Comments on: Visalia’s Aquatic Center hits rough waters https://www.ourvalleyvoice.com/2018/08/11/visalias-aquatic-center-hits-rough-waters/ In-depth, locally-produced coverage of the Central Valley. Thu, 23 Apr 2026 19:43:55 -0700 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Saul Travers https://www.ourvalleyvoice.com/2018/08/11/visalias-aquatic-center-hits-rough-waters/#comment-14503 Saul Travers Sun, 12 Aug 2018 20:34:40 +0000 https://bak.ourvalleyvoice.com/?p=25616#comment-14503 Tulare County has 2 50-meter pools, the one at Granite Hills High in Porterville and the one at Exeter High. They are pathetically underused, and it is best to look at why for guidance . Exeter's history as a strong aquatics town is on the wane. This is because the achiever farming families of the past that drove the youth demographics in Exeter have been pushed out by today's reality of corporate farming. Those family structures still exist in Exeter, but they are on the decline. Granite Hills is an even sadder story. It was built as a "magnet" school to draw achiever families to East Porterville and help to drive overall school achievement. Trouble was that it was a little ahead of its time and drew a few too many good athletes/students and there was a backlash from those who worried that the other 2 (at that time) high schools were being hollowed out. The point here is that demography needs to drive the use of the pools. Visalia's demography will probably continue to drive pool use, because it is the (relatively) high income center of Tulare County. But the demand for use of these pools is centered around the high schools. Redwood has definitely outgrown the pool that it uses. It will have to build an adequate pool eventually. It is far smarter for the City of Visalia to enter into use partnerships for city recreational use than to try to build and maintain their own facilities. Tulare County has 2 50-meter pools, the one at Granite Hills High in Porterville and the one at Exeter High. They are pathetically underused, and it is best to look at why for guidance
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Exeter’s history as a strong aquatics town is on the wane. This is because the achiever farming families of the past that drove the youth demographics in Exeter have been pushed out by today’s reality of corporate farming. Those family structures still exist in Exeter, but they are on the decline.

Granite Hills is an even sadder story. It was built as a “magnet” school to draw achiever families to East Porterville and help to drive overall school achievement. Trouble was that it was a little ahead of its time and drew a few too many good athletes/students and there was a backlash from those who worried that the other 2 (at that time) high schools were being hollowed out.

The point here is that demography needs to drive the use of the pools. Visalia’s demography will probably continue to drive pool use, because it is the (relatively) high income center of Tulare County. But the demand for use of these pools is centered around the high schools. Redwood has definitely outgrown the pool that it uses. It will have to build an adequate pool eventually. It is far smarter for the City of Visalia to enter into use partnerships for city recreational use than to try to build and maintain their own facilities.

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