The Adelaide Aquatic Centre is a complex of indoor heated

swimming pools A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

operated by the

Adelaide City Council The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council, is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia. It is legally defined as the capital city of Sout ...

and located in the northernmost extent of the

Adelaide Parklands The Adelaide Park Lands comprise the figure-eight configuration of land, spanning both banks of the River Torrens between Hackney and Thebarton, which encloses and separates the City of Adelaide area (including both the Adelaide city centre and ...

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct (Australia), precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. Laid out in a grid plan in three section ...

, Australia. It is located in the square of parkland bordered by Jeffcott Street, Barton Terrace West, Prospect Road and Fitzroy Terrace. There is a car park to the west whose entrance is off Jeffcott Street, but the entrance to the centre itself faces north, towards Fitzroy Terrace. The centre opened on 20 December 1969.

Facilities

The centre features a 50-metre Olympic-sized swimming pool and a smaller adjacent pool (33m x 21m) used for

aqua aerobics Water aerobics (waterobics, aquarobics, aquatic fitness, aquafitness, aquafit) is the performance of aerobic exercise in water such as in a swimming pool. It is done mostly vertically and without swimming typically in waist deep or deeper water. ...

canoe polo Canoe polo, also known as kayak polo or polo (to players and fans), is one of the competitive disciplines of kayaking. It incorporates ball-handling skills into a contact team game, wherein group tactics and positional play are as important as in ...

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

underwater hockey Underwater hockey (UWH), also known as Octopush in the United Kingdom, is a globally played limited-contact sport in which two teams compete to manoeuvre a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into the opposing team's goal by propelling ...

and

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

. These two pools are surrounded on three sides by raised seating for competition spectators. The wet areas also include an octopus-themed 'Octopool' for children's swimming lessons and recreational use, two leisure pools, two water slides, two

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

s, a dry

sauna A sauna (, ) is a room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a sauna is used to meas ...

and a

steam room A steam bath is a steam-filled room or steam-filled cabinet designed for the purpose of relaxation and holistic treatment. Steam baths have been formally recognized since ancient Greek and Roman Empire, Roman times, yet variations can be found t ...

. At extra cost (unless one becomes a member), the centre offers a crèche and a

health club A health club (also known as a fitness club, fitness center, health spa, weight room and commonly referred to as a gym) is a place that houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise. In recent years, the number of fitness an ...

equipped with cardio machines, pin-loaded

weight machines In science and engineering, the weight of an object is a quantity associated with the gravitational force exerted on the object by other objects in its environment, although there is some variation and debate as to the exact definition. Some sta ...

and free weights. There are also shops providing swimming equipment and food, and an outdoor barbecue area.

Fees

There are separate prices for families, single adults, children, and concession card holders (

Health Care Card The Australian Health Care Card is a card issued by the Australian Government which evidences the entitlement of the cardholder to concessions, such as the cost of some prescription medicines, medical services, and other government concessions. E ...

or full-time tertiary students). to the different areas of the centre, including the pools, sauna, spa and gym. Adelaide Aquatic Centre also offers membership for full access to the centre.

State of maintenance and future plans

Since 2005, peak representative bodies such as Diving Australia,

Swimming Australia Swimming Australia is the peak governing body for competitive swimming in Australia. The body has approximately 100,000 registered members nationally in 1100 clubs across the country, which includes swimmers, coaches, officials, administrators ...

and the Aquatic Sports Coalition of SA have criticised the condition of facilities at the centre. There was a plan that in the period April to July 2011 the centre's roof would be replaced as the first stage in upgrading the centre. Adelaide City Council has reportedly allocated $6 million for a leisure centre conversion for the aquatic centre, but requires additional funding from the state or federal governments to go ahead. The council is to undertake a detailed study on how best to proceed in further upgrading the centre in coming years, to shift its focus from swimming competitions to a family oriented leisure pool facility, along the lines of an indoor waterpark.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Sports venues in Adelaide Swimming venues in South Australia 1969 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 1969 North Adelaide Adelaide Park Lands Water polo venues in Australia