It’s not very often that you see a high school in Illinois build its own Olympic-size swimming pool and connect it to their state of the art wrestling center.  But that’s just what District 7 did.

“This pool was a dream come true and I am very excited for it,” EHS head swim coach Christian Rhoten said. “It is very rare for a high school in the Midwest to have a facility like we have.”

The Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center is now up and running and the expectations for the pool couldn’t be higher.

The pool is named after the late Charles “Chuck” Fruit, who was a graduate of EHS and loved swimming and diving.  The Charles & Sharon Fruit foundation donated $4 million for the center last December, and the EGHM Foundation donated the rest of the money to pay for the $5.3 million facility.

This pool will not only be used for the girls and boys EHS swim teams but will also be rented out to the YMCA swim team, USA swim meets, major weekend long competitions and PE courses at the high school.

Rhoten said the overall revenue that this pool will make will be outstanding, mainly due to the fact of the 12 weekend long meets that will be held there.

“I think that the Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center will impact EHS in multiple ways,” senior Student Ambassador Lydia Davey said.  “Not only will we be having major swim events held there, we will also give lots of students the opportunity to learn a life skill through the new PE courses.”

The PE courses will be in full affect beginning second quarter when freshman enrolled in the class will have a three week swimming unit with each session lasting 25 minutes.

Assistant coach and 2006 EHS graduate Sam Shaw will instruct the PE swim classes.

The class will be structured for strong swimmers to get in the pool and get a good workout in, and for weak swimmers to learn basic swimming and lifesaving skills.

Although the pool is 7 feet deep at its shallowest end, the aquatic center is equipped with teaching platforms to make the shallow end just 3 ½  feet.

“We anticipate a learning curve,” Rhoten said. “Eventually it will become standard, just like playing basketball in PE.”

The aquatic center features a large Nevco jumbotron as well as brand new touch pads installed into the wall, which is all a part of the state of the art Colorado Timing System that will bring spectators up to the moment results.

Shaw hopes that the pool will bring student interaction to a whole new level with swimming, to create a football-like atmosphere.

“I am very excited to attend swim meets,” senior Matt Zielonko said.  “Hopefully we can get a big student section and pack the house to make it as loud as possible inside.”

Finding a seat in the Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center shouldn’t be an issue at all.  The facility seats 499 people in the upstairs bleachers and 200 more down on the pool deck.

The first time you will be able to see all those seats filled will be on Oct. 14 when the Lady Tigers host O’Fallon in a dual meet.

“The pool is perfect,” Rhoten said.  “It’s a premiere pool for the premiere high school.”