Waukee Community School District PREPARES TO DIVE INTO NEW NATATORIUM

By Kelly Jellings

There will soon be a new home for Waukee swimmers and divers. Waukee Community School District (CSD) is working hard to finish its state-of-the-art natatorium that will be home to athletes from both high schools.

Natatorium Details

The natatorium will have two pools—the main competition pool and the training pool. Together, they’ll hold just shy of one-million gallons of water. One end of the main pool features a diving well with two onemeter diving boards and two three-meter diving boards. The facility also includes four locker rooms, an instructional room, a timing room for officials, and plenty of places to sit and watch the action.

Before any work began, Waukee CSD construction leaders visited other aquatics facilities to take notes on what was working well and what to avoid. Leaders also engaged with multiple internal and external stakeholders to refine the facility’s design. They prioritized making a beautiful building that would function properly for years to come.

Construction Progress

During the winter months, workers enclosed the building, and interior mechanical, electrical and plumbing work kicked into high gear. Crews also completed digging the competition pool, removing about 400 truckloads of dirt. Construction on the natatorium is currently about halfway done. Crews will finish their work before the 2023-24 school year begins.

Director Of Aquatics

The Waukee CSD hired Bobby Kelley as the first Director of Aquatics. He’ll officially begin his role on July 1, 2023. He comes to the area after serving in a similar position in Eastern Iowa.

Kelley has been involved in swimming as an athlete, coach, teacher, parent, and administrator his entire life. In college, he swam for the University of Kansas. After graduation, he started coaching YMCA swim teams, USA swimming teams, high school teams and college teams.

In 2013, he opened and managed the the Linn-Mar Aquatic Center. There, he started a program that now teaches swimming to over 3,000 students per year.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE NATATORIUM?

Once work is complete in early summer, it’ll be time to fill and acclimate the pools. Then, the District will hire and train additional staff. After the facility opens, Waukee CSD swimmers will get to jump in first. In addition to being the home of our middle and high school swimming programs, leaders will develop more programming to benefit additional Waukee CSD students.

To keep up with the latest construction updates, visit waukeeschools.org.

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