So I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for the new rec center up the road to open. I've been thinking how cool it will be... walk a mile and a half to the pool, work out, walk a mile and a half back... think of all of the calories burned! Think of the workout to be had!
Didn't really think they'd rip me off on the pool.
When they said "warm water fitness pool," I thought "25x25 pool warm enough to keep the blue hairs happy." I did not think "warm puddle just big enough to wave around your pool noodle." After all, all of the high schools in the area have swim teams and they use the rec center pools for practice. It would only seem logical to have a pool of an appropriate size to use for that purpose. Um, no.
What we have is a warm puddle (which I didn't even bother getting into) then we have a kiddie pool with all of the accompanying stuff to climb on, and then we have this "current area" (that's what they call it) which is sort of like a thin lap lane that winds around and through the kiddie area, and has a current to it, to add to your workout when you're walking around with your pool noodle.
Of course, sticking the "current" area in the middle of kiddie land makes absolutely no sense, being that the blue haired ladies don't like to get their hair wet... and being in the kiddie area ensures that you're going to get wet!
I was pondering the merits of trying to swim against the current, but it's not really a wide enough channel to pull that off. Not to mention that I'd probably get whacked with a noodle if I tried that.
Oh well, I guess I'll just go back to the old pool. At least it's quiet and generally noodle-free.
Former Member
Originally posted by dorothyrde
In talking with the YMCA director about this trend toward water parks, he cited articles in different recreation and fitness resourses he has that show water parks are big bucks and the mainstream public are not lap swimmers and competitive swimmers, but people who want to float on a lazy river, lay out on the deck and get a tan while their children paddle around in the zero depth pool.
When it comes to outdoor pools, that's probably true. Serious swimmers are normally year-round swimmers, so in most parts of the U.S., indoor pools suit their needs much better than outdoor pools.
The big problem in my area is that nearly all of the long course pools are outdoor pools.
Bob
Denver has one of the most progressive recreation dept. in the US. Supposedly, kiddie areas are one of th efastest growinig items of rec planning. They are cheap and can accomidate a large number of people. Lappers get screwed everytime.
They've done that in Colorado Springs too, Meli.
But if karma prevails, maybe it will attract some of the q-tips and kiddies away from my YMCA workout pool.
Originally posted by dorothyrde
Yes, our 50 meter outdoor pool is no more. In August it started being torn up, and will be a kiddie water park by next summer. Urbana's Crystal Lake sent me a survey because I was a season pass holder. One of the questions was, "if Crystal Lake is renovated, what would you like to see". Crystal lake is 25 meters across, and has a lot of lap lanes. It is wonderful. Well I write, a 50 meter pool, and don't put in a STUPID water park.
The next question was, "if Crystal Lake was to be renovated into a water park, what features would you like to see",,gaaaaaaaaa
I don't understand the entire picture at Champaign/Urbana. The new pool at the high school was supposed to be paying for itself by now. I do love swimming there when it is roped for 50 meters. I also don't understand why the Y would build what it is doing at the new building. Aren't you on the board? Since I've bought a pass for the high school, I'll never swim at the Y again. I don't understand really why anyone would.
Crystal Lake is very good. I wish that the laplanes were deeper. I don't understand why they don't build a water park next to it. there certainly is plenty of room. I wonder if the cities might not have too many water parks planned for its future. It seems to be about the only metro areas where the rec deaprt & school system can get along at all.
Yes, downstate that is true here. The U of I has indoor pool but they will be shutting it down for a 2 year renovation(and they have been pushing the shut down date back for 2 years!). I think they set the indoor pool up as short course and the outdoor as long course. Chicago area has more indoor long course pools, and Indiana has many.
Urbana is 25 meters 6 lanes, and 25 yards 8 lanes the other way, and is a very nice pool. But the lockerrooms are a nightmare if you are a woman trying to get dressed for work. Floor is constantly wet, no place to put your things, or dry your hair(not that I ever dry my hair). My son tells me the mens lockerroom does not have the floor wetness problem, that it drains better.
I use the Y because I don't like to wade through muddy water in my good clothes. That is what the floor in the lockerroom looks like.
The Y is also closer to my home and work. It take a lot longer for me to get clear across town to Urbana. There is no easy way to get there and it takes 25 minutes, the Y takes 10.
When the Y was down, I went to UHS to swim, and the pool is absolutely wonderful, but if I don't have a good lockerroom, it is not worth it to me. I will swim in a crappy pool for the better lockerroom. Also, the air quality at UHS is really, really bad. It was bad at the Y, but they have worked to improve it. They also balance their water better. UHS does not seem to understand how to balance that pool. The Aquachief swimmers have a lot of trouble with that pool's balance.
Yes, I am on the Y board, and every chance I get, I ask them to reconsider and put at least a 6 lane pool in, but it is falling on deaf ears.
I was there from the begining when planning for our new indoor pool began. Well no, it wasn't planning the plans were shoved in front of us. A large water park with a 4 lane 25 meter lap pool attached. A group of us, lap swimmers, parents with High School swimmers and USA swimmers said please, please add two more lane and make it competative. So they did, they through in a two lane lap pool on the other side of the water park. Their thought process was that to put the six lanes togather would invite teams from other communities to use the pool, and that the volume of water would be too costly to maintain. ( Obviously the volume of water wouldn't change but that was their reasoning ). Our contention was that the High School pool is 40 years old and wiil need to be remodeled sometime ( The USA and High School teams use it now ) and that when a levy is asked for to redo the pool the voters aren't going to be very likly to suopport two pools.
Also that if the new pool dosen't pull it's own weight letting outside teams use it in the future could offset maintenance costs.We past around a petition, went to the Mayor and Council and everyone agreedn But they past it anyway. So we're stuck with it for the next 40 years. I gotta go swim !
What an interesting thread. Beth, Dorothy, Bob, and Anna Lea I agree with all of your comments and will add some observations that I have made reguarding this. It seems to me that multi purpose pools with water slides, tubes, and lazy rivers seems to be getting built in more areas of the country than 50 meter muti purpose pools.
In the metro area where I live in the last 8 years there were suppose to be three 50 meter indoor multi purpose aquatic facilities. They were suppose to be built in Canton, Dearborn, and Livonia. Also Battle Creek had one on the drawing board but it got defeated and water park & 25 yard pool was built instead.
Anna Lea is right it always helps to have someone on the planning board, but it does not always guarantee that the project that you want will be successful. The two cases that I am real familar with are Dearborn and Livonia. They both had plans for a 50 meter indoor facility and a bond issue was passed for the project but it started to change when bids to build the facility were sought. Something happened in the reconcilitation of bids of the contractors that changed minds with the city planners. What happened is that both cities did not get what the voters originally wanted. The people that were on the planning board were very heavily involved in swimming.
Sheila Taormina, an Olympic gold medalist in swimming from 1996 and a member of the 2004 USA Olympic Triathlon team was a very active member. Joe Aristo, a building contractor whose daughter was a HS All American swimmer and a member of the Stanford womens team. Joe did a lot of the ground work and with his construction background brought a lot of expertise to the project. It didn't matter because in the end they did not get the 50 meter facility. Same thing happened in Dearborn except they have a bigger water park. In fact the square footage area is more than a similar 50 meter aquatic complexs being built.
Here is the link to the Livonia story. www.detnews.com/EDITPAGE/0011/29/3edit/3edit.htm and www.detnews.com/2000/metro/0011/28/c01-153913.htm
From reading these stories, I am always suspicious of conflicting agendas of the politicans. That is why my recommendation is to vote a big FAT NO when plans and budgets are not set in stone.
Very interesting Frank. I am told that pools are a money pit for upkeep. Therefore if cities believe they can turn the money pit around and get more people attracted by the water slides, zero depth and all that, they put the water park in.
Interesting comment about the zero depth to 3 feet. That is what is going in, in Champaign. Rantoul has a new facility with the same thing, and a co-worker has a son who manages the Rantoul facility, before and after the water park was built. The saves are much higher now with the zero dept pool for exactly the reason sited.
Craig, I also use the weights and cardio machines at the Y, and since my kids are on team, pay a family membership. Yes the building is very old, and yes the men's lockerroom is bad(OK,OK, they make everybody go down there during a tornado warning, everyone don't give me smart cracks). The women's lockerroom is much better at the Y.
I asked the architect(who is now building the Champaign park), why better lockerrooms were not put into place. He said when the place was designed, they were told the public would get to use the school lockerrooms, which are quite spacious. Once UHS was built, the school said absolutely no way would the public use those lockerrooms.
Dorothy:
I can see exactly where you are coming from. I have provided a link to a story in Livonia again because the City is thinking about closing 2 of the 50 meter outdoor pools because now they have the Rec Center that people originally didn't vote for and they could use that in place of the two 50 meter outdoor pools.
www.detnews.com/2005/wayne/0509/04/B02-296987.htm
