Baton Rouge swimmers--need help

Manship has heated outdoor

Besides UREC, what else is there?

The Nat! Maybe one day LSU will upgrade from the dirty Nat.

quote:

---

When is the last time you swam in it? Dude, it’s the best pool in BR by a mile and considering how huge it is that’s saying a lot. Do you not think they take care of and update the place where college swimmers swim? It’s been updated/upgraded 3 times in the last 2 years....

---

I’m pretty familiar with the place. Started swimming there in 1985 shortly after it opened. It was quite the upgrade from the Huey at the time. Swam for LSU from 1995-1998. Swim there from time to time at alumni events and masters meets. My kids compete there often. I’m a regular donor to the renovations, if you want to call them that... lipstick on a pig.

It’s a shame this is the best Baton Rouge has to offer. In all these years, they’ve painted the walls, put in some locker rooms, some fresh lighting, tiled the deck, and put some signage up (but took down our All American wall), but no air conditioning and the seating is poor. Not even a cleaning staff for the place. It’s always pretty dirty. The locker rooms they put in were an upgrade, of sorts, better than the supply closet by the diving well that we had our rust bucket lockers in. Those front bathrooms are nasty and I think the toilets are permanently clogged. The place is a joke compared to most any other aquatic center at a major university. The SEC hasn’t held the championship meet there since the 1980s because it’s inadequate. The pool itself is very good. It’s fast water. Records fall there often. But the facility is sub par and our LSU Tiger swimmers and divers deserve better, hence why we can’t recruit.

There is hope. The new AD has had a meeting and expressed his concerns. It’s rumored that he’s big on top shelf facilities and their importance in recruiting and even deeper, farming our in state youth athletes. Hopefully they will get something done in the next 5-6 years so my son can possible swim there.