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Local Pool Reopens For Barracuda Swimmers, Community (Source: Hometown News)

EDGEWATER - Seven months ago, things were looking pretty grim for the New Smyrna Beach High School swim team.

Aqua Park, the team's home for practices and swim meets for more than 35 years, closed its doors, and with no realistic alternative pool, their entire future was in jeopardy.

Enter the Barracuda Swim Boosters, a nonprofit group made up of parents who were unwilling to leave the pool - and their children's dreams - empty.

"(The members of NSBHS swim team) are a great bunch of young men and women. They have strong dreams and aspirations, and they work hard to achieve them," said Eli Gansert, president of the Boosters. "To lose what they worked so hard for...we weren't ready to let that happen."

To keep the team's dreams alive, the Boosters hosted multiple fundraising events and teamed up with several donors, eventually raising enough money to lease the facility for six months this past May.

That was only the beginning, however, as the Boosters soon learned that restoration was a much higher order than they originally anticipated.

"The pool was on the edge of falling apart," Mr. Gansert said. "It needed a lot of TLC."

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New Smyrna Beach High School Barracudas Swim Team Cleans Up Pool (Source: Fox 35)

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - New Smyrna Beach High School doesn't have a pool and the one they were using was falling apart.

The owner of the Aqua Park was just about to shut it down leaving the swimmers with no close place to practice. That move could have disbanded the long time barracudas swimming program.

The kids, parents and boosters all worked together and got more than 80 sponsors to help clean up the pool from paint to a new filtration system to new lane lines.

The New Smyrna Beach Barracuda Swim Team now is back to swimming laps.

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Barracudas Swimming In Jeopardy (Source: Daytona Beach News Journal)

The New Smyrna Beach swimming team is looking at a big problem this fall.

They have no place to swim.

The Barracudas' usual pool, Aqua Park, has been closed by its owner due to a lack of funds, and as of now the school and the team are searching for a way to keep the team going.

"We're trying every option we can think of, because we don't want the kids to lose the ability to swim for the school," said Eli Gansert, the president of the New Smyrna Beach swimming booster club. "It's not the fault of the school or the administration or anyone like that; we're all working together to come up with a solution."

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High School Swim Team Loses Pool Access (Source: WESH.com)

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Competitive swimmers need a pool to swim in, but that's what the New Smyrna Beach High School is missing.

Members of the New Smyrna Beach swim team are trying to make waves after the community swimming pool, Aqua Park Aquatic Center in Edgewater, where the team has trained and performed in meets for decades, is closed. Its owner, John Stearns, who is also the swim coach, said few people have been coming because they don't have the extra money for the admission fee.

"The economy really hurt us a lot, and the fact that there's another pool about a quarter mile away, it's a (YMCA) pool, two pools in this area is really hard to compete with," Stearns said.

In recent years, the Barracudas have been swimming up a storm in competitions. Senior James Barringer said the community pool is his second home and has long served southeast Volusia County.

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New Smyrna Swim Team Loses Their Pool (Source: Fox 35 News)

EDGEWATER, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - New Smyrna Beach High School swimmers look at their empty pool with heavy hearts.

Senior Aubrey Breneman says, "I really couldn't imagine my whole high school experience without being on the swim team."

In November, the Aqua Park Center in Edgewater, where the Barracudas have practiced for 35 years closed its doors, and the pool was drained. Instead of being filled with athletes, it's now filling up with leaves and rainwater. But, not for a lack of trying -- after years of losing customers to another, newer pool in the area, and to customers who were trying to cut back on their own bills it appears the end is in site.

Coach John Stern says, "Recreational swim lessons, water therapy it's just like different programs we've offered have dropped off by we figures by the end of the year 55 percent. So, it's kinda hard to make that up."

Stern started the high school swim team 35 years ago. Back then, it was just a boy's team. Now there's a girls team and a total of 67 swimmers.

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High School Swim Team Has Nowhere To Swim (Source: WFTV.com)