As emergency repairs took place at the Bozeman Swim Center, it was left dark and empty. Many teams from across the city have been without a place to swim, and when they found out that the city wasn’t putting in a bulkhead at the pool, many swimmers from one team sprang into action.
“You could just see how healing it was to be back in a space that they really they feel is a home for them,” says the mom of three Barracuda Swimmers, Megan Belasco.
Swimmers from the Bozeman Barracuda Swim Team were able to go inside the Swim Center and help re-stripe the pool. For many of them, this was the first time in months they had been inside.
“We just keep taking every hurdle and addressing it as gracefully and as helpfully as we can,” says Belasco.
After the swim center closed for emergency repairs, the city has been working to get the swim center re-opened after being closed for 5 months.
“We tried to expedite this and we did as quickly as humanly possible. We had an emergency declaration allowing us to go right to contractors,” says Bozeman Parks and Rec Director Mitch Overton.
So, the city spent the last month working on emergency repairs to get the swim center re-opened.
“Now primarily what that involved was work up above the dropped ceiling in the rafters,” says Overton.
After the City of Bozeman didn’t put in a bulkhead back in the pool this season, the Barracudas asked the city to put in stripes that would help with safety. That’s when these swimmers went and painted on Monday.
“The group that is willing to help and jump in and do what we can, not only for our own kids and the youth of Bozeman, but also for the other users,” says Barracudas Head Coach Hans Dersch.
After a summer full of ups and downs, the one thing the Barracudas are looking forward to:
“Consistency in their training and that has been a challenge,” says Dersch. “It’s going to make it a lot easier to do that when we have a nice consistent pool time.”
The swim center is set to reopen on October 10, and the city says they expect Bogert Pool to open in the days leading up, with the exception of the Sunday before.
