school has recently hired an architectural firm to undertake the matter.
“I can’t really speak to the on-again, off-again plans for the aquatics center,” she said. “What I can talk about is what is currently in the works. The College has hired an architectural firm, Hastings & Chivetta/Harley Ellis Devereaux to help develop a master plan for Occidental Athletic and Recreation Facilities.”
Until architects arrive and delegate their plans with the committee on April 23rd the thought of a new aquatics center remains a distant dream of coaches and athletes alike.
Zubrin believes the scrapped plans are behind the delays.
“For my part I know there was a previous plan in place, and allegedly a significant donation by an Occidental Alum. I do know that Susan Prager was involved in making a decision that the development of a new indoor athletics facility was just as paramount as a new aquatics facility. These were words she specifically spoke to me,” he said.
But instead, the plan was replaced with a more exhaustive upgrade of the athletics facilities.
“From there the previous plans were scrapped in favor of a complete overhaul of all of athletics. I still have blue prints in my office for the ‘DeMandel Aquatics Center.’ These blueprints were in existence prior to my arriving as coach at Occidental in 2003,” he said. “In regards to the current plans there are no official plans to build a new pool.”
Oxy’s student-athletes also expressed criticism with the current state of Oxy’s athletic facilities. “It is unfortunate that Occidental cannot boast the caliber of athletic facilities that other schools in our conference have, and the biggest ‘eye sore’ would be a pool that isn’t even the legal size for a water polo game,” swimmer Derek Monroe (junior) said.
Swimmer and water polo player Austen Oliver (first-year) described the current pool’s negative effects on the teams’ preparation for matches and meets.
“Playing in a six lane shallow-deep pool is a real disadvantage for our team,” he said. “First, it impedes our ability to practice in a real game situation (30 meters all deep). Second, it stifles one of our teams strongest attributes, team speed.”
Swimmer and water polo player Adam Kantor (sophomore) echoed this sentiment. “Having an outdated pool not only makes practices for the water polo team more difficult, but also puts our entire program behind every other program in SCIAC,” he said.
Zubrin believes a new pool could benefit not only Oxy athletics, but the greater Eagle Rock community as well.
“To me the benefits of a new aquatics facility would not just enhance our competitive aquatics programs here at Occidental, but would enable us to better serve the campus community as well as the city of Eagle Rock and nearby areas from a recreational and instructional standpoint,” Zubrin said. “Our teams here could not only use a quality aquatics facility at Oxy, but other programs in the area could benefit as well. We could build bridges with our community, by providing them with a facility capable of meeting their needs while simultaneously meeting the needs of the students here at Occidental.”
For now it looks like a new aquatics center will have to be put on hold, despite the apparent need. The team finds themselves stuck with an outdated and disruptive facility.
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