The Kingsport Aquatic Center recently underwent a major renovation and improvement
project, the first of its type since opening more than a decade ago. The work involved
nearly every pool and water feature in the facility and now that the work is complete, the
facility looks almost as new as the day its doors first opened.

Last month, DWR Aquatics – a Vonore, Tennessee company that specializes in aquatic
construction – came to Kingsport and performed a wide range of tasks at the Kingsport
Aquatic Center.

All of the indoor pools and the outdoor leisure pool were acid-washed, and all of the
cracks were patched. If you’re a regular user of any of these pools, you’ll notice a
difference right away.

“I think you’re going to notice a different feel because the acid-washing took a lot of the
grittiness off of the bottom of the pools. You might be surprised by how nice it feels,”
said Aquatics Program Coordinator Madison Gump.

DWR took the lazy river down to the concrete and repainted it twice, going from its
previous gray color to white. The zero depth children’s area received new tile around its
border, as did sections of the lazy river. Now folks can see where the steps are without
having to guess (and maybe stumble).

The indoor bathrooms received new handles, fixtures and a new paint job. Both of the
outdoor water slides were stripped down, coated with new gel and painted in bright
green and blue paint.

“When the water park opens next year, you’re going to notice the slides are faster and
smoother going down and you’ll see how bright they are compared to how they used to
look,” Gump said. “This is the first time they’ve been professionally painted and gel-
coated since opening in 2013, so we’re excited to offer that to our patrons.”

The final piece of the renovation project – one that’s crucial to the Kingsport Aquatic
Center – involved replacing every starting block on the facility’s Olympic-sized
competition pool. DRW removed the old diving block and cores and installed new
anchors and the latest, top of the line diving blocks.

The new diving blocks have squared cores instead of circular cores, which makes it
easier to tighten and loosen, thus lengthening their lifespan. New backstroke wedges
were also installed in the competition pool.

These wedges give backstroke swimmers a better grip on the wall and a place where
they can put their feet and not slip off. Plus, it’s retractable after the swimmer leaves the
wall.

“It’s industry standard and for world class facilities, like ours, we’re typically the ones
that have it,” Gump said. “We want to ensure we are holding that standard, which is why
we decided to purchase them as part of the project. We know the swimmers will really
appreciate it.”

The Kingsport Aquatic Center typically hosts 14 to 20 competitions each year, from high
school teams to collegiate events, bringing in hundreds of swimmers and their families
to the Model City.

Gump said this project was the most comprehensive maintenance project at the facility
since opening in 2013.

“We’ve closed a couple of times for a week to do some in-house maintenance, but this
is the first time we’ve drained and acid-washed every pool,” Gump said. “We think being
able to maintain our pools is one of our biggest priorities and we’re excited for folks to
come out and swim and see it for themselves.”

Since opening in 2013, the Kingsport Aquatic Center has been the premier aquatic
recreation facility for our region, featuring the area’s only indoor Olympic-sized
swimming pool. Other amenities include an indoor warm-water pool and two children’s
play pools, a giant two-lane water slide, an 800-foot lazy river and an outdoor lap pool.

The Kingsport Aquatic Center offers seasonal, annual and daily rates. For more
information, please visit www.swimkingsport.com.