Rowing, Rowing, Rowing on the River

Congratulations to the Cincinnati Junior Rowing Team which took home the Midwest Junior Rowing Championship this past weekend. They won 8 gold medals as well as the Team Points Trophy with a total of 215 points. The second team earned 106.5 points. The Cincinnati team advances to the Nationals which will be held in June.

Congratulations to Steven Boyle, Lance Brown, Sam Elsbrock, Eric Garbon, Tom Garry, Matthew Habel, Clay Kadon, Brad Kallmeyer, Adam Miller, Grant Olscamp, Arthur Olson, Ian Powers, Damien Retzinger, Michael Robison, Nick Shaffer, Jacob Smith, Alex Spaulding, Tom Spraul, Eric Swank, Clay Wagner, Dan Weber.

Every day after school and most Saturdays you can find them on the Licking River. During the winter they train in the tank under Montgomery Inn Boathouse. They compete throughout the eastern USA and Canada.

Unseasonably Warm

It has been a beautiful weekend downtown. Warm weather brings everyone out. Sawyer Point Park was packed with hundreds of kids. Unfortunately Cincinnati Parks/CRC apparently did not think anyone would be there, and all the toilets were locked. I realize it is March, but gee, it is 70 degrees out, and a sunny Saturday afternoon. Of course the concession stand is never open anyway, but at least they could have unlocked the toilet doors.

9 Pools May Not Reopen

According to the Enquirer politics blog:

...There are nine pools that are recommended for closing, but these are recommended by the Cincinnati Recreation Commission in keeping with their capital strategy for the development of spraygrounds in the city. In addition the pools slated to be closed have been impacted by deferred maintenance and repairs that the General Fund has not been able to support. Admittedly, there will be a gap between the closing of the pools and the opening of the new spray features. Those pools affected by this decision include: Ziegler, Washington Park, Caldwell, Fairview, South Fairmont, North Fairmont, Inwood, Mount Adams, and Filson. Additionally when you compare the cost to operate and maintain these facilities in relation to the numbers of people that use them it is hard to justify leaving them open...

"...when you compare the cost to operate and maintain these facilities in relation to the numbers of people that use them it is hard to justify leaving them open." Who is saying this? The Mt. Adams Pool is totally packed every time I go there. Really you couldn't comfortably fit more users in that small pool. Most of the days I go to the Washington Park Pool, there are over 50 people there, even though the hours are restricted and the immediate neighborhood is half vacant. The demand is there and even growing.

See, when we opposed the removal of Washington Park pool, people responded: "hey you still have Ziegler, Inwood, Fairview, Mt. Adams nearby". None of those had deepwater or diving boards, but now we see that really all the pools are at best, headed the way of the failed Dyer Sprayground on Freeman Ave... desolate sprinklers over rubberized surface with still limited hours.

We are considering giving up on CRC pools, their non-maintenance, their minimal and inconvenient hours, rules about food and constant threats to close more pools. We may go private next summer so our kids can get some serious swim lessons with a serious swim and diving team. Unfortunately we will be driving a lot more to get there.

Sorry poor kids, next summer you will bake. If you're lucky sometime in the next few years CRC may see fit to set up a sprinkler for you. Maybe.

Tennis at Lincoln Rec Center

Just to the south of the Jet In, there is a public tennis court. It doesn't seem that well-used, but it is decent. I can't get over the fact that the Lincoln Rec Center is never open on Saturdays:

Mt Adams Pool

The Mt Adams Pool is an older, smaller pool, with an integral kiddie end. It is up behind the Playhouse Parking Garage, and is a very quiet pool compared to the other CRC pools because it is mostly adults. Making this a sprayground as is planned, would not suit these users, so a Mt Adam's group is lobbying to save this little oasis. We go there because it is one of the only CRC pools open on Sunday.

Pool Entry:

Pool view from entry:

The cool clean water:

Pool and pool house:

Last Day of Washington Park Pool

August 8, 2008. Was this the last day of this pool for just this year, ..or forever? We don't know.
watermelon toss:
Getting a watermelon fron the 10' deep water:

chasing the watermelon:

St John Tower at OTR Rec Center

St John Tower, at the Over-the-Rhine Recreation Center, also called the HUB center:

When St. John Church was demolished, the tower was salvaged and incorporated into the new community center. The tower was at the rear of the church, along Republic Street. The entry to the church as shown in the old photo was on the north side of Green Street (Northwest corner of Green and Republic).

Here is the Catholic Telegraph post about the closing of this church. Here is their photo, taken 1969:

The building to the right in the photo above, today:

[Where: 12 Green Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202]


View Larger Map

Just to the north of the old tower, is the OTR indoor swimming pool. The CRC proposal is to open up the old bricked-up doors and make this indoor pool a summer pool for use by the OTR swim team. I think it is a plan for failure, as you will not get many kids to go to this hidden indoor pool in the summer:

[Where 1715 Republic Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202]

Mt Adam's Swimmers are Organizing

City-Wide Swim Meet

Last year the City-wide swim meet was held at UC in their indoor pool. It was nice there, because there were many many lanes, and all the competitors could swim at once. This year, the CRC did not get the grant to hold the meet at UC, so they held it at Ryan Pool, which only has 6 lanes, and the heats had to be divided. Still the setting is pretty good, because everyone can sit on the hillside surrounding the pool and watch.

In the CRC Aquatics Plan, Ryan Pool is the only pool not part of a Community Center that will remain open. I'm not sure why that is. The pool sits in a large park, called Ryan Memorial Commons, and is in a nice residential area, across the street from St. Catherine's church and school. I saw councilmember Monzel there cheering his daughter but didn't think it was an appropriate time to lobby him about our pool.

Pool house, and six swimming lanes:

Diving board, deep end, and hillside dotted with teams and families:

Three boys from Otto Armledder Pool at Dunham, with marker tattoos:

Dunham Rubber Duckies:

Ryan Pool Marker:

Playing cards, a swim meet tradition:

I'm proud to report that Washington Park swimmers won two second place ribbons!!!

[Where: 3324 Meyer Place, Cincinnati, OH 45211]

Channel 5 at Washington Park Pool

The 6pm news reported live from the pool right before the swim meet.

Dr. Merrifield is quoted as saying that the pool may not even be removed, at least for a long time. He is wrong, it may be removed this winter.

The 11pm news had a different segment, but I couldn't find it yet.

Some photos of the evening:

Before the meet:

8 and under, diving at the start of the breast stroke:

This girl from Mt. Washington Pool was very fast:

Little backstrokers about to start:

Jumping off the boards after the meet:

Invite to Swim Meet Weds

Everyone is welcome to come see the Washington Park kids swim against other pool teams Weds 6-7pm. People without pool passes can come into the pool area to watch the meet. Come and see the pride of these kids as they compete!

 

Camp Washington Pool

Here are some photos of the Camp Washington Pool. It is located right behind the trees at the Hopple Street exit from South I75, behind the very ugly Deveroes store. Despite being adjacent to the freeway, it is actually a very pleasant pool. It is a 6lane, 25 meter aluminum pool, with a 12' deep end with diving boards and a separate toddler pool. It is very similar to the Washington Park Pool. Fortunately for Camp Washington, their pool is located directly adjacent to their Community Center, and thus it is scheduled to remain in service. The Aquatics Plan calls for upgrades to the pool house, and I thought I heard talk of converting this to an indoor pool, and making it the Lifeguard Training Center. The Site has one baseball diamond, one soccer field, a blah playstructure and one well-used basketball court.

The Pool:
The Pool House:
The Community Center Building in the distance:
Deveroes and Hopple Street in the distance:
Kids getting ready to dive into the 12':
On your Mark:
The street outside the Community Center:

Dunham Pool Pics and Diving Boards

Dunham is the recently completed Cincinnati Recreation Commission pool. This is one of three regional pools they plan on operating. The smaller, neighborhood pools are on the outs:

There are umbrellas, grass, a snack bar.. All things I wish our pool had.

A few things I noticed:
1. The pool is in an isolated park, quite a hike from the bus stop or residences.
2. Memebership is $100 a year for a family or $5 a day per person. Neighborhood pools are $5-15 per person per year.
3. They have 25-yard swimming lanes for competition, but it is shallow water.
4. They have very tall and very expensive slides, which are quite popular.
5. They have zero depth entry for toddlers and handicapped people.
5. They have NO Diving Boards.

The most popular part of our pool is the deep end. The kids love the diving boards, and also dive for rings tossed to the bottom of the 10'. It is very gratifying to see 7 year-olds learn these skills. The elimination of diving boards is a big mistake IMO.

I have done a little research on the disappearing diving boards, and have found some interesting information:
1. Most diving accidents happen in lakes, ponds and rivers (75%).
2. Of the diving accidents that happen in pools, most are in the shallow end (95%).
3. Of diving accidents in pools, most are in pools with no life guard, at motels or apartment complexes.

If you are interested in these facts, see some notes from a research journal that I transcribed here.

On a final note: Here is a lamentation that two working parents has led to severe reduction in summer swimming.