Press Box: Addition of swimming at Jefferson City, Capital City is a good thing

The Jefferson City Jays and Capital City Cavaliers will be offering boys and girls swimming starting in the 2023-24 school year. Home meets will be held at the Knowles YMCA. (News Tribune file photo)
The Jefferson City Jays and Capital City Cavaliers will be offering boys and girls swimming starting in the 2023-24 school year. Home meets will be held at the Knowles YMCA. (News Tribune file photo)

We got the answer a few days ago.

It’s been a topic of conversation through the years among the sports staff. What’s the next sports program the big high schools in the area will offer to its students?

That discussion was settled late last week when it was confirmed Jefferson City and Capital City will be offering boys and girls swimming starting in the 2023-24 school year.

Why swimming? Do we really need another sports program?

There are approximately 120 boys schools that offer swimming in Missouri. The number jumps to almost 140 on the girls side. Jefferson City and Capital City were among the largest high schools in the state not to offer the sport.

The news has brought out some of the usual grumblings about how athletics are over-emphasized in the local high schools. Those grumblings usually start with money.

There will be additional costs to the Jefferson City School District’s athletic budget. But the coaching stipends of one head coach who will lead the two programs, along with an assistant coach, won’t break the bank.

And it’s not like the district is going to have to build a pool. Practice and home competitions will be held at the YMCA’s Knowles facility, located just across the street from Jefferson City High School.

The base has already been built for the programs. The YMCA has sponsored the Barracuda swim team for years, providing area swimmers the chance to compete from a young age through high school. Now those swimmers will get the opportunity to compete for their respective schools in addition to the club program.

How much interest is there going to be for boys swimming, held in the fall season, and girls swimming, held in the winter?

From a couple of people I have talked to about it in the past few days, there is more than you might think. It will be interesting to see what attendance is the first day of practice. It will be even more interesting to see how that attendance changes on the first day of the second week of practice.

Diving is now the only sport offered by the Missouri State High School Activities Association that will not be offered by Jefferson City and Capital City. And it won’t be because there currently is no place in the city with a competition-quality diving facility. The closest would be at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Not that this is a big deal, but Jefferson City and Capital City will add another sport to add points in winning the Central Missouri Activities Conference overall athletic program championship.

Helias is now the only CMAC school that doesn’t offer swimming. I would guess if the pieces fell into the right places, the Crusaders and Lady Crusaders would add the sport. And that may happen as soon as this fall, again, if the pieces fall into place.

With swimming off the table, now the sports department conversation shifts to what will be the next sport to debut.

Is it too soon to start speculating about when we will see boys volleyball?