As General Chairman of Potomac Valley Swimming, it is a privilege for me to speak before the movers and shakers in Parks and Recreation as you gather the facts to make wise decisions on the use of our dollars. Potomac Valley Swimming is the local governing body for competitive swimming in the Metropolitan Washington area; as General Chairman, I represent 6000 swimmers and 35 clubs, of which 21 are located in Northern Virginia. More than likely PVS and its member clubs are among the largest, if not the largest, single source of real income for parks and recreation. We have swimmers in your recreation facilities every day they are open and it is because of outstanding facilities like that at Oak Marr Recreation Center that we are able to provide some of the best competitive swimming opportunities on the East Coast. Directly from these opportunities have come several local heroes and World and Olympic record holders like Tom Dolan, Melissa Belote - for whom the Wakefield Park pool is named - and Mark Henderson.
I wish to speak this evening on behalf of my sister sport, United States Diving, and it is to the "opportunities" like those enjoyed by swimming that I wish to address this group. Diving has been a part of the Olympic Movement since 1904 and today diving is the 4th most popular sport in the Olympic Games. This area has produced some top notch divers, including Kristen Link, currently a student at Southern Methodist University; she qualified for the 1996 Olympic Trials in the 10 Meter Platform event. National and International diving competition is conducted on the 3 Meter Springboard and the 10 Meter Platform. Unfortunately, divers in Fairfax County are totally deprived of the opportunity to train locally for possibly the single most exciting event on the Olympic agenda - the 10 Meter Platform. Fairfax County and Northern Virginia do not presently have a 10 Meter Diving Platform. How much better prepared would Kristen Link have been had she had that training opportunity right in her backyard? What opportunity does the local diving community have of producing a 10 Meter Platform version of Tom Dolan? The answer to that is "not much!"
I am well aware that you have not built the many swimming venues in Fairfax County and in particular the first rate competitive facility at Oak Marr Recreation Center just so we could produce a Tom Dolan or a Melissa Belote. You build them because there is a need to satisfy a large constituency, a specific clientele, and because you plan to generate sufficient revenue to support them. The diving community is not seeking anything more from you in asking that funding for a separate 10 Meter Platform Diving Well at Oak Marr Recreation Center be placed on the November Bond issue. In fact, the Northern Virginia Diving Foundation proposed to you on Feb 4th the formation of a joint venture in which it would generate 25% of the necessary funds if the Bond provided 75%. Oak Marr is a near central location that would serve all areas of Northern Virginia and in fact bring divers from the entire Metropolitan area to the county. Currently, Oak Marr can not meet the overwhelming demand placed on it for diving and other water sports activities. A separate diving well, attached to the current facility, would make more space and time available for recreational diving for the public as well as the high schools; it would also allow more lap lane space for local residents.
There is also a significant revenue generating aspect to the addition of a diving well at Oak Marr Recreation Center. Currently, Fairfax County can not host any National or International competitions because it lacks a 10 Meter tower. Also, the Greater Washington Exploration Committee is actively pursuing the US Olympic Committee to be the host city for a US bid to hold the 2012 Summer Olympics. If successful, the construction of this facility would allow the county to bid for the diving events at the Games. While the Olympic Games may be a longshot, it would be no stretch to see many national level diving events held in the National Capital Region, if only we had an adequate facility. Such a well could promote the use of Oak Marr Recreation Center as a regional training center for US diving. In addition, it could provide an arena for synchronized swimming or even water polo events - all of which would be revenue producers for the county and the community.
You have been very supportive of competitive swimming; in return, we are a major source of the revenue needed to balance the ledger at the many facilities around the county. Diving is asking for a similar joint venture arrangement that would round out Fairfax County's first rate availability of facilities. I speak for 6000 swimmers and the 35 clubs in our association in urging you to give our diving community the same opportunity to produce their own Tom Dolans. It is not looking for a handout; the diving community is willing to share the burden and in return the whole community will reap the potential revenue and the potential opportunities.
Thank you.