Ocala’s new swim venue poised to bring national attention

The outdoor pool offers competition area of different lengths. Visitors toured the facility during the grand opening preview of the new FAST facility on Saturday, March 26. [Alan Youngblood/Special to the Ocala Gazette]

Florida Aquatics Swimming & Training (FAST) held a two-day grand opening for its new swimming facility on Friday and Saturday last week. 

Friday was a VIP event, which included a fashion show with swimmers in partnership with TYR, a swimwear apparel company and the official supplier for FAST. On Saturday, more than 2,000 people showed up for the public grand opening. 

“When you see this thing open up and you see the joy in the people that are going to get to use it and the incredible satisfaction with the people that were on the initial design-build, it was just incredibly fun to see all those things come together,” said FAST Falcons head coach Brian Schrader. 

Among the attendees for the grand opening events were 12-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte; Coleman Stewart, who holds a world record in the 100-meter backstroke; Kelsi Dahlia, who was the first woman in history to swim the 100-yard butterfly in under 50 seconds; and University of Florida swimmer and Olympic trials qualifier Elise Bauer. 

“You get to have these people that have spent a lifetime in the water and a lot of different facilities. And then they come here to spread the joy because they know what it means. They know what a facility like this in the community means. It’s going to help. Someday, we hope to have an Olympian from Ocala,” Schrader said.

FAST is located within the new planned family community, Calesa Township, in Southwest Ocala, created by the same developer of the On Top Of The World communities. FAST is a venture of the Circle Square Foundation, which broke ground for the venue in October 2020.

The facility, which includes indoor and outdoor pools, can hold more than 2,000 spectators and can be used in a variety of ways. Those range from recreational use for kids and adults, competitive use for the FAST Falcons and training for water rescues for emergency medical services personnel, such as firefighters. 

Kinley Rogers, a strategic partnership executive at Colen Built Development, said the Circle Square Foundation is starting a program called Cannonball for Kids to offer free swimming lessons for third graders in Marion County. 

“Besides the swimming part, it builds character,” Rogers said of the program. “You learn responsibility, how to get along with others, so it’s definitely something that we’re excited about having.”

The first major event at the complex is set to take place July 14 to 17 for the Florida Long Course Flags Championships for ages 14 and under. Schrader estimates that 700 athletes from around the state of Florida will participate in the tournament, which could have a huge economic impact on the city of Ocala. Schrader hopes to have events of this magnitude three to four times a year. 

“We’re predicting that’ll be 700 athletes,” Schrader said. Plus their parents, plus their coaches that are going to come to Ocala to stay for three to five days and some of those people are going to get hotel rooms. All of those people are going to eat meals and I think it can be an economic driver.”

Nationally, the facility is set to host a team from New Jersey and bring in 20 athletes to train for eight days. The facility is also set to be a part of USA Swimming’s regional diversity select camps from June 8 to 12. 

Schrader said he hopes the facility also can be used for high school events such as district and regional tournaments. 

“To have a pool like this in a community like this, which has been sort of underserved in terms of water availability, things start to happen,” Schrader said. 

The pool will open to the public on Tuesday, April 5. Membership information, rates and the schedule can be found at floridafast.com.