Mobile might be able to claim an Olympic swimmer in Paige Madden, but her hometown’s “Spirit of Mobile” was without a natatorium or any competitive-size swimming pool to hold its event in April.
The City of Mobile Swimming Association (CMSA), an independent club that offers competitive swimming, decided to travel about an hour to the west and host the event at a city-owned pool in Biloxi, Mississippi.
“We will host another one in Biloxi in October,” said Tyler Kearns, dean of students and head swim coach at St. Paul’s Episcopal School. “Those are revenue streams for our community that could be coming here.”
The club’s home pool at Bishop State Community College, while a nice enough for training and classes, is not large enough for competitive meets. The group is urging county and city support in building an indoor natatorium as demand rises for competitive swimming.
Mobile County Commissioner Connie Hudson, this week, reaffirmed her interest in building a natatorium. She’s also pushing for more additions to an evolving soccer complex, and believes it could host a water theme park through a public-private investment.
The new natatorium, water park and continued additions on the soccer complex are all parts of Hudson’s longtime goals of addressing a demand for sports tourism in Mobile. The push comes as other cities in Alabama have sunk major money into sports tourism, highlighted by multi-million investments in large metro cities like Huntsville and…
