Rocanville’s new aquatic centre seeing high usage
Family swims, rentals attracting people from surrounding communities
February 23, 2026, 10:23 am
Ashley Bochek
The Universe Satellite Aquatic Centre in Rocanville opened its doors in November and since then the facility has been popular around the region.
Pool Manager Kelsey Selby says she is happy with the support they have received from communities in the area and is eager to hear feedback from visitors on swim programming.
“It has been going very well. Our most popular times right now are the family swims. There is anywhere between 10 to 60 people that come to those, so that is really good,” says Selby.
Selby says rentals have been very popular and are filling the pool schedule.
“We recently had Yorkton’s Synchro Team that is going to the Winter Games rent the pool a couple of weeks ago and they were really shocked at how busy our lane swim was, because when they came they warmed up with the lane swim before their rental. The synchro coach told me how surprised she was by how many people were there during that.
“I think they couldn’t get the rental time in Yorkton, and they shared on their own Facebook that they appreciated that our rental booking was so easy to do, and they were very impressed with how professional our guards were. We have a junior Olympic sized pool, so we have the shallow end and the deep water.”
Rentals have been popular
Selby says they have hosted lots of different rentals since opening.
“Our rentals have been crazy. We have birthday party rentals and then private rentals. Our birthday parties are probably our most popular. It is an hour in the pool and a half an hour in the mezzanine. We provide cake and juice, which is all selected in their rental agreements. Some of the ladies in town make the cakes and they are super delicious. We also do private rentals, and they were really popular around Christmas time. We had a couple of families do private rentals so that they could come for a swim. That was really nice.
We’ve also had a couple of businesses do it for a retreat type of thing.
“We also have a rental this coming Friday evening. It is an invite-only event and there is going to be yoga as well as a meditation float. If it goes well, I will hopefully be doing more of those. I would like to try it first with just closer friends and see how it goes.
“The private rentals don’t include the use of the mezzanine unless you talk to us prior. We can make that happen we just need to know what is going on ahead of time. Anyone can email rocanvillepool@gmail.com for rentals or you can give us a call here at the pool. We are working on getting a permanent number which we should have in the next coming weeks. People can message us on Facebook as well.”
The Universe Satellite Aquatic Centre hosted many rentals during the holiday season. Selby explains even during cold winter days people, still enjoy coming to swim.
“It was very, very busy in December and the end of January sped up as well, but it has also been so cold and there have been days we thought nobody was going to come out, and then it’s crazy. The water is 30 degrees Celsius and it is nice and warm in the facility. It has been really good. There are lots of winter sports to do in the area, but it is relatively inexpensive to come swimming compared to skiing. You only need a bathing suit. Our passes, and even the single day passes are decently priced.”
Visitors from across the area
Selby explains there have been many visitors from the surrounding area come swim at the Aquatic Centre.
“One night a couple from Redvers came who just really enjoyed swimming. We have seen lots from St. Lazare and other parts of Manitoba. I’ve got some people who come to my aquafit classes from Esterhazy, Spy Hill, Langenburg, we’ve had a couple from Moosomin.
“We had a public swim one afternoon and it was all Moosomin grandparents that brought their grandkids from Rocanville, so it was all Moosomin people except for the kids.
“With the mine, the one day a guy from Germany came to swim, but he is in the area for work.
“They come from all over the place. The farthest so far is Yorkton.”
Positive comments
Selby says she has received lots of positive remarks from community members and visitors since opening the new facility.
“We’ve had lots say how it doesn’t even feel like you’re in Rocanville and how relaxing the space is. We’ve also had lots of comments on how our water temperature has been steady and the water is nice and clear. We’ve heard comments on how beautiful the facility is. Our slide was donated to us from the RM of Rocanville and it is not huge, but the kids love it and it’s great because the three- and four-year-olds aren’t afraid to go on it, and so the parents don’t have to keep getting out with them, and we’ve heard lots of good comments about that.
“People were really happy about keeping our old diving boards. They are always a huge hit. The high diving board sees a lot of people in a day. We’ve kept a lot of similar programming and have heard lots of good feedback about that.”
Looking for adult lifeguards
Selby says the pool committee looking for adult lifeguards as well to offer more hours of swim time to the public.
“A lot of work went into it. Our refurbishment committee put in a lot of work over the years, the pool fundraising committee, myself, and the Rec Director as well. When things started back up again we had to recreate all of our policies just because the facility is entirely different. It has been a lot of work, but it has been a huge learning curve.
“We are still figuring things out as we go and learning what works best for people and our staff. Most of our lifeguards are students so we need to get more courses going. Hopefully we can get some adults interested in guarding and make the hours work for them.
“It is nice to get the pat on the back for the hard work that has gone into this project.”
Open to programming suggestions
The Universe Satellite Aquatic Centre team is open to suggestions on different types of swim classes the public would like to see.
“I would like to add that the most accurate representation of what our schedule looks like for the day is on the Town of Rocanville website because it does change time to time as rentals come in, but we are opening up some rental spots that are specifically going to stay open for rentals as they get booked and our schedule is constantly changing,” says Selby.
“We are opening to feedback as well. If people want to see different types of classes—I just recently added Aqua Zumba and an evening lane swim because we had a lot of requests for that—we are open to it. Just reach out, and as long as people are attending, we will keep those things going, and if those enrollments drop off, then we will change and see what else may work. We are open to seeing what works best for the community and area and their schedules and what they want to see here. We are open to feedback.
“We also have our Swimathon going on and people can find out more information about that just by giving us a quick message on Facebook at Universe Satellite Aquatic Centre if they are interested.”
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