Both the men’s and women’s swim teams are moving practice locations. The swim team started in Wilkes-Barre’s family YMCA, but have chosen to take their practices elsewhere — to the  Catholic Youth Center (CYC).

A  major issue was that the YMCA pool temperature was very warm. Swimmers complained that the pool was always too hot to swim and compete in. It was recorded that the pool was sometimes 90 degrees. The YMCA also didn’t afford the swim teams the necessary space they  needed.

Head Coach Mark Barnes stated, “By changing our practice facility to the Catholic Youth Center, we will be able to have proper practices.  We will be able to work harder as a team with the great facility that they offer.  The biggest excitement is that we will be able to host home meets this coming season.”

The CYC has more to offer all around. In the YMCA, the team was only getting 2,500 yards in at practice. The CYC has more lanes in the pool for the team to spread out.

With this additional space, Coach Mark Barnes hopes to get in at least 6,000 yards of practice. With more availability of space to practice, Wilkes has an a stronger advantage when competing against other schools.

The CYC also provides more deck space for the team to do more dryland workouts, or workouts outside of the pool. Their pool and deck area are both the appropriate temperature for the team’s needs and potential success.

Senior Mandy Stickles is beyond excited that the team was able to make this move into a better location.

“The whole team, including our coach, is more than pleased about moving our location to practice in,” Stickles claimed. “We have worked hard all summer.”