Emma Witham, a 9-year-old member of the Stingrays, can practice in the Rancho Sahuarita pool because she lives in the development. But she's unhappy that a friend on the team must practice elsewhere in a small, unheated pool because she's not a Rancho Sahuarita resident.

Greg Bryan / Arizona Daily Star

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With summer approaching, the continued closure of the Sahuarita Unified School District's pool is making waves among the town's swimming aficionados.

"It's greatly affected us because that's our only local community pool," said Tera Weech, board president of Sahuarita's community swim club, the Sahuarita Stingrays.

Last year the team had about 100 members. Only 45 returned this year — a drop that head coach Norma Jaeger attributes to the town's lack of a community swimming pool.

"The school district and the town are under a lot of pressure from the community to have a community pool," district Superintendent Jay St. John said.

The aging pool the team used to practice in, on the school district's campus at 350 W. Sahuarita Road, is leaking due to structural problems. It would be less cost-effective to fix it than to build a new pool, according to the school district.

The district also operates a community pool during the summer at Sopori Elementary School, 5000 W. Arivaca Road in Amado.

But that pool is unheated, it's smaller than the one at the main campus, and because it's in Amado, it's farther away.

District maintenance workers in September discovered that the pool on the main campus is cracked and leaking.

During previous summers, Sahuarita's Parks and Recreation Department held swimming programs such as water aerobics, open swimming sessions and swimming lessons at the district pool.

But it won't have any pool programs this summer, said Debbie Summers, Parks and Recreation director.

Instead, the department plans to hold alternative, water-related activities — such as water tag — including a once-a-week special event, after school ends, she said.

Both Sahuarita and the school district are discussing options for building a new public pool in the town.

Sahuarita still plans at some point to build a pool at Anamax Park, 17501 S. Camino de las Quintas, and it hopes to do a feasibility study on that project this year, Summers said.

The school district is deciding whether to build a pool as part of the new high school it plans to build, St. John said.

The district is considering building the new school at either Sahuarita District Park, 15500 S. Sahuarita Park Road, or at the northwest corner of La Cañada Drive and Anamax Mine Road.

If the high school is built at Sahuarita Park, the pool would more likely be there because of the park, St. John said.

But the district must decide whether it wants to be in the pool business again, he said.

The school district was the community when the pool was built about 40 years ago, he said. The town of Sahuarita, which was incorporated in 1994, didn't exist back then.

When the school district was very small, it gave swimming lessons, St. John said. Jaeger, the swim coach, grew up swimming in the district's main pool.

Now at age 38 and a mother of five, she is the head coach of the Sahuarita Stingrays, made up of 5- to 18-year-olds.

The lack of a town public pool this summer has forced the swim club to make several changes, Jaeger said.

The kids who live in Rancho Sahuarita are allowed to practice in that development's swimming pool. Assistant coach Mark Sulger, who lives in Rancho Sahuarita, will coach those swimmers.

Sulger, 50, held a swim practice for continuing and new Stingrays at the pool last Thursday, the day before the team's registration for returning swimmers and their siblings began.

But the swimmers and parents of those who don't live in Rancho Sahuarita will have to make the 20- to 25-minute drive to the Sopori pool for practices, Jaeger said. Since she doesn't live in Rancho Sahuarita, she's one of them.

Among the 45 Stingrays who returned this year, 11 will practice at the Sopori pool. The rest live in Rancho Sahuarita.

Running practices at two pools makes team-building more of a challenge, Jaeger said. All the swimmers — including the Rancho Sahuarita kids — will practice at the Sopori pool once a week to make the kids feel more like a team. They will also do fundraisers together.

Stingray Emma Witham, 9, lives in Rancho Sahuarita and can practice in the community's pool.

But one of her friends on the team doesn't live there, so she will practice at Sopori.

"I kind of want her to be with me. She's a good friend," said Emma, a fourth-grader at Anza Trail School, 15490 S. Rancho Sahuarita Road.

Because the Sopori pool isn't heated, the Stingrays have had to delay the start of their swim season, Jaeger said. Normally practices start in April, but this year they will start on May 27.

And the team also can't hold any home swim meets this year because the Sopori pool is too small for the competitions, she said.

The team hasn't set a registration date yet for the general public.