The plan for a new Tongelreep is not right, PSV Swimming and Swimming Federation KNZB say.
The wave pool of the Eindhoven-based swimming pool was closed last year. It will be replaced by a new family pool, on which the City Council wants to spend almost EUR 20 million.
PSV Swimming and the Swimming Federation are against the plan because they feel that it does not take growth potential into account. According to PSV the new plan does not provide for enough water to meet all needs of swimming associations. ‘Old pools are being replaced by new ones of equal size, but there will not be additional water. We currently already have to implement a restriction on diving members. This could happen in more instances if there is no room to grow,’ Marcel Brands of PSV Swimming says.
Furthermore, the club mentions the many events that take place in the Tongelreep. Brands says, ‘There are twenty a year now. And those events are given priority over permanent tenants. We must, then, go to other swimming pools. Additional space is a must.’
Swimming Federation KNZB and sports ambassador, Cees-Rein van den Hoogenband, are not pleased with the Tongelreep-plan. Along with PSV Swimming, they find there is no room for expansion.
PSV Swimming and the Swimming Federation are, therefore, calling for an ext50-metre pool in Eindhoven. ‘Such a pool is both necessary and will be multi-functional. Top swimmers like Kromowidjojo can then together swim with amateur swimmers’.
The Eindhoven Water Friends, however, are excited. The Swimming Association says that its clubs are happy with the current swimming pools. The creative shuffling of schedules is only occasionally necessary, according to this association. ‘A 50-metre swimming pool is not necessary. There already is a pool like that, which is usually not in use on Saturday afternoons’, President, Jeroen van der Meulen, says. The Eindhoven Water Friends are also pleased with the new swimming pool’s rental terms and entrance fees.
The Eindhoven City Council will make a decision on the new Tongelreep in the next few weeks.
Source: www.studio040.nl
Translated by: Bob
