Brave Waves indoor pool starting to take shape

By Casandra Turnbull

Paris’ first-ever indoor pool is starting to take shape

The new state-of-the-art facility is located off Rest Acres Road in the Arlington Commons Plaza between the Applewood Montessori School and Paris Home Hardware.

Brave Waves Swim School, which operates in the summer months at Five Oaks Centre in Paris, announced plans to build an indoor pool earlier this year.

The privately funded project offers residents a new opportunity to swim all year long and filling a major shortfall for this type of recreational service in the County of Brant. This will be the largest private indoor swim school pools in Canada at 10M x 20M. It will be a purpose-built pool for swim instruction, heated to 30C with 15M of shallow water instruction area and 5M of deep water for advance instruction

In late November, the front doors to the facility were removed so construction crews could get the appropriate machinery inside to start moving the earth and digging the hole

The cement foundation for the pool is poured and construction is so far on track to meet the April 2024 grand opening plans “We have included a built-in ledge down the entire shallow length of the pool for the comfort of young swimmers and a built-in grip space in the deep end assisting more advance swimmers,” said Julia and Jessica Surette, Founders of Brave Waves Swim School.

In addition to parent-and-me, toddler, youth and adult swim lessons, Brave Waves Swim School offers certification opportunities like Lifesaving Society Aquatic Leadership courses and First Aid courses. They have a history of training region firefighters as there are swim proficiency standard requirements in their field of work. The indoor facility will enable the school’s instructors to carry on these important programs all year round

Brave Wave Swim School started off as a modest idea between the two sisters in their parent’s backyard in Brantford 12 years ago The goal was simple: learn a bit about entrepreneurship, make some money to fund their schooling and teach people lifesaving skills in the water. It has since grown to be the largest private swim lesson provider in the region serving more than 1,000 swimmers from 800 families for 12 weeks every summer.

Stay tuned for further updates as construction continues on this one-of-a-kind facility!