Section:
The University Daily Kansan
B
Features
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2001 For comments, contact Emily Hughey or Kyle Ramsey at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
The Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center, 4706 Overland Drive, has an Olympic size swimming pool and a pool designed specifically for children and young adults including a spiral water slide and numerous water-spraying toys. Above, a boy is drenched in water shooting in all directions from one of the toys in the wading pool.
Swimming in the rain
Lawrence pools offer recreation for all ages, even in bad weather
Story by Luke Wetzel - Photos by Aaron Showalter
The water fountain in the kids pool provides a source of endless amusement for Lawrence residents Heather Burkham and her father, Ray, when they visit the new Indoor Aquatic Center, 4706 Overland Drive. "She'd stay here all night if I let her," Burkham said of his daughter.
The atmosphere on Monday afternoon at the Lawrence Outdoor Aquatic Center was not a lively one.
A solitary lap-swimmer practiced his backstroke while a handful of kids traded off doing jackknives off the diving board. An orange utility cone sat in place of a lifeguard atop the waterslide. The plastic lilypads were empty.
On a day when pooloogers were more likely to catch pneumonia than rays of sunshine, dozens of children frolicked in the water not too far away.
The recent opening of the $8.3 million Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center will keep eager swimmers from having to wait for the sun.
Lori Madaus, a manager at both aquatic centers, said she was pleased with the success of the new center.
"It's been well received by the community," she said. "It's where all the kids are today."
The indoor center, located at 4706 Overland Drive next to Lawrence Free State High School, features a zero-depth area with a giant blue slide, spray toys and plastic animals. The center also has an Olympic-sized swimming pool with lap lanes, a water basketball hoop, and a big play shark that dozens of children unsuccessfully try to wrestle to the pool floor.
"I think they both have their own good qualities," Madaus said of the centers. "The slide is really popular with the kids and the adults like to swim laps. It depends on the age."
Maddaus said attendance at both centers had been high despite the rainy weather. She said between 1,500 and 3,000 people visited the outdoor center on a good day. At 2 p.m. Monday there
were only a few.
Lifeguard Katie McCloskey said she doesn't like cloudy days.
"They're horrible," she said. "I've only been here since 12:30, but it seems
like I've been here all day. I'd rather it be busy."
McCloskey, one of 60 lifeguards for both centers, was a lifeguard in Atchison for four years before working as one in Lawrence.
"Coming from a small town, it's quite different," she said. "When it busy, it's fun. You don't have to get up early and you get a good tan."
However, not all University of Kansas student swimming enthusiasts
are in search of tans. Ben Burton, Ocean, N.J., senior and Stephen Davis, Topeka junior, prefer to swim by moonlight. Burton and Davis are self proclaimed "aquanauts," a group they formed to promote pool-hopping at apartment complexes.
"It's pretty self-explanatory," said Burton, the group's founder. "An astronaut is somebody who explores space, and an aquanaut is somebody who explores water, or in this case, the pools of Lawrence."
Burton said the average hop involved pulling up, staking out the premises and taking only a quick dip.
"This isn't a leisurely swim," he said. "We like the cover of darkness and show a fanaticism for well-cholorined water and quality deck furniture to lounge on."
Davis, who wears goggles, employs his beer-belly as a flotation device and admitted to secretly loving chlorine, boasted of the group's perfect record of stealth.
"No aquanaut has ever gone down in the line of duty," he said. "You just have to remember it's easy to see pale people at night."
Both Burton and Davis said they also enjoy legitimate swimming at the outdoor center.
"I like to hit the slides, the lilypads and the diving boards once I work up the nerve," Davis said. "Usually I just spin underwater and pretend to be a dolphin. I can't wait until it gets sunny again."
McCloskey agrees.
"It's hard to get a tan when you're wearing long sleeves."
— Edited by Chris Wristen