AQUATICS AQU TIC - Athletic Businessrentals (such as wedding receptions) are often scheduled months, if not years, in advance. Min-nesota recently agreed to host the National Disabil-ity

It’s 6 a.m., time for the men’s andwomen’s varsity swim teams to

dive into the first of two daily prac-tices at the university natatorium. Anhour earlier, members of the ROTCslogged through a water test here infull fatigues. At 2 a.m., the commu-nity fire department wrapped up fourhours of training in this same pool.

Before the day is over, the natato-rium will accommodate several for-credit classes, at least one recre-ational lap swim, a water aerobics

May 2002 ATHLETIC BUSINESS 63

AQUATICS

By Paul Steinbach

AQUATICS

Filling pools with swimmers of all ages and abilities can help enhance a college's community outreach effortswhile helping recover the considerablecosts of operating a natatorium. Photo

by Je

ssica

Martin

ez-Br

ooks,

court

esy of

Okla

homa

City

Comm

unity

Colleg

e

By Paul Steinbach

Filling pools with swimmers of all ages and abilities can help enhance a college's community outreach effortswhile helping recover the considerablecosts of operating a natatorium.

Sharing campus

aquatic facilities helps

pay the bills, but

constantly

circulating

different user

groups in and

out of pools takes

priorities and

planning.

Sharing campus

aquatic facilities helps

pay the bills, but

constantly

circulating

different user

groups in and

out of pools takes

priorities and

planning.

AB MAY -pools 4/11/02 10:28 AM Page 63

64 ATHLETIC BUSINESS May 2002 www.athleticbusiness.com

session and a meeting of the campuskayaking club. In the adjacent divingwell, SCUBA divers and life-jacketedwater walkers will give way to U.S. Navy-sponsored torpedo prototype testing.The weekend might bring anything frombirthday parties and baptisms to aninternational swimming competition orlocal car show.

It may sound all wet, but this scenarioaccurately describes the types of activi-ties taking place in college and universityaquatic facilities these days. Faced withoperating budgets that may exceed ahalf-million dollars (not including utility

costs, which are often covered by a uni-versity’s physical plant), aquatic direc-tors are challenged to fill their pools withpaying customers early and circulatenew users in and out all day long. As aresult, campus natatoriums are openingtheir doors not only to familiar con-stituencies such as intercollegiate swim-ming and diving teams, recreational lapswimmers and aquatic-based clubs, butto outside interests, as well.

“Students and faculty can only swimso long and take up so much poolspace,” says Duane Proell, who asaquatic and special event program direc-

tor at the University of Minnesota pro-grams five campus pools, including onethat’s often bisected by a bulkhead forsimultaneous use by different groups.“When you have facilities like this, you’regoing to have a lot of open water, andyou need to fill it up. You need to reachout to the community.”

Many in similar positions agree, but allare quick to add that sharing aquatictime and space comes at a price, witheverybody expected to pitch in. The goalis not to turn a profit, necessarily, butsimply to recover the considerable costsassociated with staffing the pool and

maintaining its physical appearance andequipment. The trick is keeping all usergroups happy today, while ensuringthere will remain a safe, attractive andfunctional venue for a new generation ofparticipants tomorrow.

No collegiate aquatic facility that sharesits resources among several internal

and external user groups can do sosmoothly without proper organization.Depending on the size of a university andits aquatic facilities, as well as the time ofyear, requests for water access cancome pouring in from any number ofdirections on and off campus. During atypical March, the University of Min-nesota Aquatic Center might receive 70requests from outside groups, accordingto Proell. In December, that numbermight dip to fewer than 10. Some col-leges find that the best way to determinewho gets to use the pool and when —and at what price — is by committee.And whereas monthly committee meet-ings once sufficed in filtering throughrequests, demand has dictated thataquatic staff members on most majorcollege campuses meet weekly instead.Says Tom Griffiths, aquatic facilities man-ager at Penn State University, “EveryTuesday we have a scheduling meeting,and the first thing we do is go throughrequests to use the pool.”

Requests made by familiar entities,such as the ROTC, can usually be satis-fied within one week, while dates for special events (such as competitive

CIRCLE 62 ON REPLY CARD

“When you havefacilities like this,

you’re going tohave a lot of open

water, and youneed to fill it up.

You need to reachout to the

community.”


meets) and smaller-scalerentals (such as weddingreceptions) are oftenscheduled months, if notyears, in advance. Min-nesota recently agreed tohost the National Disabil-ity Championships from2003 through 2005, andthe girls’ and boys’ statehigh school champi-onships through 2006.Meanwhile, in a rareinstance of rapid-firescheduling, MinnesotaSwimming Inc. will usethe Aquatic Center for itsage-group state champi-onship this summer,based on terms agreed to in January.“Very seldom do we get less than six-months’ notice on an event that’s goingto cause a disruption,” says Proell, whodefines disruptive events as those lastingmore than one day and requiring sub-stantial setup.

For perennial user groups such as age-group swimming and diving clubs, MikeGiles, associate director of recreationalsports at the University of Southern Mis-sissippi, draws up contracts that coverthree years at a time, increasing fees by10 percent each year to allow his pool tomeet inflationary demands while givingthe user group the opportunity to bud-get into the future. Meanwhile, requestsby new user groups may begin with thesubmission of a request form availablethrough the aquatic department or via aphone call.

Contracts for some rentals may evenbe signed the day of an event, providedthe user group can present proof ofinsurance. In the case of a birthdayparty, for example, insurance may takethe form of a rider added to an individ-ual’s homeowner’s policy, limiting cover-age of all party-goers to the actualamount of time they will spend in theuniversity’s pool. Alternative (and oftenless-expensive) insurance policies maybe offered through the university itself,and usually consist of a base charge (forexample, $50) and an additional chargebased on the number of party-goers (20cents a head). In either case, the univer-sity should insist that it be listed as“additional insured.” For large specialevents involving such entities as theNCAA, USA Swimming, or even localYMCAs, the user organizations typicallyarrive with their own insurance certifi-cates in tow.

For schools that can afford the time,an extra step of meeting face-to-face withone or more representatives of thewould-be user group prior to drawing upa contract establishes familiarity withthe facility and its rules. “A shared facil-ity depends on cooperation between

user groups, and cooperation comes outof personal contact,” says Giles. “Gettingto know who it is you’re going to sharethe pool with is important.”

But even the most accommodatingaquatic facilities can’t grant every poten-tial pool user access to the water at thetime desired, if at all. “We tell a lot of peo-ple no, only because there aren’t enoughdays in the week or hours in the day,”says Griffiths. “Still, we listen to everyone.

We don’t turn down a request until afterTuesday, when we all discuss the meritsof it and see if we can fit it in somewhere.”

Such decisions aren’t made on a whim.Most colleges have well-defined peck-

ing orders in terms of user groups andtheir prescribed pool times, particularlyduring the school week. Some collegescater to their intercollegiate teams, whileothers focus on for-credit classes. Often,the attention shifts throughout the day,with team practices taking precedenceover all other activities during the earlymorning and late afternoon. During thenormal school day (typically 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.), classes hold court. Open lapswimming may fit in during downtime atnoon, while club sports take over in theevening or share space with anotherwave of recreational swimmers.

Weekends, during which most outsiderequests are fulfilled, may be a bit lesscut-and-dried, but priorities still play arole. At Minnesota, which employs a 10-

page priority documentfor all of its athletic facili-ties, student members ofthe school’s Pool Opera-tions Committee hold vetopower over proposedweekend events. Proellbelieves that’s only fair,since student fees financea good portion of theAquatic Center’s upkeep.“Those students arecharged with the task ofmaking sure that Univer-sity of Minnesota studentsdon’t get shortchanged onthe money they give,” hesays. “That whole processeliminates me giving the

pool away for free. It motivates me to getrenters that can actually pay the rent.”

The Minnesota State High SchoolLeague, for example, paid $6,000 a day tohold its three-day swimming and divingchampionships at the Aquatic Center inMarch. Because money from outsidesources eases the facility’s reliance onstudent fees, students willingly acceptedthe inconvenience of swimming in anolder pool elsewhere on campus duringthose days, according to Proell, whoadds that with 12 years of experiencedealing with student committee mem-bers, “I don’t bring anything to them thatI know they’re going to refuse.”

The Payne Center’s pool at SouthernMississippi takes advantage of weekendsprimarily to accommodate the swim-ming sons and daughters of students,faculty and staff, at the recommendationof an advisory board established in 1993to govern pool usage. “The students paidfor a large part of this building through areferendum,” says Giles. “They taxedthemselves, and they were veryadamant: ‘We don’t want a lot of littlekids running around during the week.’ ”

Priorities are different at a school likethe University of Texas, which boasts a50-meter-by-25-yard pool that’s a consis-tent 9 feet deep, as well as a 25-by-25-yard diving well that also accommodatesswimming. At the Lee and Joe JamailTexas Swimming Center, modeled afterthe pool used during the 1972 MunichOlympics, competition and college-levelcoursework reign supreme. Even if facil-ity director Don Watson wished to holdSpecial Olympics events or learn-to-swimsessions, his facility won’t let him. “Any-one who swims here has got to be afairly decent swimmer,” he says. “That’show the facility was designed.”

That’s not to say that Watson doesn’thave to closely monitor who uses hispool and for how long. Because the uni-versity’s Kinesiology & Health EducationDepartment conducts for-credit classesin the pool, as much as 51 percent of thepool’s operation costs are covered by


Facilities equipped with diving wells may take advantage of downtime by offering SCUBAinstruction.

Photo

court

esy of

Penn

State

Univ

ersity

“We tell a lot ofpeople no, onlybecause therearen’t enough

days in the weekor hours in the

day. Still, we listento everyone.”


state funds. The remaining 49 percent areshared by separate men’s and women’sathletic departments and two outsidegroups: an age-group program calledTexas Aquatics and a master’s program.UT pool staff members chart usage bythese various groups via computer andsubmit an annual report to the university,which then uses a formula to calculatethe amount of state support the JamailCenter can claim. As a result, Kinesiology& Health Education students dominatethe 8 a.m.-to-3 p.m. time slot. “We makethem a priority and they’re in there asmuch as possible, because we need thatfunding from the state,” Watson says.

And just as priorities may change bythe hour, they are subject to alterationover longer periods of time, too. WhenGiles coached a short-lived intercolle-giate swimming program at SouthernMississippi, water-based academic offer-ings still held sway in the pool. However,once the USM men’s and women’s teamsbegan competing in 1981, an outsideyouth program was bumped from itsearly morning practice time.

Moreover, intercollegiate swimming hasevolved over the past 20 years to the pointwhere a true off-season no longer exists.At Penn State, where top priority in thepool goes to the varsity men and women,intercollegiate swimmers in the mid-1980strained and competed from October untilMarch, and eventually from Septemberthrough March. “Now I can honestly saythat they don’t stop,” Griffiths says. “Theyare here all the time, and they get thoseblocks before 8 a.m. and between 2:30 and5 p.m. literally 12 months a year.”

The user group occupying the pool, aswell as the type of activity taking place

there, also dictate how the pool is staffed.

Student lifeguards comprisethe largest segment of anyaquatic staff, and may repre-sent an aquatic depart-ment’s greatest cost. Somelarge schools carry a rosterof more than 100 availablelifeguards, and expertsagree that any facility that

opens its doors without at least oneguard on duty is courting legal disaster.

Since collegiate swim coaches areoften certified water-safety instructors,aquatic directors need not overcrowdthe pool deck with additional life-savingstaff. One lifeguard may be enough tocover two or three closely configuredbodies of water occupied by talentedswimmers. On the other hand, a largeevent, or one involving individuals withspecial needs, will require several on-duty lifeguards. “It all depends on theactivity,” says Watson. “The risk isgreater when the pool is used by therecreational sportsdepartment, for ex-ample, because thereare going to be differ-ent swimming skilllevels.”

Giles is among alegion of aquaticdirectors who relysolely on their ownlifeguards when staf-fing their facilities. “Isay to anybody who comes in, ‘You’vegot to use my lifeguard, and it’s going tocost you $7 an hour. I’m glad your staff isqualified, but my people are in charge.’ Ican sleep at night because I know whatthose kids are doing.”

Among the everyday duties of studentlifeguards is getting one user group outof a pool to make room for the next onescheduled. When asked what it takes tomake that transition a seamless one,Giles laughs and says, “Lots of yelling.”For transitions that require the place-ment or removal of lane dividers — inthe event that, say, lap swimmers aregiving way to the water polo club, or viceversa — Giles builds in an extra 10 min-

utes. The last guards on duty beforeclosing at night are also responsible forpreparing the pool for guards scheduledfor duty the following morning.

Major competitions, meanwhile, pre-sent aquatic directors with the addedtask of organizing individuals with theknow-how to operate sophisticated tim-ing mechanisms and process computer-ized heat sheets. Sometimes, off-dutylifeguards can fill these and other rolesassociated with running a special event.“I have about 115 lifeguards, and in thatgroup there will be kids who are com-puter operators or majors in marketingand promotions,” says Proell. “From the115 lifeguards, we tap all kinds of differ-ent talents that the kids have.”

It takes talent from top to bottom onany collegiate aquatic staff to maximizepool usage while minimizing user com-plaints, but the rewards are great. Sharingallows a campus to showcase its aquaticfacilities, train its athletes, educate its stu-

dents and introduceindividuals of allages to the benefitsof water-based activ-ity — all the whilehelping offset thecost of pool opera-tion. “When you builda pool like this,you’d better be ableto generate somerevenue, but you’d

also better be able to stand up in front ofthe board of regents and say, ‘The univer-sity contributed X number of dollars, andhere’s what it got. Eight-hundred kidslearned how to swim. We were able tohost 60 events. Our students got to see 25Olympians because you support thispool,’ ” Proell says. “It’s not just about rev-enue. It’s also about the philosophy thatwe need to reach out to the community.”

“There are still universities that sharetheir water only with people on cam-pus,” says Griffiths. “To me, it would bealmost criminal if we didn’t open ourdoors to people outside the university.We can’t fulfill everybody’s needs, butwe have open arms.” �


Kayaking clubsand club waterpolo teams are

examples of campus groupsthat often rentpool time after

peak usage hours.

Photo

s cou

rtesy

of Pe

nn St

ate U

nivers

ity

“A shared facilitydepends on

cooperation, andcooperationcomes out of

personal contact.”


Documents

AQUATICS AQU TIC - Athletic Businessrentals (such as wedding receptions) are often scheduled months, if not years, in advance. Min-nesota recently agreed to host the National Disabil-ity