Yes, yes, I know... you all think that your pool is the worst (except those that train at UT or IUPUI). But before you vote, consider this:
- indoor 6-lane 25 yard pool, L-shaped
- built in 1969, with negligible upgrades since
- heated to at least 85 degrees
- operated by the city at a significant loss every year
- closes for three to four weeks every year (two for upgrades - aka cleaning - and two for "budgetary reasons")
- shared by the city, the high school, the local university and the swim club
- vacuumed once a week ("whether it needs it or not")
- lifeguards cannot be moved from their plastic chairs on the deck
- for lap swim, only two lane lines put in - not in lifeguards' job description to put in more
- patrons blatantly ignore the lane signs indicating "fast", "medium" and "slow"
- lifeguards do not enforce the above
- patrons of all types refuse to circle swim, and instead swim next to each other (again, with few or no lane lines)
- healthy mix of college girls in bikinis, college boys in board shorts, noodlers, and elementary backstrokers
Poll opens now.
Yes, yes, I know... you all think that your pool is the worst (except those that train at UT or IUPUI).
You should have seen the old UT pool. It was 33 1/3 yards with a fixed metal bulkhead. The lines on the bottom did not track the center of the lanes. It was dark with most of the light dependent on windows. The Jamail Swim Center is a big step up.
Apparently the old pool is still open - it looks like they have cleaned it up a bit, but otherwise its about the same.
www.utrecsports.org/.../res_gre_natatorium.php
Former Member
Well I don't even swim at the pool in my city due to the following:
6 lane 25yd L-shaped run by the ISD I believe
Heated to whatever
6 lane lines, but only 1 dedicated lap lane due to it being used by:
3 High school swim & dive teams
1 Summer swim team with off-season programs
Private lessons
Learner lessons
Closes regularly due to swim meets and ISD holidays
Doesn't even publish the public opening times
Has a slippy stainless steel gutter so you slide on turns
Rarely vacuumed
Never sure if the lifeguards are awake
Costs more to hire than the new shiny 50m facility approx 15 miles away, so funnily enough that is where the summer team hosts their meets!
I did swim in it once, in a free lane during my daughter's swim practice, and vowed never again. Poor kid - she was there every morning through the summer.
Former Member
I have two pools that top my worst
1) A Connecticut High School that I will not name
- Went to the HS for a meet, we followed the scent of chlorine to find the pool
- The locker rooms looked like something out of a Saw movie, sketchiest and grungiest place ever. They were dark, damp, and smelled of mold. In keeping with Saw, there was even a small amount of blood on the floor in the showers!
- Got in the water... Temperature was at least 85 degrees, it was like bathwater
- The water did not taste like chlorine despite the smell. It tasted like SWEAT.
- Everyone was disgusted to say the least
2) A certain YMCA in the Boston Area
- Pool is only 3 lanes
- The frequent Family Swim time takes reduces lap swimming to one lane and Water aerobics close the pool for lap swimming
- Has to be one of the oldest pools around, or that I've ever seen
- The water is 82-84 degrees
- Vacuumed... Never? Always a ton of sand in the bottom of the pool (I imagine they use a sand filter).
- I've had 2 CA-MRSA (staph) infections using this pool (I no longer go here to say the least)
- I've witnessed the only lifeguard talking on his cell phone for about a half hour
- Many patrons do not understand the concept of circle swim, and half that do don't understand that if they're doing *** and I'm doing anything else, they should not be in front of me.
- One time I was swimming and they turned off the lights to test a projector for their watching a movie in the pool event (just sounds dangerous thing to do- have a bunch of little children float around in an unlit room with everyone around them distracted by a movie)..
- Things I've found in the pool...
1) Hair Balls
2) A Baby Carrot (vomit????)
3) A Wrench
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There is a possible 3rd- Another high school in CT where the diving blocks were literally boxes made out of plywood that would wobble to back and forth on the uneven tile floor. It was a little dangerous and could throw off your drive. Additionally, the shallow end of the pool was probably just over 3ft deep and for some it was difficult to make a flip turn without touching the bottom with their feet.
Here's Mine:
4 lanes/ 25 yards -- lanes are about 5.5 feet wide.
Metal ladders protrude into end lanes to smash your hands when swimming fly.
Water temperature varies from 84 - 88 -- they lost their thermometer so the pool maintenance guy sticks his hand in the water and then writes a temp on the board (I bought my own thermometer and this guy's hand can be off by as much as 2 degrees).
They make you wear a cap which makes the high temp worse.
Lane lines sag into your lane.
Pace clocks often run out of batteries.
Today the toilet in the men's locker room flooded.
But on the bright side:
At 5:30a I always have my own lane and often my own pool.
Batteries for the pace clock don't take up much room in my bag
Its 5 blocks from my house
I can see why they use them though. Blocks are so expensive ($2500-$5000 each).
That brings up a very interesting point. Why the heck are blocks so darn expensive? 6 blocks, even a "semi-decent" price of $2k each (if you can find it) - where is the $12,000 worth of engineering, materials, and labor exactly? They are not that complicated...:bitching:
That brings up a very interesting point. Why the heck are blocks so darn expensive? 6 blocks, even a "semi-decent" price of $2k each (if you can find it) - where is the $12,000 worth of engineering, materials, and labor exactly? They are not that complicated...:bitching:
How much to get them approved by FINA, US Swimming, NCAA, High School leagues, etc? Must be part of the cost......Surely not $2k each though...
Former Member
Hey EJB - those blocks could be the ones we made in wood shop for Reavis H S ,Burbank Il in 1961 for our 1st team!!!
Haha, if that's the case they're still holding up (kinda). I can see why they use them though. Blocks are so expensive ($2500-$5000 each).
My college pool was built in 1929. We celebrated its 70th anniversary!
Probably only 4 lanes wide, but we squeezed 6 lanes in.
Slimy, slippery deck.
Windows blocked over in WWII for something (I can't remember why).
Wobbly blocks that weren't fully bolted in or bolts were rusted (I was terrified of them!)
Lane 5 (where I usually swam with the other sprinters) had this horrible jet on the wall that would push you into the lane line if you swam into it, which made flip turns bad.
No ventilation.
Random things floating around.
Usually shut down for various reasons several times a year, and we got to swim at a MUCH nicer pool across town for our home meets (where they held many Olympic trials).
Horrible itchy rashes were common from chemicals being off.
It was shut down for good a few years ago; the last time I was on campus it had a chain over the door. Not sure what they plan on doing with it. I think that after swimming in that pool for a few years, any pool is bearable! They finally built a much nicer pool on campus.
