by Beth Slater
Staff Writer
A former SEC swimming champion and recent world champion for the 80-84 age group wants every Jacksonville child to learn how to swim, and for all residents to develop a love of the sport in a proposed community facility.
“The primary objective is to teach children to swim,” Rogers B. “Tiger” Holmes told the Meninak Club Monday. “There are 300,000 kids in the area that are not drown-proof.”
Holmes is the leader of a program called Every Jacksonville Child a Swimmer. The octogenarian’s swimming career highlights include a championship with the University of Florida and captainship of the team his senior year. Following a 35-year hiatus, Holmes returned to swimming after open heart surgery.
Holmes’ presentation was part of an effort to drum up support for a potential aquatic center in downtown Jacksonville to serve the entire city. The facility would have three indoor pools and could cost as much as $40 million.
“Most cities that have these facilities have them downtown, they’re centrally located. We saw the one in Indianapolis, a model facility for the country,” he said.
Holmes called the facility a factory for turning out young swimmers, quickly teaching children how to swim using a 10-step program.
The three pools would each serve a different purpose. Two Olympic-sized pools, 50 meters by 25 yards, would be used for swimming lessons, competition and water exercise. The teaching pool would include a movable floor that can be adjusted for use with small children, larger children and people in wheelchairs. Holmes said the important part of a teaching pool is for students to be able to touch the floor. A diving pool would be available for diving, water polo and synchronized swimming.
Holmes said it is important for the pools to be indoors and heated, to encourage kids to get in the water throughout the year.
“If we were 100 miles south, we wouldn’t need an enclosed pool. One hundred miles to the north and we’d know for sure we needed an indoor pool,” said Holmes, adding that with Jacksonville in between two climate areas, an indoor facility would ensure year-round usage.
He said that because Jacksonville is surrounded by water, the St. Johns River, Atlantic Ocean and numerous lakes and tributaries, it is imperative for children to know how to swim.
Holmes wants the facility to be a city resource, paid for with city money.
“I don’t want this to be a mix of public and private funds. I think the city should take it on 100 percent. You don’t think about going swimming for exercise because you don’t have the facility. I want the city to shoulder this and understand their responsibility to the children,” said Holmes.
The ideal location for the aquatic center would be in the sports complex, Holmes said, but he is also interested in space near FCCJ, in the Brooklyn area and near the Osborne Center. In addition to being an aquatic learning center, Holmes said the facility could be used to stage high school swim meets with several schools participating at a time. Right now, due to depth requirements, many public high school pools in the area do not meet code and are obsolete.