What can make a potentially great pool and swim meet (78-80 degree deep water, wide lanes, great gutter system, good starting blocks, great lighting, large scoreboard, excellent officials, etc.) into a mediocre one? The lane lines.
We recently swam our championships in a new state-of-the-art pool. The only problem was the slack lane lines. The water was very choppy and continued that way throughout the whole race. They served no more purpose than the old “floaties” we used 45 years ago. They were so loose they visibly rose and fell with the waves and had so many horizontal waves they looked like serpents at the surface. The lane lines did not cut the waves but rather rode them. When there was a race with an open lane, the waves pushed the lane lines well into the free lane. Predictably overall times were not as fast as they could have been.
It is not necessary to have the lane lines are tight as a piano wire in order for them to be effective, but tightening them up for a meet is an area that is most often neglected. We work too hard at our craft not to be given every opportunity to swim as fast as the pool allows.
Parents
Former Member
Shaky,
I agree with your position about the lifeguard, but a reality check -it is pretty obvious that the lifeguard isn't passing the information along to the Aerobics instructor OR the aerobics instructor doesn't care. Either way I would have to assume that you haven't tried to talk to the management of the facility (since your hypothetical reply to Emmett) which should be your next step. If you feel strongly about something, don't rely on someone else to present your message. The fact that you feel that there is a risk to your well being, it is in your best interest to notify as many people as possible. Sorry to have to say this, if you were kicked from an exerciser in the aquatics class and received a serious injury, the parties at fault would mostly be the lifeguard and instructor, the management can claim ignorance (not the best defense but could work). If you let the management know there is a problem, then you have several individuals responsible and you might see more action. Lets face it typically your lifeguard is a teenager (not always, but more often than not) that may not be that mature or responsible/professional about their job, but the facility management is or should be very aware of the reprecussions of their failure to fulfill their duties. As I stated Information and education are you best weapons in remedying this, take some responsibility if you want to see some change, it may or may not happen but at least you tried. Good luck swimming, maybe once this Iraq situation is over you will be able to buy some used body armor to protect yourself from the military surplus stores.
Shaky,
I agree with your position about the lifeguard, but a reality check -it is pretty obvious that the lifeguard isn't passing the information along to the Aerobics instructor OR the aerobics instructor doesn't care. Either way I would have to assume that you haven't tried to talk to the management of the facility (since your hypothetical reply to Emmett) which should be your next step. If you feel strongly about something, don't rely on someone else to present your message. The fact that you feel that there is a risk to your well being, it is in your best interest to notify as many people as possible. Sorry to have to say this, if you were kicked from an exerciser in the aquatics class and received a serious injury, the parties at fault would mostly be the lifeguard and instructor, the management can claim ignorance (not the best defense but could work). If you let the management know there is a problem, then you have several individuals responsible and you might see more action. Lets face it typically your lifeguard is a teenager (not always, but more often than not) that may not be that mature or responsible/professional about their job, but the facility management is or should be very aware of the reprecussions of their failure to fulfill their duties. As I stated Information and education are you best weapons in remedying this, take some responsibility if you want to see some change, it may or may not happen but at least you tried. Good luck swimming, maybe once this Iraq situation is over you will be able to buy some used body armor to protect yourself from the military surplus stores.
