Santa Ynez Valley Union High School is eager to have its own CIF-sanctioned swimming pool by the time Los Angeles hosts the Olympics in 2028—with help from some special equipment tied to 2016’s Olympic trials.
In 2017, a local nonprofit dedicated to improving public pool access in the valley purchased two Myrtha pool systems that were originally used during 2016’s U.S. swimming trials in Omaha, Nebraska, according to Jake Kalkowski, one of Santa Ynez Valley Union High School’s longtime water polo coaches.
“A lot of the pools that you see in the Olympics are made with this Myrtha pool technology. … It’s very high quality stainless steel. It lasts longer than a traditional plaster pool,” Kalkowski told the Sun. “They bolt all these panels together, and then they can break it down. And that’s what we bought.”
Currently stored on campus in three separate shipping containers, the Myrtha accessories are integral to realizing the high school’s goal of constructing a new competition pool for its student athletes while converting its current pool into an all-ages recreational pool, he added.
Kalkowski, who’s coached water polo for more than 20 years, is a founding board member of the SYV Community Aquatics Foundation, a nonprofit that formed in 2014 to raise funds for a facility that could serve Santa Ynez, Solvang, Buellton, Los Alamos, and other parts of the area that don’t have a public pool for residents to swim at.
Before the pandemic, Santa Ynez Valley Union High School’s current pool—built in 1965—offered some hours for the public to swim and occasional swim lessons for various ages, but only during summer months, SYV Community Aquatics Foundation Campaign Coordinator Alexis Adler told the Sun.
“Now 60 years old, the facility has exceeded its intended lifespan and requires significant renovations,” Adler said via email. “In addition to its age, the pool does not meet CIF regulations, which prevents student athletes from hosting official competitions on their own campus. As a result, ‘home games’ must be held in rented neighboring facilities in cities like Santa Maria.”
While the high school frequently coordinates with other schools across Santa Barbara County to rent pools, coach Kalkowski said that his water polo players still practice in the 1965 pool, despite the factors that disqualify it from hosting CIF competition events.
“It’s 25 yards long, and most of the pools we play in are 25 yards wide. So we’re at a disadvantage, conditioning-wise,” Kalkowski said. “A larger pool will definitely help us be more competitive.”
Aside from the pool’s length, its depth is also a problem, the coach added.
“At one end, [our pool] is 3.5 feet deep, and at the other end it’s 11.5 feet deep. You need all deep water in order to play water polo,” he said. “There are accommodations for it. … It’d be like if you’re playing football on an 80-yard field, … or playing half-court basketball, or something along those lines. It’s not a legit competitive field there.”
Over the past 11 years, the SYV Community Aquatics Foundation has considered a few different routes to address the area’s pool issues, including one project that fell through due to an unsuccessful grant pursuit after two years of preliminary work, Campaign Coordinator Adler said. The group paused its campaign in 2020 due to the pandemic, she added.
In 2023, the nonprofit resumed its fundraising efforts and began working with the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District on its current proposal to renovate the high school’s current pool for public use and build a new competition pool—one that meets CIF standards—from scratch.
The nonprofit’s proposing to retrofit the 1965 pool to be the community recreational pool.
“The goal is to have something for anything aquatic, for all ages and activities,” Kalkowski said.
“It will be primarily shallow for swim lessons or therapy, aerobics, and at a more comfortable temperature than the 72 to 82 degrees that would be in the competition pool. … Probably 88 or 90,” he continued. “It seems like a small increase in temperature, but it makes a big difference. And it’s not something that you would want to swim laps in.”
Shortly after reemerging in 2023, the aquatics foundation was encouraged by the high school district to enlist a fundraising consultant firm, the Kellogg Organization, to help coordinate the project and determine a suitable timeline of completion, Campaign Coordinator Adler explained.
“A readiness assessment confirmed that a campaign to fund a state-of-the-art, two-pool community aquatics complex was both realistic and achievable,” Adler said via email. “An ambitious—but attainable—timeline was set to raise $13.7 million by December 2026. … To date we have raised nearly $4.5 million in donations and pledges.”
Adler added that $1 million of that was raised during 2025 alone. Almost half of that came directly from the city of Solvang in late May, through a $450,000 grant.
“It’s a very meaningful checkbox for them to continue on their fundraising pursuits,” Councilmember Elizabeth Orona said at the council’s May 27 meeting.
With a 4-0 vote (Solvang Mayor David Brown was absent), the council granted the aquatics foundation’s grant request that evening.
In its application to the council, the nonprofit included Solvang residents among the community members it intends to benefit, through swim lessons for youth, senior-friendly aquatic therapy and rehabilitation programs, and other services.
Orona said that one part of determining the foundation’s eligibility for the $450,000 grant was “to specifically verify that the funding was being used in alignment and direct correlation with the mission of the grant funding program, which was prioritizing human services, veteran services, senior members of the community, and members of the community at large who might be in greater need than others.”
“It is a very big number,” she said. “We would clearly be expecting to have our youth, our high school students, and the Senior Center, for example, leveraging the facility at the time that it becomes available.”
Reach Senior Staff Writer Caleb Wiseblood at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 7, 2025.