Your Pool's Best Feature?

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:26:33 GMT

I vote for cleanliness/water quality. I used to belong to a pool with nice looking facilities but real water quality issues -- my eyes would be red and burning after every workout, and that was with goggles! After my brand-new suit turned from blue and black to lavender and brown in the space of two days (yikes), I decided I'd better find somewhere else to swim. I now belong to a health club affiliated with a local hospital... the pool is nothing out of the ordinary, but the water is wonderful and everything is super clean. :D

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 05:29:48 GMT

I chose availability. All the YMCAs in town have at least one lap lane open throughout the day, and at many times have all 6 lanes for lap swim. But maybe I should rethink that. The downtown YMCA has even more hours than the east side YMCA I use. And on the few occasions I go to the downtown one, it is usually less crowded (though neither is really crowded -- we rartely ever have to circle swim), and downtown consistently has cooler water. I go to the one I go to because it is closest. Pure and simple. It's adequate enough, and the advantages at downtown still don't outweigh the convenience of location.

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

jswim — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 01:45:59 GMT

I also chose availability.. however. I'd also like to add that the worst feature is the gagging amounts of chlorine added to the pool. Now I spent virtually my entire childhood in a bathing suit swimming in pools, but for whatever reason I can smell the chloring the next day on my skin, AFTER I've taken a shower.. and it's also starting to bother me during the swim... does anyone else have this problem or perhaps swim in pools that don't use chlorine, but perhaps another agent for disinfection? If so I'd LOVE to know about it and how well it works so I can pitch it to our Y.....

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 16:56:11 GMT

I go for the coaching and the camaraderie among our swimmers. Somehow I don't see our coaches as "staff."

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 06:27:37 GMT

That's a very good point Bob. Thanx.:p

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 06:18:19 GMT

Originally posted by Seagurl51 Side note: seeing as I work at a pool...why has no one voted for staff? What'd we do wrong? I think part of it is that staff tend to be most visible when they create problems for swimmers. To give you an analogy: How often do bank customers compliment a bank because their ATMs are always working? It's much more common for customers to say nothing when the ATMs are working, but to complain if they ever go down. Bob

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 15:50:10 GMT

Originally posted by etrain Ours is staffed by the college kids, so you know how well they pay attention. etrain It's hard to watch people swimming in circles at 5 in the morning when all you want is to be doing it with them. You'd fall asleep too.:o Side note: seeing as I work at a pool...why has no one voted for staff? What'd we do wrong?

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 15:23:28 GMT

I hate to be a chauvenist pig, but I have to say it's the hotties. Among the staff, the swimmers and the students sunbathing on the deck, there are plenty of cute women to go around. ;)

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 14:01:21 GMT

I'll have to tell my co-workers to smile. What's the best way to go about telling a high schooler to smile at 5 in the morning?;) Every morning when I come in to swim, they look like the living dead. Nothing like service with a smile. :D

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 13:56:38 GMT

Originally posted by Seagurl51 It's hard to watch people swimming in circles at 5 in the morning when all you want is to be doing it with them. You'd fall asleep too.:o Side note: seeing as I work at a pool...why has no one voted for staff? What'd we do wrong? \ I like the lifeguards a lot because they don't chit chat and they rotate enough to keep awake. The cashiers... I don't expect them to say anything at all but a smile every now and again wouldn't hurt. Staff is very important.

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 13:42:17 GMT

I like that they provide towels. It's free. There's two pools so they keep one about 78, the other 82, take your choice. I always get my own lane. I have a locker. I can swim from 6-9 am 11am to 7 pm weekdays, noon-6 pm weekends. It's a block from my office. They have a jacuzzi, but I only use that in winter. I don't like that the Masters work out from 7-8:30 pm. That's just too late for me.

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 12:09:58 GMT

water temperature

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 11:08:50 GMT

My favorite feature is the water. :D Hook'em Blue

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

knelson — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 10:36:31 GMT

Originally posted by PeirsolFan Have you tried Allstar Fitness downtown? Nice pool and big lockers. No, I always swim at the U of Washington except in the summer when I get down to Colman pool for some long course training. I did move recently and there's a city pool within walking distance so I'm sure I'll try that one out eventually.

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

A.K. — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 09:12:34 GMT

Originally posted by Seagurl51 Side note: seeing as I work at a pool...why has no one voted for staff? What'd we do wrong? I believe the deciding factor of a reason somebdy picks a pool is the convenience of the pool location because of the busy lives we live. I don't believe that many peole are turned away because of staff.

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

A.K. — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 09:07:22 GMT

Ballys pool is about 1 mile from my work and 7-8 miles from my house. No one to workout with, however I usually can get a lane to myself when I arrive. I hear it gets crowded in the winter though. Location Location Location-- ideally it would be the staff, swimmers and pool.

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 06:25:46 GMT

So far no votes for staff... Hmm. Unfortunately, because of my schedule, I don't get to train with other people. My time is spent around water exercisers, children, and a hoard of lifeguards. Everyone's a bit aloof. KNelson: The tiny locker vs. deck thing is really annoying so after the lockers ate my quarters I finally opted to take my stuff on deck. Have you tried Allstar Fitness downtown? Nice pool and big lockers.

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 06:16:17 GMT

The staff at my local pool are not bad, in fact most are quite friendly. I guess I did not choose staff as the best feature because even if the staff were a bunch of jerks I would probably still swim there because of the lane availability.

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 06:11:53 GMT

Originally posted by etrain Ares are not swimmers, well most of them aren't. And they don't have to be there until 6:30 at night... The eariest they have to be at the pool is 11:00 or 11:30 a.m. throughout the week. etrain In that case they should stay awake......you can trash them all you want.;)

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

waves101 — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 04:55:08 GMT

The fact that its a brand new facility!!

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Sun, 25 Sep 2005 14:36:20 GMT

Since I have now joined the age group team in Jackson, I think the swimmers I get to train with is the biggest plus (good fast young wippersnappers that seem to swim endlessly without tiring much). I also really like my usual Masters training buddies as well.....Especially my traithelete friend Jeff who has such a strong committment to training hard and improving....his solid work ethic is always an inspiration to me when we have to get up so early in the morning to train. I also like the "tribe" of lap swimmers that also swim with us in the mornings even though they are not officially part of our small (and currently still unofficial) masters swimming team....There is a very nice lady in her 80's who swims next to me and Jeff every MWF morning...she is one of the friendliest people you could ever hope to meet. ...then there's our current master's coach Heather (and Lauren too) ....also great folk.....Throw in the other lap swimmers that may not come as often (but often enough) and you get a real nice feeling of belonging to something special....Heather came up with the term "workout tribe"......The fact that the YMCA pool we train at is only a mile from my house makes location just the extra icing on the cake....I am very fortunate to have the two teams I train with and the nice facility right there practically in my back yard....(and it also has nice locker rooms with big lockers, nice clean showers, a wirlpool, sauna, and steamroom)....I certainly could have a much worse situation that's for sure! Newmastersswimmer

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

knelson — Sun, 25 Sep 2005 09:47:46 GMT

There's really nothing special about the pool I train it, but it's a university facility so the masters team tends to attract young, fast swimmers. When fast swimmers show up it tends to attract other fast swimmers, so there's alway someone to train with. The other great feature is the locker room and showers. I hate pools where you have to cram all your stuff into a tiny locker or bring it out on deck. A nice full-sized locker seems like a minor detail, but it makes a difference. Same thing goes for good showers.

RE: Your Pool's Best Feature?

Former Member — Sun, 25 Sep 2005 06:52:06 GMT

My new home pool at my University is really nice. It's huge, has gigantic windows, and of course I get to swim with the other members on the team! Yey! Here are some Pics for anyone who's interested: athletics.uchicago.edu/.../DSC_7409.jpg athletics.uchicago.edu/.../DSC_7402.jpg