Oak Park High School created its first swim team last school year and quickly became a popular sport among students. However, OPHS does not have a pool facility, so the team used the Yarrow Family YMCA’s pool in Westlake Village for practices last year.  

Now OPHS is in the process of scouting a new location to practice with the hopes of eventually hosting meets.

“Moving forward we are working to finalize an agreement with a nearby educational institution in Ventura County to utilize their pool for our swim practices and potentially swim meets,” wrote Dr. Jeff Davis, Oak Park Unified School District’s Superintendent. 

With the addition of a new pool, OPHS athletes are excited about the prospect of adding a water polo team. 

“A vast majority of our swim team is interested in a water polo team and we even talked about it last season. Getting a pool would allow people to come to our school to swim instead of schools such as Westlake High School and Agoura High School,” OPHS senior Pranav Kadiyala said.

The addition of an OPHS water polo team requires certain pool regulations.   

“We are also planning to add girls and boys water polo for the ‘23-24 school year, which has created the need for us to find a pool large enough to meet CIF regulations to hold swim meets and water polo practices and matches. Once we have finalized this agreement we will make an announcement,” wrote Davis. 

The nearby educational institution could potentially be California Lutheran University according to Kathryn Klamecki, OPHS Athletic Director. The members of the swim team at OPHS are quite excited about the prospect of having a new pool to train in.

“It’s really cool that we are getting a bigger pool with more lanes with diving blocks which are really important,” said senior Mathew Turner.

According to Davis, students can expect an announcement on the district’s decision in January of 2023.