Home, sweet home.

For the first time in school history, the Modesto Junior College water polo and swimming teams finally have a pool to be proud of.

The original pool was more than 40 years old, and prone to leaks and electrical problems before being shut down in 2001.

For men’s coach Eric Fischer, who was also a player at Modesto JC, the $2 million state-of-the-art facility was worth the wait.

“Words cannot describe it right now,” Fischer said. “I’m happy. We have the second-best pool in Modesto behind Johansen High.”

The main pool is 25 meters long and 25 yards wide. It ranges from seven to 13 feet deep and features four diving boards, electronic touchpads, starting blocks and a large scoreboard on the north wall.

Retired aquatics coach Dave Ashleigh said the pools were “squeezed” into the available space between the main gym and men’s locker room, but it’s a wonderful venue and a vast improvement over the original.

“The one we had was just a little diving tank that we could practice in,” Ashleigh said. “But it was too shallow for diving. We had problems with kids hitting the bottom of the pool.

“Kids were getting shocked by the lights in the pool. There were years when we had a hose going full blast 24 hours a day to keep it full. Nobody seemed to know where it was leaking.”

Ashleigh can breathe a sign of relief now. Still connected to the program, Ashleigh said he would have loved to have the facility, but got used to commuting to Beyer and Johansen for competitions. For the last three years, the teams also practiced at the SOS Club.

“It’s a complete facility,” Ashleigh said. “We got a lot out of the athletes we had with what we had. But you look at that and think, ‘Boy, that would have been great.’”

Fischer said he heard from potential recruits who didn’t know Modesto JC even had an aquatics program without any pool to speak of the last three years.

The school has probably lost athletes to Merced College or San Joaquin Delta because of the poor condition and then lack of immediate facilities.

Fischer and women’s water polo coach Kurt Olson, both former MJC athletes under Ashleigh, credited their coach with keeping the programs flourishing under the circumstances.

“He held things together,” Fischer said. “He did an outstanding job with what he had. It’s a disaster when you have to go to other parts of town every day, every year, to play. You’ve got to adjust.”

Olson, the women’s first-year coach, says he feels lucky to come back to the program when he did. He has high hopes of making the area a stronger swim power and getting the community involved with the new pool.

“Modesto has the talent,” Olson said. “Hopefully this will attract more JC players to come here for cheap units before they transfer. There’s no where to go but up.”