I enjoy swimming. It is a pastime that I have enjoyed since I was very young and continue to this day despite the fact that my access to a pool has been severely restricted as of late. From the ages 5-20, I had a pool in my back yard, one that I used a ton until we got air conditioning in the house. At that point, it just seemed like swimming wasn’t necessary any longer, a stance taken that I sincerely regret to this day as it lost me much quality swimming time. This addition to the house severely cut back my desire to get in the pool unless it was for a night swim. After the age of 20, when my parents sold our house, I didn’t have access to a pool for years, unless a hotel that I stayed at had a pool.  Then in 2005, I rented an apartment that had an outdoor pool and during the summer months, I was in heaven (especially seeing as the air conditioning unit in my place wasn’t that great). Granted, it was  small pool that had many kids visit it during the day, forcing me to arrive at the pool early in the morning in order to be able to swim laps without little kids splashing, jumping or swimming right in front of me. This reminiscing leads me to the question of why pools, in general have gotten away from roping off a lane so that adults or student athletes can swim laps uninhibited?

At one time, a serious swimmer could count on children’s parents to teach them a degree of pool etiqutte, namely, that when a person is swimming laps, the child needs to stay out of the swimmer’s way, but in light of my numerous recent pool experiences this is clearly not the case. Parents barely watch their kids swim anymore causing that “Swim at your own risk” sign to truly take on more meaning in today’s day and age. Whereas, just a few years ago such a sign would be laughed off or ignored by parents and kids alike.

During a stay at the Sheraton, taking a swim in a very large pool, a group of four kids, ranging, I would surmise, in ages from 8-14, started off innocently enough  goofing around on the opposite side of the pool from me. Seemingly,  in an instant, that changed. Now, not only did they want  to jump in the pool on the side that I was swimming on, but one of the kids almost swam under me. And, for me, that was the end of swimming for the day, with my hope being that the second night of my stay would yield a better swimming environment. The aforementioned example reinforces for the me the need for roped off spaces to return to public pools. Not that this action would totally solve the problem, but at least it would help a bit. So why is this not happening? Is it because fewer adults are swimming themselves, so the perceived need for such a separator is negated? Instead of doing laps, sunbathing followed by a walk in the pool and walk out of the pool approach has creeped in and become the replacement for many adults. This does not exactly make the case that a roped off area is truly needed.

And as the kicker to my Sheraton stay, night two found a wedding and a convention at the hotel, rending my plan for swimming laps night two impossible. What can I say-a good swimming situation these days is hard to find.

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