RENO, Nev. (KOLO) – “Can I just tell you, this really was a labor of love for community activists,” Mayor Hillary Schieve.

The Moana Springs Community Aquatics & Fitness Center is now open to the public.

“Behind the scenes it is Sierra Nevada Community Aquatics. 17 years ago, Moana pool closed where we are standing right now. It took Sierra Nevada Community Aquatics that many years just to get the funding,” said Mike Ginsburg, the Chairman of the City of Reno Parks and Recreation Commission.

City officials are proud of the new facility, particularly for its central location.

“If you draw around the city, the center of the city is Moana and this is in the middle of it. This will help the community hugely with 19 lanes. It really does help, but we need a lot more,” added Ginsburg.

Ethan Childs, a former high school swimmer, is now a swim coach. Childs tells me this new pool will help children and adults learn water safety

“Having an extra pool and having all of these facilities open will really help with that. It is very scary having a bunch of little kids near the water, but having more confidence in the water, more people in the pool and a lot more kids, who are confident in their ability to swim. It will definitely help out with that and summers will be a lot more fun.”

He expresses his gratitude while reminiscing on his high school swim days.

“My team, I was at Spanish Springs. We had Reed’s team that was right next door. Reno High School, used to swim there too. So it was pretty crammed every practice. It will definitely give people a lot more space and opportunities to swim. It will definitely help with scheduling because then you can have multiple people at multiple pools and it really helps out with that for sure.”

The facility features a 13-foot-deep competition pool. A multi-use pool with a lazy river, resistance features and a slide. There is an outdoor soaking pool with 90-degree temperatures. There are free lockers, showers, a mother’s lounge, and a gym.

Ginsburg believes it will encourage more athletes to dream big. “This community has been lacking aquatics centers. We had the Lakeridge Center torn down about five years ago. But this community was still able to produce an Olympic champion. Luke Thompson, who won a silver and a bronze in this last Olympics, so could you imagine with having great aquatic facilities what this community can develop.”

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