Miami fears a heritage loss
$15m pool plan ‘may swamp us’
MIAMI swimming officials are torn between excitement and uncertainty over redevelopment of the old Pizzey Park pool into a $15 million aquatic centre, fearing the club’s history and culture could be lost.
The city council has yet to reveal whether it will keep leasing out the pool or take over running it and the learnto-swim program when the work is completed, prompting further fears that if it takes control it could call tenders for coaching without consultation with Miami Swimming Club.
Miami has produced a long line of Olympic and Commonwealth Games swimmers, triathletes and water polo players in its 43-year history, as well as being a training centre for a host of surf stars. Its alumni include Grant Hackett, Andrew Baildon, Giaan Rooney, Emma Snowsill, Trevor Hendy, Karla Gilbert, Shannon Eckstein, Courtney Hancock, Thomas Fraser-Holmes and Dan Smith.
Club president Robert Craig told the Bulletin the council indicated the revamp was all about providing community facilities and there appeared to be little interest at City Hall in high-performance training or the club’s history of producing champions.
The club wants to retain proper clubhouse facilities and has appealed to the council to recognise the club’s heritage, allowing a display in the new pool complex to make a statement that it is the home of the Miami club that has produced so many champions.
“We want the ability to buy a footprint,’’ Mr Craig said of the club’s desire to cement certainty for the future.
The club welcomed the city’s plans for a community storage area, kitchen and meeting rooms and was excited about the entire project.
“But we’d like our own changing areas for our people. We have a duty of care,’’ he said.
The existing clubhouse provided these and secure storage for the squads while the swimmers trained.
Mr Craig said uncertainty over whether the club would retain facilities long term and whether the existing pool and learn-to-swim lease holder and coaching staff would disappear had led to families taking their children elsewhere.
“We had about 130 swimmers, not including parents, at the end of last season. We’re probably down to about 95, which is alarming,’’ he said.
“A lot of parents are saying ‘we don’t know what is going on, we’re worried about our child’s (swimming) future’, and opted to go to other clubs.’’
But the council said it had “liaised closely with the Miami Swimming Club throughout this process and has assured them there will be no changes to their usage rights at the pool’’.
“We have also offered them lane space at other pools during the refurbishment for both training and events,’’ a spokesperson said.
“We recognise the rich history of the club and are still considering the best way to acknowledge this in the refurbishment, noting that they are one of many user groups at the facility which has an annual patronage of more than 350,000 people.
“Due to the number of user groups, the City has always intended that there are shared spaces between groups as part of future stages and has openly communicated that.’’
Mr Craig said the council wanted “more use of the pool, more people going through the gate’’.
“They’re not too worried about elite results,’’ he said.
“They said they had thought of having little disks on the ground with the swimmers’ names but no real presentation of the club itself through the entry way. It wasn’t a consideration.’’
The club had asked for photos and memorabilia to be displayed in the new entry foyer, but had run into a brick wall.
“They were adamant this is a community pool. We keep stressing that it’s also high performance,’’ he said.
“In fact, the whole of Pizzey Park is high performance. You’ve got the canoe centre, you’ve got the swimming clubs, you’ve got the rugby league club, the rugby union club, the soccer club. There’s a sporting culture on the Gold Coast that needs to be promoted, not just pushed aside.
“We’re looking forward to the new facility. It’s going to be awesome. But our future, our coaching, can’t be ignored.
“We’d like to be involved in the selection of the operating model, control over who gets to coach because we don’t want that imposed on us and break the heritage.’’
Miami’s clubhouse is the first casualty of the redevelopment. Club members have been packing memorabilia to go into storage and relocating gym equipment into a temporary area ahead of the contractor, Hutchinson Builders, fencing off the entry, clubhouse and the original Olympic pool for demolition work.
Phase one of the project, to be completed in 2021, will deliver a new 10-lane Olympic pool with ramp access, changing rooms, entry and cafe.
A second pool, built 20 years ago, will remain open during construction.
About 150 people including former swimmers, sponsors, existing squads and families will gather at the pool today to farewell the old clubhouse.