Throwback Thursday: What are some swimming pool memories you have? #TBT

[#1]

It's Thursday!

And it's summer! Let's talk about some pool memories. Couple of years ago, when my life wasn´t quite as busy as it is today and when we had an access to a HOA pool, I used to take my youth books, in Icelandic of course, with me and go to the pool. Swim some laps, dry my hands and read some pages, swim some more, read some more, and maybe take a nap.

Soooo, tell us about some swimming pool memories you have :)

Let’s make it a great Thursday!

KGM

[Ram Kumar Aravindakshan _Adaptavist_]

Canon Ball? Water treading, swimming classes.

The traumatizing one is when you catch someone taking a leak in the pool because they are too lazy to go to the bathroom 

[Joanna Weber]

Shoutout to my childhood best friend, Deryck Chester. He and I grew up together in the coastal town of Saltdean, which was a popular tourist resort in the 1930s. Accordingly, the little place - barely more than a village - on the southeast coast of England sported a number of attractive art deco buildings, including its outdoor Lido.

Every summer, we swam in that Lido, almost every day during the school holidays. The building also housed the library, a cafe and an events hall that you could hire out for birthday parties.

A few years ago, the Lido fell into disrepair. Saltdean's other prize building, the former Ocean Hotel, had been sold off and redeveloped into flats (apartments). The same fate was to befall our beloved local swimming pool, which had been closed and derelict for years.

Then, in 2011, a group of local activitists, including my friend Deryck, put together a campaign group to have the planning permission for flats denied. The group sought lottery funding and government grants to restore the Lido as a public building - and they got their way. The building was granted Grade II* listed status (protected by law) in 2011 and returned to local council control in 2012. The campaign group bought the building on a 60-year lease in 2014 and raised £3 million in funding.

For ten full years, Deryck and his friends have worked tirelessly, often hard physical labour, to restore the pool and its community buildings. It reopened to the public in 2017.

[Dan Breyen]

Not really my memories, but the swimming pool scenes in "The Sandlot" are worth every second to watch.

Would anyone like a Baby Ruth?

[Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM]

When I was about 9 years old, we had an above ground pool in the backyard, a big round above ground pool, if enough of the neighborhood kids swam in a circle we could create a current and a kind of lazy river.

I also had a minibike.  Neither survived a visit by a drunk uncle. One night he crashed my minibike into the pool, destroying both.  

I never got that minibike running again, yet he helped my dad build a large inground pool later that year. Much better pool, but since it wasn't circular we were never able to get a whirlpool-like thing to happen.

[Laurie Sciutti]

I lived at the pool during summer as a kid.  I have MANY fond memories of those days but only one that I wasn't so fond of...taking my junior lifeguard exam in JEANS, having to tread water for an hour and use those jeans as a flotation device.  Good lord was I sore afterward!  But I do still love to swim....

[Laurie Sciutti]

@Dan Breyen ~ you're killin me, Smalls!  😆

[Amanda Barber]

I remember when a local pool was turned into something much grander. They added lily pads to walk across, 2 slides, a kiddie area, and more. Amazingly, we were allowed to bike there and swim all day even at 10 years old. (I can't imagine letting my 10-year-old do this now, nor would it be allowed!) 

When I went to that pool a few years ago, I saw that they had adjusted the age of attendees allowed without an adult to 13, I think...haha! Times have changed, but this pool looks exactly like I remember it!

[Barbara Szczesniak]

I remember that we had a few friends/neighbors (all neighbors were friends during the summer when you didn't live near your school friends) who had pools in their yard. My mother ingrained in us that you could not mention wanting to go swimming—you had to wait for them to invite you.

It always amazed me that it didn't seem to occur to kids with a pool that it was so hot out that we should go swimming. Or maybe the mom said, "I can't take 10 kids yelling Marco - Polo today." ☀️😁

[Liz Tanner]

When I was little, we lived with my grandparent for a few years who had a beautiful in-ground. Lots of diving contest between relatives and picking up pirate coins (in lieu of pool dive sticks) off the bottom.

I also remember my grandpa's Shetland Sheepdog, Frank. If we cannonballed in and didn't immediatrely surface, he'd run laps around the pool until we did. Also, the house was under one of Tinker Air Force Base's final approach paths.. If Frank looked up and saw a plane, he'd chase it with complete disregard to his surroundings.

Dude looked *shocked* each of the 3-4 times a year he'd accidentally join us kids for a swim chasing big metal birds.   

[John Funk]

I grew up in a small town and there weren't but a couple of public pools. And both were kinda far from where we lived, so we rarely went. Which is fine with me as I am not a water person, haha. But it was always middle of the summer on a Sunday afternoon when we did go. I remember it being hot outside every time. 

The pool has been gone for a few years now, but I still have some vivid memories of the place. 

[Johanna Pichotka_APTIS_]

As a kid we never had one in our garden but every couple of weeks we'd go to the closest public pool. 

It was always my mum, me and one or two of my best friends at the time. We'd pretend to be mermaids and just have so much fun. 

Afterwards we'd go to the vending machine and get a cornetto. 

Some fond memories, I haven't thought of in a long time :) 

[Dustin Smith _K15t_]

Having to pass the swim test every year at summer camp so we could swim in the deep end and use the diving boards. This dreaded test was just swimming from one end of the pool to the other without touching the bottom or the sides, but my sister and I prepared for it like it was the olympics :)

[Vronik]

Hi

The pool is something that I love, I like it at all times, but at night especially when there is no one there and you can sit on the curb, read, think, listen to music or share a pleasant time with someone...
I leave you a photo from this summer just one night resting...

Happy summer for everyone !!! ;o)

[Jack Brickey]

This makes me think of my summer camp days growing up. I always loved the pool and swimming session. I have always loved the water and participation in swim meets even though I was never great at any of the strokes.

[vikram]

In my young age we were not having swimming pool as we have now, 

we used to go to small pounds/rivers with my school friends with packing snacks.

we used to swim till we get tried then play kabadi (indian game) in that sands and sit all together and eat by sharing all our brought eatables.

take a nap and return to home. ( We used to go by Bicycles) 

Vikram P

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen]

Awesome memories, guys!