Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center

I don’t swim casually (all that much) or competitively so you may be wondering what brings me here. Well, about 8 years ago I started to become really interested in swimming in the US. The Arena Pro Series stops here every January and this being an Olympic year there is more interest from the general public. This facility is really impressive and may be my favorite pool of this scale that I’ve been to!

Best swim center in Texas and probably one of the best in the United States. The kids in the Austin area are truly spoiled to swim age group meets at this world class facility. You can just look at the record board on the wall and see the legends that have swum here and the fast times they’ve swum at this pool.

Home to one of six USA Swimming Arena Grand Prix series stops. The Austin Grand Prix has been at the University of Texas for around six years. Most of the locals know this pool as just the Texas Swim Center.
From the outside I could closely nail the date of the building as mid to late 70’s. My understanding it was completed in 1977. The interior does not look it’s age in the competition pool and diving area. However, the facelift of the facility three years ago is not reflected in other areas such as restroom facilities etc.
The aquatic complex is impressive and I assume one of the nicest in the era when completed. The pool is used by local year around USA swim club Longhorn Aquatics, high school, state champs, UT swim and dive team and most recently high level competition such as the Austin Grand Prix.
The main pool, used for competitive swimming, which is 50 meters long by 25 yards wide and is 9 feet deep. Two retractable bulkheads, stored on cranes in recesses in the ceiling of the building, can be lowered and maneuvered, allowing the pool a variety of possible configurations. Some of these include: a long course practice setup, with ten 50m lanes; short course practice, with anywhere from 16 to 20 25-​yard lanes; competition long course with eight 50m lanes; short course competition with eight 25 yard/​meter competition lanes, and warm up/​down lanes; and short-​course competition with sixteen 25-​yard lanes (two courses of 8 lanes each).
The diving well is 25 yards long by 25 yards wide. The north end of the well houses 4 separate 1-​meter springboards and two 3-​meter springboards and is 15 feet deep. The south end of the well houses the platform tower with 1-​, 3-​, 5-​, 7.5-, and 10-​meter platforms, as well as four 3-​meter springboards; this end is 18 feet deep. Both ends have a bubbler system that lessens the tension of water surface. The diving well can also be arranged as a lap pool which was done for the Austin Grand Prix when I was present.
The air quality has been greatly improved with installation of the «Big Ass Fan’s, (really that is the name of the company) on the ceiling over the competition pool and diving area. These fans are massive and when cranked up could cause waves in the pool.
The mezzanine area features the Texas Hall of Fame and lots of memorabilia from University of Texas Swimming and the history of swimming in the state. This was very cool and I really enjoyed browsing and felt more like I was in a swimming museum.
The bones of the Texas Swim Center are incredible and have stood the test of time. This sanctuary to swimming in the capital city of Texas will be around for a long time.