The pool - located at Taradale Primary School - was operated by the Greendale Swim Club. It closed at the end of 2016 after a Ministry of Education assessment determined it was structurally at risk.
Head coach Gary Knight said the pool's closure had limited the club's abilities, and affected a lot of people - from their competitive swimmers, to the 3500 who took part in their learn to swim programmes every year.
The programmes were stopped, he said, with kids missing out on ones at other facilities because of space. The club had continued to train their competitive swimmers at Clive Memorial Pool, although the number of squads had been reduced by two.
Without the management of the Clive pool assisting the club, and providing time and space for them to train, Mr Knight said the club would have dissolved.
"Without that we would be no more. Greendale Swim Club would have gone into liquidation ... or it'd be gone. We're basically trying to survive until our pool reopens."
Both Hastings District and Napier City councils have plans in place to address a lack of swimming facilities in the region.
A recent study commissioned by Napier City Council - the 2015 Napier Aquatics Strategy - found a shortfall of three 25m by 16m pools in Hawke's Bay to meet current needs, based on an analysis of current and future demand.
This shortfall has been highlighted with the club not the only one to feel a pinch by the closure of Greendale - students from six schools were involved in the learn to swim programmes there.
This includes Taradale Primary School, whose principal Marty Hantz is part of a steering committee to fix the pool, and ensure its future sustainability.
His students would usually enjoy up to 20 lessons each every half year at the Greendale Pool, but this year "we haven't been able to get kids in the pool and that's a real worry for us".
The school had not been able to arrange lessons elsewhere this term as individual schools had to focus on their own students, and at public facilities, "there's just not the lane space".
"I think the city of Napier and Taradale itself is really poorly served by the lack of aquatic facilities that we have," he said.
President of the Hawke's Bay Secondary Schools Association, Stephen Hensman, said "the pool situation" affected a number of schools.
"We do have fewer pools than we need, and that's primarily for economic reasons. Pools are expensive to build, and maintain so as a consequence of that not every school has a pool and at the moment, neither does every city have an appropriate pool," he said.
"I do have sympathy for civic and government authorities in this situation."
The principal of Taradale High School said his Year 9 students had been among those who took swimming lessons at Greendale Pool.
For schools who travelled to pools off site, this did create an inconvenience, and cost for schools, he said, as well as impacting the number of lessons a student could have.
Mr Hantz noted it was an expensive process for schools to keep their pools running, and with limited funding from the Ministry of Education, money sometimes had to be spent on other resources.
"There's not a lot of incentive to keep your pools running so a lot of schools have dispensed with their pools. That's a real problem ... you'd like to think the council's going to be aware of that."
There are a number of schools in Hawke's Bay who travel to Hastings to take advantage of the only pool wide enough to accommodate swimming sports - the Frimley Aquatic Centre.
Mr Hensman said it did "cost a considerable amount", and was a logistical exercise to get a school with 1000 students to Hastings, "so it's not ideal".
"If you're a Hastings school it's completely different ... most Hastings kids can get themselves to the pool for a day of swimming sports but it's not the case here.
"Napier schools are definitely at a stronger disadvantage with not having a suitable pool at the moment in Napier," he said, adding that he hoped the Napier City Council's investigation into pool space would have addressed this.
The lack of facilities does not just affect students - long-time swim coach Mr Knight said there were a number of sports affected by the lack of pool space in Napier and Hastings.
There was limited, or no space for athletes to train for sports such as diving, water polo, underwater hockey, or for triathlons.
The National Facilities Strategy - a reference document produced for Sport New Zealand - has also found there are no aquatic facilities in Hawke's Bay which can cater for national and international sporting competitions.
While two Hastings pools - the Frimley Aquatic Centre and Flaxmere Waterworld - were able to host regional level swimming and surf lifesaving competitions, the strategy noted the closest pools with the capability to host a range of competitions were in Palmerston North and Tauranga.
The Napier City Council is attempting to address the lack of swimming spaces in the city with a business case on the Napier Aquatic Centre's expansion being developed, and a recent extension of the centre's weekend hours.
Napier mayor Bill Dalton said the Greendale Pool closure had spurred council to accelerate its programme to build more pools.
When asked if council had previously felt Greendale, and the two facilities was enough to cater for the city's population, Mr Dalton said they had been confident their strategy to replace Greendale with additional space had been correct.
A paper before council last month noted it was expected an adequate facility would not be built for at least three years, however Mr Dalton said they hoped this would be sooner.
"We would be hopeful of having something under way in the next 12 months," he said.
"We are accelerating the programme as quickly as we can because we absolutely acknowledge there is a shortage of pool space and we're addressing it as quickly as we can."
He said council were looking at building two 25m pools, or one 55m pool which could be divided into two.
"That will go a long way towards alleviating the shortage of pools in Hawke's Bay. It won't solve it totally but it'll go a long way towards it."
He did not think it was likely the proposed multi-use sports facility would include a pool.
Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule said they were also considering building another pool. They had looked to do this several years ago, but it was decided to upgrade current facilities.
"We do need another community pool but we have made that a lower priority. The first one was making sure that the pools we've got are operating as well as they can," he said.
Mr Yule said there had been "pretty major upgrades" several years ago at the four facilities which were council-owned. Up to $7 millionhad been spent during an "intense period of expenditure", he said.
"What we need is something on the eastern side of Hastings. If we're going to build another 25m pool that's where we'd build it."
However, he noted the council would need to consider the proposed expansion of the Sports Park, spearheaded by Sir Graeme Avery. It has been proposed that the project include a pool in its second stage of development.
Mr Knight encouraged both Napier, and Hastings councils to put building a new pool "on the fast track".
"This is not just from my own perspective but from all the parents and children who want to learn to swim and can't because there is no where to go."
The major concern raised by a lack of swimming facilities is the need to give people water confidence.
Mr Hantz said this had been the biggest driving factor amongst the steering committee in its fight to keep the Greendale Pool open.
"Swimming in a lovely warm area like Hawke's Bay where you've got access to lakes and rivers and seas should be a priority but it certainly doesn't seem to be.
"No one wants any child in our school, in our environment, or our community that's been through the school to be a water drowning statistic," he said. "The impact on the community in losing one of our kids in that regard would just be huge."
Likewise, Mr Hensman said that while having, and maintaining a pool was expensive, "if we as a country want our young people and adults to swim that's a cost we have to pay.
"A lot of students come to us with very poor water confidence and competence so 10 lessons is good but easier access to pools would improve that."
When asked if the shortfall of three pools was met, Mr Knight said just one pool would make a difference.
"Even one pool would be gratefully received by anybody who's in water."
It is hoped the Greendale Pool will reopen this year. Its steering committee is awaiting a response from the Ministry of Education on its proposal to fix and maintain the pool - which was sent before Christmas.