As sports begin to take action with the beginning of their seasons, waterpolo is faced with the challenge of the condemnation of their campus pool. The pool had notable flaws due to its age, such as heating and chemical regulation, but the final straw had been when a portion of the roof caved in.
“It was Easter weekend last school year, and some of the exterior of the building above the windows fell overnight,” Waterpolo Coach Robert Brown said. “After a few engineers inspected it, they recommended that it should be condemned, since with a building that old, repairing it would cost more than it’s worth.”
With the lack of a pool, players have been forced to make changes to their schedules, adapting to the changes that they have been subjected to, from waking up early in the morning to go to Brazosport High School for practice, to loading up on a bus after school.
“I have to transport boys in the morning and girls in the afternoon,” Brown said. “Some meet us there because they can drive, but those that don’t have to ride with me.”
While not having a pool is extremely inconvenient to all players, benefits can be found within the troubles.
“Having a broken pool has helped us come together a little more as a team,” junior Emma Meservy said. “We came up with the phrase, ‘No pool? No problem.’”
On top of the team bonding players experience, strengthening skills is another thing that is being achieved within students.
“If anything, I actually feel like I’ve gotten better this year,” senior Jack Lower said. “We try to hammer down at practice, it’s like there’s more time focused, less time messing around.”
However, while there is light within the darkness for players, problems still surface with the team.
“The big negative has been getting up earlier and relying on other people to take you,” Lower said. “I rely on my friend to take me, and whenever his alarm doesn’t go off he can’t get me, which stops me from going to practice, so I get a little frustrated with that.”
For the time being, home games have been played at the Angleton Natatorium while practices have been held at Brazosport High School. This is not the long term plan for the waterpolo team. Decisions are currently being made by the Brazosport ISD school board on where their new pool will go, and when its construction will be completed.
“They decided to look into a long term plan for a new pool somewhere, and they’re still trying to decide where,” Brown said. “It’s between the old Clute area pool, or somewhere on campus near our fieldhouse. No decision has been made yet, but they’re hoping to make it by November.”
