How about some reminiscing about the worst pools you ever were forced to work out and/or compete in ??
Our old pool was 20 yards long, with gutters and the deck was about 2 feet above that. The water level was always low, so it was like ocean swimming every day. There were no starting blocks and the "lane lines" were nylon cord with a plastic bobber every 3 feet or so. The water was always quite warm to accomodate the family swims and lessons that were also sharing the pool during the day.
Since goggles had not yet been invented and the only antiseptic method was chlorine (lots of it), we would have those chlorine "light halos" until the next day. The kick-boards were solid, varnished wood and they doubled as pull-buoys. There were no fins or hand paddles.
Thank the higher power of your choice that we had a GREAT coach.
Oh, did I mention that they used to beat us with knives???
Bert
OK, I know this is a really old thread, but.....back when I was a kid I recall working out in a pool that was 23 1/3 yards long. It was in Michigan, just outside of Toledo (forget which small town). The record board was pretty funny with all of the odd distances like the 186 2/3 yard medley relay. They also had lines on the bottom of the pool which marked the end of 100 and 200 yard swims. To swim 100 yards, for example, you swam 4 lengths and then swam 6.66 yards to the line on the bottom.
One more, and somewhat embarassing given it's my alma matter, Purdue used to have a 48 (or 49?) meter outdoor pool. One would think that a school known for engineering could measure correctly when building a pool.
While I was in the AF stationed in the UK in the late 80's I helped coach the high school team. We had a meet at a local village, Mildenhall if I remember correctly, and the water depth was about 2' in the shallow end to about 4' in the deep end and the lane ropes were literally nylon ropes "sort of" separating lanes...and the water felt like bath water, yuck!
While I was in the AF stationed in the UK in the late 80's I helped coach the high school team. We had a meet at a local village, Mildenhall if I remember correctly, and the water depth was about 2' in the shallow end to about 4' in the deep end and the lane ropes were literally nylon ropes "sort of" separating lanes...and the water felt like bath water, yuck!
Did you swim in any Masters meets while you were there? I worked in London from 87 - 90 and swam in a few as a member of Otter Swim Club. I think one was short course meters, indoors, maybe in Oxford?
The worst pool I ever competed in was the old USC indoor pool.
the one with the gargoyles in the corners?
i've race in that pool.
the record board was a who's who of the swimming world with records held by goodell, furness, naber....
HA! the pool at texas a&m is far worse. 1st (and only) time i walked into it i asked my coach if that was the warmup pool...he laughed and said no thats were we race, the warmup pool is behind it. and behind meant a mere 1 foot of concrete hand trowled wall.
to this day i am still shocked that anybody "chose" to go there.
now the pool at smu is ok, but the building around it is akin to a shed. the annual feburary DAM meet at perkins is a dice roll on if you freeze before you get into the water because the wind howls through the gaps in the doors and windows. again the quality of swimmers produced there is mind boggling compared to the 70+ year old facilities.
Did you swim in any Masters meets while you were there? I worked in London from 87 - 90 and swam in a few as a member of Otter Swim Club. I think one was short course meters, indoors, maybe in Oxford?
We didn't have any Masters groups in our area to compete with but I was selected for the AF team (UK bases) and competed in a meet at NATO HQ in Brussels in 89 or 90. We swam against AF teams from other NATO countries, we came in last but it was something I'll never forget!
The worst pool I ever competed in was the old USC indoor pool. What a dump. Like a cave incubating stalactites and fish with no eyes because of the wetness and no light, despite large windows on one wall (a cruel joke). Then you got to go down a couple of flights of stairs creatively decorated with slime mold and algae to the warm up pool that was even worse because there was no hope of breathing fresh air or ever leaving alive if you were caught by the resident sea serpent.
Cooke Hall at the University of Minnesota was a real dump. It was built during the Depression and represented vintage 1935 technology... The facility was small and had many dungeon-esque qualities to it. Heck, the toilets didn't even have solid dividers between them! The walls were tall so the wave bounced back really bad, the pool tile was dark green, the deck had almost no space, and the facility was dark. I swam there a few times in college before it was replaced by the current Natatorium in 1990. Talk about a big difference!
Any former Jersey Wahoos swimmers out there?
Back in the 80s, our coaches would always trek us up from Virginia to Philly/New Jersey for better competition. The Jersey Wahoos were exceptionally tough in those days, but we always marveled at how high their elbows would go on their butterfly (as they kicked our asses). It wasn't until we did an exchange meet with them -- where we discovered their (to my mind) 3' width cramped lanes -- that I understood the reason for it.
Speaking of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University used to have a dungeon like pool, I think it was 6 lanes and, to my memory, about 3' depth at the start with a 10' ceiling so that, even at 13 years old, you felt like you had to crouch down for fear of hitting the ceiling when you got on the blocks. For some reason, though, I used to love that pool: we'd come off holiday training and do a meet there in early January and I always swam lights out.
The gargoyles originally spouted water. It was probably the biggest facility upgrade in history when we moved from that pool to the '84 Olympic pool after my Jr. year.
it certainly was.
i still have my meet credentials from the LA'83 meet. they "worked" at the '84 Olympics until a few of my friends got caught. :D
seems the database of "allowed" didnt get purged and as long as you kept it turned around and didnt show the LA'83 and just had it scanned you could go anywhere.
i would say the texas a&m upgrade was bigger when it finally happened just a few years back.
