Poll: Is this the worst pool in America?

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. I remember that pool Katie!!!! I have taken a couple of dips in it; you're not exaggerating a bit! The new pool is very nice but hardly anyone gets to use it without paying a huge fee. Sometimes progress can be a step backwards in that case.

Apparently the old pool is still open - it looks like they have cleaned it up a bit, but otherwise its about the same. In all seriousness I think this looks like a really neat old pool.

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: I have no idea. It's not like its exactly a sophisticated piece of engineering. A few years ago the pool boy dropped the platform of my backyard pool's diving board onto the stone ground, cracking it. It was a $1000 mistake. As I recall the total cost of the diving board + base was around $1500. Maybe that plastic grippy surface that the platforms are made out of is really costly to produce? I kinda doubt that though.

The pool I swim at sucks but I try not to focus on that.

I remember that pool Katie!!!! I have taken a couple of dips in it; you're not exaggerating a bit! The new pool is very nice but hardly anyone gets to use it without paying a huge fee. Sometimes progress can be a step backwards in that case. It's sad that they don't make it more accessible to those who live in the neighborhood.

It's sad that they don't make it more accessible to those who live in the neighborhood. I guess Indy Swim Fit rents it 4 nights per week. I have a friend who is a professor in the P.E. Department at the college. She does not use the facility; she said it's too expensive. I can't believe their faculty has to pay.

Why, you children are spoiled rotten! :cane: Let me tell you my Dickensian tale of aquatic neglect and woe. When I swam for my high school swim team in Texas in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s we drove to a pool across down every day for practice. In the winter a gigantic plastic/latex bubble was put over the pool in order to keep it heated. The bubble was moldy and discolored, and probably a nesting place for every allergen known to man. I doubt it was ever cleaned once during the years it “protected” us from the elements. Enormous fans worked day and night to keep the bubble inflated. There was an outer door and inner door; to open both at once would cause a monstrous gust of wind as huge amounts of air escaped the bubble all at once; children would literally be tossed aside by the sudden gale. Every so often the pool staff would shock the pool with massive amounts of chemicals. One day I began the workout with a navy blue swimsuit; I ended it with a light gray suit, the color literally being stripped off it by the toxic chemicals that had been dumped in the water. Our coach forced us to swim anyway and we were sick for days thereafter, hair brittle and discolored, reeking of chlorine. Our "dressing room” was a concrete cage with sizable gaps between the roof and walls. When it rained there was standing water on the floor, and in the winter we would freeze. The occasional rat would saunter by. The pool and the locker room were clearly not made with year-round use in mind; dressing there was real adventure. A few years after I graduated I am told part of the bubble literally tore off and floated through the air to the street. If that is true I wish I had been there. I would have enjoyed raising a maniacal laugh of victory, shaking my fist in defiance as the wretched plastic bubble floated serenely away. That’s assuming of course I avoided being knocked unconscious from the sudden mad rush of air hurling me to the ground. Opposing teams would arrive at our pool for a meet and it was interesting to gauge their reaction upon entering; think Luke Skywalker the first time he saw the Millennium Falcon. Except our pool could not go .5 past light speed, and could not make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. In fact some of us were convinced the pool was some strange distance; not exactly 25 meters but not 25 yards either – we seemed to swim times there we never swam anywhere else. I know…the only thing missing from my account is that we had to walk uphill both ways. :blah: Despite the above I consider my high school swim experience to be basically positive. My town was a football town, first and last, and I should feel blessed we had a team at all. It kept me in the water until I became a Masters swimmer when I truly learned to love the sport.

My high school pool wasn't the worst pool (I know because a couple others in our conference were worse), but I just thought of something interesting about it. It was a four lane pool, so during practice the middle lane rope was left out because the divers practiced at the same time (the board was right between lanes two and three). So the divers had to time their dives to avoid the swimmers and the swimmers in the middle lanes had no lane rope on one side. Luckily I always swam in the wall lane so didn't have to deal with that. That's probably the only time I ever liked practicing in the wall lane! You wouldn't have thought so, but it was actually a fairly fast pool. The pool records were good.

Dickensian tale Luke Skywalker the first time he saw the Millennium Falcon. Except our pool could not go .5 past light speed, and could not make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. One of us is confused, and it's not me. :D

In all seriousness I think this looks like a really neat old pool. It was fast - probably because they had a lot of big meets there. I did my best HS times there. At the time, though, they hat the old blue-green small tile on the deck and in the pool. The ceilinghad a sprayed on insulation that was dirty and falling off. I guess anything looks bad when compared to the new UT facility.