Favorite Pool

For flashbacks to age group swimming it has to be the IHOF pool in Ft. Lauderdale. I remember Y Nationals being held there in 1984 and I was so stoked just to be there. Then swimming in it last year for USMS Nationals was a trip down memory lane. For USMS, it has to be IUPUI. I swam my first USMS Nationals there in 2000. I swam very well and enjoyed the whole experience. It's probably one of the major reasons I'm still in USMS.

IUPUI definately gives you that feeling of "you've made it" when you walk out onto the deck. Federal Way south of Seattle is great, but the locker room is the size of my minivan complete with about 12 lockers. Weird design. For interest, Lakeside "pool" in Louisville KY was tops. It was two bulkheads with lane lines. Still, it was good enough for Mary T. Meagher. The old Nashville Aquatic Club pool was another "cement pond" type of pool that was constantly in danger of being condemned. Tracy Caulkins didn't care. Definately better to train in a bucket and then rise to the occassion of a truly great facility for meets.

Originally posted by patrick Best Hotel Pool: Glenwood Hot Springs Lodge, Glenwood Springs, CO--go in the winter! Or either of the hotel pools in Thermopolis, WY, or any place to swim in the town. The pools are fed by the largest mineral hot spring in the world. Been ther several times. Very refreshing in the Fall.

East L.A. City College Pool in California. Used to have the HS Championships there, fast pool. Coolest - Beverly Hills HS Pool - it's under the gym floor! The floor slides back into the walls exposing the pool.

My swim hole not a pool -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My favorite place to swim was Emerald lake. It was originally called the Freelton Quarry. It was a lime stone quarry where they hit a spring and it filled up with water. It was 11 miles from my hometown Hamilton. When we were kids in the summer we rode our bikes there and stayed all day then ride home at night. We would swim, dive off the cliffs, run all over the place play tag and of course have hot dogs, marshmallows toasted over a fire. I really miss the place where we did this 57 years ago. I went there to see if it was still there and sure enough it was.

I went through all the Red Cross classes at Venetian in Coral Gables, Fla after initial lessons from a great guy named *** Cutrera at the Silver Sands motel on Key Biscayne. My dad was attending the University of Miami, so my mom would take us (4 boys, 2 years apart, I was the oldest at around 8. Don't know how she managed) to the UM pool when we weren't at the beach. Those are still my favorite pools.

One of the greatest Aquatic Centers ever built was Mission Bay located in Boca Raton, Florida. I believe they opened in 1986 and was run by millionare owner Jim Brady. The Aquatic Center had two 50 Meter Pools next to each other in a North/South direction and also had a 25 yard training pool which I believe was 8 lanes. Plus a state of the art Diving well which I believe was either 25 meters long and 25 meters wide. They had exercise rooms, gyms, and reabilitation centers. They had one of the best teams in the country called the Mission Bay Makos who won nine National Championships in 3 years. They were coached by Mark Schubert who also helped design the Aquatic Center and at that time it was the most comprehensive Aquatic Center in the world. They also had Ron O'brien as the Diving coach and both were hired away from Mission Viejo. I used to work out there a lot on vacations because my grandmother lived in Boca Raton at the time. They had the USMS Short Course Nationals in 1989 so I know a lot of USMS swimmers remember. One of the things that always struck me about the facility was that it was built with private money, namely Brady and had to rely on the swimming population for funds and they had no tax base or university funds like other facilities for operating. They had as large if not larger seating capacity than ISHOF facility and the place was just huge. They were open about 6 to 7 years and then went bankrupt. It was a real shame because they filled in the two 50 meter pools and made them into a tennis center. One of the selling points of the facility was for people to buy a home in the development subdivision behind the Aquatic Center. This apparently did not work. Nick Bolettieri, the famous tennis coach bought the place in bankrupcy with partners but then they went bankrupt years later. I went by the place about 8 years ago and saw that they only had the training pool left from the original pools built. They still had the tennis courts but the place looked run down. Most of the masters team coached by Judy Meyer ended up in the new facility south of there called Coral Springs which will host this years USMS Short Course Championship.

Of course IUPUI....who can help but be inspired when you look up at the ceiling and see all those pictures of people like Jenny Thompson and Lenny Krayzelburg! Another that hasn't been mentioned....the Lakeside pool in Louisville. Also from an old quarry....a sentimental favorite, considering I did my best 100 M LCM time ever there; absolutely zero backwash because of the way it's constructed. Also...I'll put in a plug for the Lakeside meet in August - very well run and lots of fun. Sally

That's a shame about the Mission Bay facility. My team did our winter training trip there my freshman year in college (1988). It was an excellent facility, but a brutal training trip! We did, however, upset Minnesota in our meet there. The other memorable event was a teammate threw a kickboard over the entire length of the 50 M pool to get us out of workout one day. The board actually went so far it went into the swampy area beyond the pool!