It's gone!
My childhood nemesis is no more.
Swimming at Drew's community pool, and I notice that they have only one diving board.
That bit of info triggers memories of going to the community pool in my neighborhood. We didn't go very often, most of those summers we were at camp during the week, and we stopped going altogether when we got a pool of our own.
The pool had three diving boards of varying heights, two fairly low to the ground, and the middle board very high. If you've ever seen a diving competition, you've seen a board that height. Really, the board was suitable for the fancy moves of a competitive diver. My guess is that it was about ten feet tall.
I remember climbing up that ladder. I remember feeling scared. Sometimes I'd get to the top of the ladder, climb onto the board -- and chicken out. It was a long climb up, but an even longer climb down, in shame and defeat.
But sometimes ... Sometimes I had the courage to climb onto that board, walk to the end, and jump. I liked to dive off the low boards, but I don't think I ever mustered the courage to dive from the high board. You fly pretty fast from ten feet above the pool, you hit the water hard. And then you have to recover yourself and swim to the ladder.
I was feeling nostalgic, so I drove over to the park where the pool is located. I hadn't been there in a very long time. The pool seemed a lot ...smaller.
And the high board was gone!
I guess lawsuits and high insurance premiums did it in.
I have no plans to swim at that pool anytime soon, let alone jump or dive off the high board.
But I am sorry to see the high board gone.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Swimming at Drew's community pool, and I notice that they have only one diving board.
That bit of info triggers memories of going to the community pool in my neighborhood. We didn't go very often, most of those summers we were at camp during the week, and we stopped going altogether when we got a pool of our own.
The pool had three diving boards of varying heights, two fairly low to the ground, and the middle board very high. If you've ever seen a diving competition, you've seen a board that height. Really, the board was suitable for the fancy moves of a competitive diver. My guess is that it was about ten feet tall.
I remember climbing up that ladder. I remember feeling scared. Sometimes I'd get to the top of the ladder, climb onto the board -- and chicken out. It was a long climb up, but an even longer climb down, in shame and defeat.
But sometimes ... Sometimes I had the courage to climb onto that board, walk to the end, and jump. I liked to dive off the low boards, but I don't think I ever mustered the courage to dive from the high board. You fly pretty fast from ten feet above the pool, you hit the water hard. And then you have to recover yourself and swim to the ladder.
I was feeling nostalgic, so I drove over to the park where the pool is located. I hadn't been there in a very long time. The pool seemed a lot ...smaller.
And the high board was gone!
I guess lawsuits and high insurance premiums did it in.
I have no plans to swim at that pool anytime soon, let alone jump or dive off the high board.
But I am sorry to see the high board gone.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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