I'm currently in the process of putting together a committee to start planning for a new aquatic facility in our area. I'm asking all of you to help me make a list of the things that should go into a facility if you had unlimited resources and space. I want to start my project with the biggest dream possible and then have it brought back to earth by money limitations, etc.
What I'm looking for are comments about our own facilities features that work well, that you would never do again, that you would change, that you would do differently, and what you wish you could have. I want to hear from experience.... What makes your facility work so well or why you pool is the arm pit of pools. Here is an example:
I've learned from one pool that they should have built a permanent wall between their lap pool and their zero depth entry rec. pool. The building is so noisy they can barely run a meet if people are in the recreation pool. Don't leave anything untouched (pool size, deck space, configuration, locker rooms, office space, outdoor facilities, observation seating, etc.)
Our initial plan is to build a 50 meter indoor, with adjacent recreation pool, and an outdoor splash area for the hot summers. We are one mile above sea level and our winters go from October to May. I'm hoping all you can help with the things you have all learned from the many years we have been swimming.
Former Member
make it deep. Our pool is 25 meters, 15 feet deep at the deepest, and it gets deep quickly. The scuba diving class generates a lot of money for the pool and can go on even when other classes are using the pool. It is rather weird though to see 6 or 7 folks sitting on the bottom of the pool while you swim above.
besides the kids pool, have a seperate, shallow, 'therapy pool' for the water aerobic classes that can be kept as warm as they want and out of way of master swimmers who think they own the pool.
Hey thanks everyone for giving me some great ideas to follow and to stay away from. Please keep them coming..... No idea is a bad idea.... it may work for our facility or someone elses....:applaud:
I'd recommend chlorine instead of bromine. It's cheaper and does a better job. A large enough percentage of people are allergic to bromine to make it a poor choice. The advantage of bromine is mostly that it doesn't break down as quickly in hot water, so it's probably good for hot tubs. You might check with pools that gave up bromine and find out why before making a choice.
I'd recommend chlorine instead of bromine. It's cheaper and does a better job. A large enough percentage of people are allergic to bromine to make it a poor choice.
Yikes. Is this true? I thought chlorine and bromine were irritants, not allergens. I also thought bromine was supposed to be less irritating than chlorine... I think bromine is used in our pool and it's pretty frigid ...
1) Make it 50 meter by 25 yards.
2) Make the diving well separate from the pool
3) seating on both sides of the pool
4) make it like this
_________________
50 M Pool----l25 Y l--- diving well
____________lpool_l---
Have it all connected with walls in between.
have the 25 yard pool go across.
Put the big clock on the wall above the starting area
Besides spectators , there is also a need for space to place provitional seating for tree to four swimer hits waiting to compete.:bow:
USA Swimming devotes manpower and resources towards assisting USA Swimming programs and others in developing new facilities based on best practices. They hold a "Build a Pool" Conference each April. I highly suggest that you have somebody work with USAS, attend the conference and take advantage of this. They will have statistics to back up anecdotal evidence you'll get from us.
The new competition pools in our area ? They boast how great they are but make these mistakes:
#1 - not enough deck space to hold enough swimmers during a championships or large invitational
#2 - not enough spectator seating for large age group championships where Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, and 3 siblings will be watching
#3 - Bulkhead isn't big enough to mount starting blocks AND have needed timers etc. Or it won't allow the standard touchpads to be mounted
#4 - Control room (where timing equip goes) does not have a clear view of the start/finish
#5 - Depth is not the same in each lane (unfair advantage) of the competition course
#6 - Insufficient lockerrooms/bathrooms for a large meet. Lockers need to be big enough to hold a modern duffel or swim backpack and winter coats.
#7 - Not enough parking and no convenient access to freeways, swimmer-friendly motels/restaurants.
If I had to make a wishlist for our existing facility, I would wish:
* More storage and offices area so our team could have an office and store things away from the chlorinated pool air (swim store, meet hospitality supplies) as well as more deck storage
* Bigger weight room / drylands areas
* Better bulkhead that was easier to mount touchpads on
* Shallow end deep enough for racing starts
* Separate lessons pool with shallower end and warmer water
* Bigger lockerroom with better ventilation and easier to clean
* Better hospitality area adjacent to the pool deck and with easier access to outside with a sink
* More seating in the spectator area
* Less slippery deck and stairs
* Separate warmdown lanes for LC meets
* INTERNET ACCESS
* Larger meet computer ops area to allow room for a few trainees
* Someplace to post meet results neatly for spectators
Our pool has a movable floor that can be set anywhere from a few inches deep to several feet deep. This allows one end of the pool to be used for little kids, or water aerobics or fast competition. It is always being moved up and down for one use or another. I think it greatly helps achieve maximum utilization of the pool. I don't know how much it adds to the cost.
Warning: the movable floor in our pool is a solid surface, at a nearby pool they have a movable floor but the surface is a grid of holes. They don't move the floor much anymore because all sorts of dirt and stuff falls through the holes and accumulates under the floor, then when the move the floor this stuff gets flushed out and floats around for a while which apparently is pretty gross.
Two additions that I have seen at my Y that I like:
1) There are 3 pace clocks around the pool so no matter where I am in the pool I can see one.
2) There are outside "wet" bathrooms next to the pool so there's no racing into the locker room taking 1/2 the pool water with me.
There was a thread awhile back about pools not being the correct length and as a result no swims in those pools could be counted as records. Make sure the length of the pool is within the allowable tolerance.
make it deep.
besides the kids pool, have a seperate, shallow, 'therapy pool' for the water aerobic classes that can be kept as warm as they want and out of way of master swimmers who think they own the pool.
This is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do!!! Have a seperate warm pool for lessons, "noodlers", hydrotherapy and hydroaerobics. This way you can keep the competition/training pool cool for swimmers. They can rent the pool to high school teams during the season for their practices and meets for a very good income. You can rent the warm pool to therapists/rehab specialists too.
Lainey bug, around here we have the opposite problem.....the hydroaerobic people own our pool and keep it WAY too hot. In the meantime, we have high schoolers practicing/competing in 85 degree water and passing out! :(
