ROCKHURST 101
The Goppert Rock Plex
At The Rock, we’re proud of all of our student-athletes and co-curricular participants.
In particular, as of the 2021-2022 school year, our AquaHawks are the winningest
boys’ Swim & Dive Program in the state of Missouri.
With 11 consecutive state titles spanning 2005-2014, the team has been led since
1999 by faculty member, coach, and mentor Paul Winkeler.
On the heels of our recent 13th State Championship in the fall of 2021, the Red
Bridge YMCA – home of the AquaHawks since 2003 – announced it would be closing
in mid-December. The program was suddenly left without a home.
Mobilized to find that new home for swim & dive amidst a lacking rental landscape,
an ad hoc committee of the Board of Trustees formed to research potential solutions.
Several weeks into these efforts, a member of the ad hoc committee, Trustee Amy
Holewinski brought important information to the school’s attention allowing the
school to further its exploration of purchasing the facility.
Motivated by the option to purchase and especially by the support and leadership
of Tom McDonnell ’62 – who, along with his wife, Jean, provided a $250,000 gift from
their foundation to help secure the contract – the potential to secure a long-term
consistent swim home became a true possibility with an offer to purchase the Red
Bridge YMCA in mid-January 2022. The offer was accepted and Rockhurst took
ownership of the facility, located at 11300 Holmes Road in Kansas City, Missouri,
on February 17, 2022.
Within days, The Goppert Foundation made a $1 million gift to Rockhurst for the
facility, renaming it The Goppert Rock Plex. The Ann & Gary Dickinson Family
Foundation also provided a lead gift of $500,000 to the project.
Continued due diligence reveals that the facility requires nearly $350,000 in
immediate capital improvements, fixtures, and equipment, and will also require
additional expenditures to support ongoing operations. Rockhurst has been in
conversation with other local high school swim programs in need of pool time for
their student athletes and these rentals may help offset some of our operational
costs.
The opportunity now at-hand is to create an aquatic sports and wellness center to
serve our entire Rockhurst Community as well as other swim teams as we show
others the way to God, walk with the excluded, and journey with youth along their
education and formation pathway.
In particular, as of the 2021-2022 school year, our AquaHawks are the winningest
boys’ Swim & Dive Program in the state of Missouri.
With 11 consecutive state titles spanning 2005-2014, the team has been led since
1999 by faculty member, coach, and mentor Paul Winkeler.
On the heels of our recent 13th State Championship in the fall of 2021, the Red
Bridge YMCA – home of the AquaHawks since 2003 – announced it would be closing
in mid-December. The program was suddenly left without a home.
Mobilized to find that new home for swim & dive amidst a lacking rental landscape,
an ad hoc committee of the Board of Trustees formed to research potential solutions.
Several weeks into these efforts, a member of the ad hoc committee, Trustee Amy
Holewinski brought important information to the school’s attention allowing the
school to further its exploration of purchasing the facility.
Motivated by the option to purchase and especially by the support and leadership
of Tom McDonnell ’62 – who, along with his wife, Jean, provided a $250,000 gift from
their foundation to help secure the contract – the potential to secure a long-term
consistent swim home became a true possibility with an offer to purchase the Red
Bridge YMCA in mid-January 2022. The offer was accepted and Rockhurst took
ownership of the facility, located at 11300 Holmes Road in Kansas City, Missouri,
on February 17, 2022.
Within days, The Goppert Foundation made a $1 million gift to Rockhurst for the
facility, renaming it The Goppert Rock Plex. The Ann & Gary Dickinson Family
Foundation also provided a lead gift of $500,000 to the project.
Continued due diligence reveals that the facility requires nearly $350,000 in
immediate capital improvements, fixtures, and equipment, and will also require
additional expenditures to support ongoing operations. Rockhurst has been in
conversation with other local high school swim programs in need of pool time for
their student athletes and these rentals may help offset some of our operational
costs.
The opportunity now at-hand is to create an aquatic sports and wellness center to
serve our entire Rockhurst Community as well as other swim teams as we show
others the way to God, walk with the excluded, and journey with youth along their
education and formation pathway.