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Carmel Swim Academy, the non-competitive arm of the Carmel Swim Club, opened a new 10,000-square-foot facility on Wednesday that will be used to host swim lessons, lap swimming and other activities for children and adults.
The $5 million facility on the west side of Carmel Total Fitness at 830 City Center Drive includes a training pool with six 25-yard swimming lanes, a shallow-water instructional area, a mezzanine where parents can watch swim lessons, and locker rooms.
A mural painted by 2020 U.S. Olympic swimmer Drew Kibler, a 2018 Carmel High School graduate, will greet swimmers as they walk down a hallway and into the pool area.
“We want to create an environment where people have a great association with the water, and we want a friendly space,” Carmel Swim Academy CEO and head coach Chris Plumb told IBJ. “We basically want it to look like a second-grade classroom in Carmel and for people to be able to walk in and feel at home.”
Founded in 1973, the Carmel Swim Club developed Kibler and fellow 2020 U.S. Olympic swimmer Jake Mitchell while providing a development system for the highly successful Carmel High School boys and girls swimming teams.
However, the swim club never had its own pool for lessons and other non-competitive activities. In recent years, the Carmel Swim Academy hosted aquatics programs at Carmel High School and PrimeLife Enrichment Inc., a senior center at 1078 3rd Ave. SW.
Plumb said that meant the club had to constantly work to schedule time for Carmel Swim Academy’s purposes.
“At some point, we just decided we needed to have our own place to call home and be able to make more of an impact with the community,” Plumb said.
Plumb has coached the Carmel High School swimming and diving teams since 2006, winning 29 state championships, an Indiana coaching record that spans all sports. The girls team has won 37 consecutive Indiana State High School Association state championships.
“It’s no accident that we continue to have that success,” said Maggie Mestrich, director of business development for Carmel Swim Club. “The investment in time and support for the sport starts at a very young age.”
Mestrich said removing swimming lessons from the high school will provide several advantages. The warm water pool at the new facility will be better suited for children, while the high school’s championship trophies can be daunting for newcomers to swimming.
“The trophies are on the wall. For some people, it’s really cool,” Mestrich said. “Some people look at that and think, ‘I’m just starting out. Do I really belong here?’”
Dan Klausner, managing member of Silver Birch Cos., developed the building that houses Carmel Total Fitness and Carmel Swim Academy. Plumb said Carmel Swim Academy leases its space and will have the opportunity to purchase it after the organization pays off its lease.
Amanda Glowacki’s daughters, Claire, 7, and Maggie, 6, have both participated in lessons through Carmel Swim Academy.
Glowacki said Taylor Conley, a 2020 Carmel High School graduate who swims at the University of Kansas, suggested the swim academy would be a good place for Claire and Maggie.
“To have the different options that they’re going to have at this new place all together, I think will be to be really nice to kind of be more full service,” Glowacki said.
About 475 people compete for Carmel Swim Club, while another 1,500 are enrolled in non-competitive programs.
Carmel Swim Academy employs about 50 people, which include lifeguards, swim instructors and the academy’s leadership team. The academy offers monthly memberships, 20-visit punch cards and day passes for community swimming.
“Our mission as an organization is to create a safer, healthier and stronger community through swimming, so this space is truly built for community programs of all ages and to have a better experience with the water,” Mestrich said.
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