New Cape Aquatic Center makes a splash with renowned Olympian

The sport of competitive swimming is an arduous one. The participants endure early mornings, long hours, and physically and mentally draining training sessions.

Constructing an aquatic facility can be just as challenging.

The City of Cape Girardeau unveiled a renovated Central Municipal Pool, now named the Cape Aquatic Center, on Friday, which was a project six years in the making.

“I’ve been to a lot of pools in my life,” three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Rowdy Gaines said at the ceremony, “and this is about as nice as you are going to get.”

Interestingly, Gaines was a guest at the opening of the facility in 1980, and he returned for the reopening.

He spent time speaking with members of the Cape Girardeau swimming community, as well as conducted a clinic for area swimmers on Saturday.

Phil Penzel, CEO of Penzel Construction Company, oversaw the project, which enclosed the 50-meter by 25-yard pool with a permanent structure after nearly five decades of the inflatable “bubble,” that allowed the facility to be used throughout the year.

“We are so proud to have been a part of this,” Penzel said.

Though the sunshine will no longer blaze over the crystal-clear water, the new structure has plenty of windows to enable natural light in, as well as light fixtures, which have cool-looking waves designed on them.

There was additional meeting space constructed with the structure, as well as the deck and guttering system redone for a magnificent-looking facility.

The USA Swimming club, River City Aquatics, is one of several area teams that train in the facility, and coach Bobby Brewer, who brought Gaines back for the event, is ecstatic to have a top-level facility to train in.

“We had a rough couple of years,” Brewer said of the downtime in which the construction was taking place. “Our numbers went way, way down. We are so excited to get back in here because now we can build, not just the swim team, as it exists now, but we can expand the numbers (of swimmers).”

Brewer mentioned that he hopes to see an increase in adult fitness swimmers, a United States Masters swim team that can utilize the facility, as well as the River City Aquatics Swim Academy, which is an organization that teaches swimming to people as young as six months old.

The facility will not just be an asset to the local swimming community, but economically, it will boost the City of Cape Girardeau.

Having a beautiful – and large facility, such as this – will allow the area high schools and River City Aquatics to host a multitude of competitions, both in swimming and diving, each of which will bring in thousands of people to the city annually.

“This symbolizes the City of Cape Girardeau’s commitment to progress, innovation, and community development,” Cape Girardeau Director of Parks and Recreation, Doug Gannon said. “A lot of hard work, a lot of dedication, and a lot of time went into getting the support of the community.

“We appreciate everything that we have as a result of those efforts.”

The facility is open for public use seven days each week and more information can be found on the City’s website, as well as the site for River City Aquatics.