There is something quietly wonderful about discovering that a small liberal arts college tucked into the leafy northeast corner of Sherman is home to one of the finest indoor swimming facilities in all of Grayson County. The Mabee Center Natatorium on the Austin College campus is exactly that kind of find — the sort of place locals who know about it guard like a favorite fishing hole, and visitors who stumble upon it leave slightly stunned that they almost missed it.
The natatorium sits within Austin College’s Mabee Center, a multi-purpose athletic facility that anchors the college’s commitment to student wellness. The pool itself is a regulation-length, eight-lane competitive pool, clean and well-maintained, with the kind of serious infrastructure you’d expect from a college that fields a competitive swim program. The water is kept at a comfortable temperature, the lighting is excellent, and the lanes are wide enough that you never feel like you’re fighting for space. Whether you are a lap swimmer with a training plan or someone who just wants to move through quiet water for forty minutes and feel human again, this pool delivers.
Austin College, for those unfamiliar, is one of Texas’s oldest institutions of higher learning, chartered in 1849. Its campus along Sherman Drive has a warm, established character — red brick buildings shaded by mature oaks, walkways that invite a slow pace. Arriving at the Mabee Center feels like stepping into a community that takes physical wellbeing seriously without making it feel intimidating or performative. The staff here are friendly and the atmosphere is genuinely welcoming to community members, not just students.
What makes the natatorium particularly worth a visit is the combination of quality and calm. Sherman has plenty of outdoor water options — Lake Texoma isn’t far, after all — but on a blazing August afternoon or a gray January morning when you need to move your body without battling the elements, an indoor competition-grade pool is genuinely hard to find in this part of North Texas. The Mabee Center fills that gap with quiet confidence.
Plan to arrive a few minutes early to sort out community access details at the front desk, as hours and availability for non-students can vary by semester and time of day. It is worth a quick call ahead to confirm open swim times. Once you are in, bring your own gear — goggles, a cap if you prefer one — and settle into a lane. The rhythm of the water does the rest.
After your swim, take a few minutes to walk the Austin College campus. The grounds are genuinely lovely, and the short stroll from the natatorium toward the academic quad gives you a sense of Sherman’s intellectual and cultural depth that you simply don’t get from the highway. This is a college town in the best sense, and the Mabee Center is one of the finest reasons to engage with it directly.
If you are visiting Sherman for a weekend and you swim regularly, or even occasionally, put the Mabee Center Natatorium on your list. It is the kind of local amenity that reminds you why smaller cities often quietly outperform expectations.
