Over Christmas break I had a chance to head over to the Triangle Aquatic Center (TAC) for some lap swimming.  It’s a 20 minute drive from my house but I was off work and I like seeing other pools to break up the routine.  While there, I noticed that a high school team was practicing.  Some of the swimmers had PC swim caps.  I approached the coach and verified that this was the Panther Creek swim team.  The high school is just down the street from me.  I asked the coach, “Is this your normal practice pool – that’s quite a drive?”  The coach confirmed it is their practice pool and it is quite a drive.

That got me thinking about what a waste of time it is drive 40 minutes round trip each day from the school to swim practice.  The drive alone is probably close to 50% of their water time.  When I got home, I mapped the other west Cary high schools: Green Hope and Green Level.  They also have 20 minute drives to practice at the TAC.

If this isn’t a case for a decent pool in west Cary, I don’t know what is.  Town of Cary will of course point out that schools and school programs are Wake Co business and not Town of Cary.  But most of the kids that attend these schools are Cary residents.  And it’s their quality of life that’s suffering through 40 min daily commutes to the pool.  So please Town of Cary, for the kids, let’s build a pool in west Cary.