“Ocean County College has also announced that we will no longer be competing with our Men’s and Women’s Swim Programs effective August 2015. We have enjoyed every bit of the competition over the years but at this time with the college pool closing due to extensive work needed on the facility, we will not be continuing with the swim teams.”
Such was the statement written on the Ocean County College (OCC) Viking Athletics Facebook Page as of March 13th, notifying students, alumni and the community that the college’s pool would soon be shutting its doors. OCC is a two-year community college sponsored by Ocean County and the State of New Jersey, and is located in Tomes River, New Jersey. Its active women’s and men’s swimming teams participate in Region XIX of the National Junior College Athletic Association, which represents the states of New Jersey, Delaware and Eastern Pennsylvania.
The official announcement from the college’s Vice President of Student Affairs cites difficult-to-obtain replacement parts, an obsolete, cost-prohibitive-to-replace time-clock system as well as non-handicapped accessibility as the primary reasons for the pool’s closure.
The effective date of the announcement is August 14, 2015, barring any unforeseen breakdowns that would push this date nearer in the future. Until that time, the announcement states that “the College is investigating alternate solutions so that members of the College and local community can continue to enjoy pool facilities within the County.”
Keep the OCC pool opened. Why didn’t the college apply for a grant to fund a new pool?
Who made the decision to close the pool? Sing the petition to keep the pool at OCC.!
Do not let this happen!
Yeah its sad but….. our club team has tried multiple times to rent their pool only to get the same old answer… NO. They rent to High School teams for the 3 month High School season for pennies compared to what our club team could have offered them for 11 months out of the year.