One of the sports Brighton excels at is swimming. We have students going to state every year, as well as multiple league victories.
Unfortunately, our facilities don’t reflect these accomplishments.
Let’s face it: the pool is less than aesthetically pleasing and incredibly unsafe. All in all, it kind of sucks.
For starters, the pool is so old, no one can tell me when it was built. Its ancient. This raises a number of problems, including but not limited to:
Tiles coming up on the floor
Flimsy diving blocks/boards
Rust
Showers (I’ll go more in depth later)
Mice
Crappy lane lines
Chewed up kickboards (see 5)
Broken-in-half-buoys
Rickety bleachers
A SAND filtration system
Spiders (including the occasional black widow)
The heater breaks at least once a season
Lockers refuse to open
Drains won’t drain
Slanted floor (slipping hazard)
Etc…
Even with these problems, the pool has not ever been fully renovated. The roof was recently re-done, but it only happened because the leaking caused additional problems. Funny enough, it’s leaking again. Only one of five diving blocks has been replaced since as long as anyone can remember. This was because in the 2016-2017 season our assistant coach stepped on it and it snapped in half, which invoked fear in the hearts of many a swimmer. Every time I step up to the block I envision falling through and breaking myself.
“The pool is disgusting. I’ve gotten athletes foot multiple times. I’ve been cut numerous times from the chipped tiles. The starting blocks terrify me, every time I dive in I’m scared they will unlatch and break,” said Bela Rollins (‘20).
The condition of the locker rooms is a tetanus shot waiting to happen. The rust is so extensive the lockers refuse to budge. The showers are either burning hot or freezing cold, and half of them don’t work at all. The drains suck at their job, and tiles are peeling up from the floor. The bathrooms are atrocious, and it is a guarantee to see a spider or ants. Those aren’t the only critters you risk seeing, a family of mice have made the pool their home.
“I think because our school district is so poorly funded sports like swimming don't have the right equipment or environment to practice in. The high school pool is extremely old and not up to date. There were, no joke, rats running around the pool deck on the 2nd day of practice so we need some help,” said Peyton Schwartz (‘19).
The district needs to do something to address the state of the aquatic center, it’s unsafe and embarrassing.