Before We Make a Splash: Why Windsor Isn’t Ready to Dive into a Swim Team

By: Taijon Eccleston-Graham

Despite housing one of U Sports’ premier athletic facilities, including a state-of-the-art gym and a 25-metre pool, the University of Windsor’s Toldo Lancer Centre is without a varsity swim team—perhaps for the best.

Opening its doors on July 4, 2022, the Toldo Lancer Centre is the result of a $73M investment, featuring numerous amenities, including a newly installed eight-lane, 25-metre pool and aquatic centre. Even with these additions, a varsity swim team doesn’t appear to likely to join the athletics roster anytime soon.

Let’s start with the facility.

The Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships use a 50-metre indoor pool with eight lanes when competing, which would make it difficult for swimmers to properly prepare for any upcoming competitions solely at Toldo. Stephanie White, the Athletic Director at the University of Windsor, acknowledges that the centre’s smaller pool is one factor contributing to the absence of a varsity swim team.

“It’s a good-looking pool, and has some incredible features in the pool, doesn’t always mean that it’s the best pool for a swim team,” White stated. “If you’re going to run a swim team that you want to be competitive, I don’t think you can do it at just this pool.”

White noted that a future varsity swim team would likely need to compete at the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre, the only facility equipped to host OUA-regulated competitions in the city. However, she also stressed the importance of adding teams that can rely on on-campus facilities managed by the athletic department.

“We would want to start teams where we have control over our facilities, because we have some current teams that we don’t have control over the facilities,” White said. “It puts a lot of stressors on the department, around the cost, and a lot of stressors around availability.”

The Aquatics/Summer Camps Coordinator, Olivia Binder concurs with White regarding the size of the pool.

“The pool that we currently have would be conducive to the purpose of training, but not for the purpose of competing.”

Another reason to consider is finances.

When a new team is created in athletics, White recognizes that some sports teams are cheaper to operate than others due to their nature. She highlighted, however, that the athletic department does not receive any additional funding to start a new team, regardless of its operations costs.

“When we start a team, the university gives us no more money. In essence, to start a team, I would have to take money away from other teams,” White explained.

To exemplify the financial issues affecting swim teams, the University of Alberta, which has competed in varsity swimming since 1948, recently announced the termination of its swim program after the 2024-25 season due to ‘ongoing financial struggles and complications related to the lack of a competitive swim facility on campus.’ Similarly, Laurentian University discontinued its swim program in 2021 because of financial difficulties, just one year after their head coach Phil Parker was named Ontario Swim Coach of the Year.

Lastly, the support for a varsity swim team would not be as strong as you think.

Alex Panek, a fourth-year student lifeguard at the University of Windsor grew up swimming for the Windsor Essex swim team, one of the local club teams in the area. While he expressed his disappointment with the university for not having a swim team, he also voiced concerns about the challenges of attracting the right athletes to build a competitive program and garnering support from both students and the community.

“I feel like it would be difficult to get swimmers of high calibre to come to the University of Windsor… I feel like the demand outside the University of Windsor would be lacking if that makes sense,” Panek stated.  “I don’t see our student population being that interested in it, to be honest with you. I’m trying to picture a swim meet, then I’m trying to picture the stands full of students and I just don’t see it.”

While the University of Windsor has an impressive facility and the potential to develop a successful swim team, the logistical and financial realities suggest that now isn’t the right time. Without adequate funding and community support, it would be a challenge to create a sustainable program that meets the needs of student-athletes.

With so many challenges to navigate, it seems more prudent to keep our heads above water than dive into a new program that may not have the support to succeed.