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| Ohio Northern University Natatorium |
There are many updates that have been made
to Ohio Northern’s campus over the four years that I have been enrolled in the
university. The updates that I have seen carried out have ranged from the
updating of the campus dining facilities to the construction of a new
engineering facility. However, there is one aspect to the university that needs
quite a bit of attention. That aspect is the sports center that houses all of
the university’s athletic staff and a majority of the teams. However, there is
one aspect of this facility that has proven to be showing its age. That part of
the building being the pool facility.
The pool at Ohio Northern has not
been updated since the sports center’s construction, and the years have taken their
toll on the facility. Several high scale repairs have been required just to
keep the pool open for the swimming season. This has been attributed mainly to
the poor condition of the equipment that keeps the pool running. Issues with
the equipment in the natatorium have ranged from
- Issues with the filtration pump
- A malfunctioning air movement system
- An outdated scoreboard and timing system
- A poorly functioning intercom system
The issues with the equipment
have come to the point that several catastrophic failures have occurred in the
pool facility. The most recent failure being the breakdown of the pump for the
pool filter. The pump had actually been a known problem for several years, and
had caused multiple shutdowns of the facility. The most serious break down of
the pool filter occurred in the fall of 2015 during the last half of the swim season.
The filter had malfunctioned and caused a major flood in the sports center. The
flood resulted in the need for serious repairs to the pump as well as the
refilling of the pool due to the subsequent flood. Due to the failure occurring
during the varsity swim season, a temporary fix was done to the pump in order
for the team to have facilities to practice in. However, even the fix took
longer than expected. The fact that the pump and filter were so old and out of
date made the search for parts incredibly difficult. Once parts were found (and the pump was back
up and running) several other break downs of the pump occurred in the upcoming
months. This resulted in an actual overhaul of the filter in the summer of 2017
in hopes to keep the pool from closing during the academic year once again. This
ended up not being the case, as the pump caused a closure of the pool once
again during the first week of the 2018 spring semester. Although there are
more problems with equipment that contribute to the current state of the pool
environment is the actual facility in which the pool is housed.
The pool facility at Ohio
Northern has clearly seen better days. Years upon years of humid conditions and
poor maintenance have taken their toll on the structure. The main issues that
are associated with the facility include
1.
Cracked and chipped tile
2.
A leaking roof
3.
Poorly sealed windows
4.
A lack of stadium seating for fans and
supporters
5.
Poor air quality
The problems of the facility have
also led to many closures for the facility during the off season for the
varsity swim team. This included delays for painting the sections of the walls
on which the paint had peeled due to water damage, replacing tile on the deck
of the pool because of injuries, and the clearing of carpeting from the men’s
locker room. However, major repairs that are needed for the consistent running
of the facility are still required. The leaking roof and windows create an
environment that is difficult to keep stable according to the standards for
natatoriums. These updates will however most likely not occur until the
university obtains enough funds to completely remodel the entire pool facility.
So until then, the university will have to continue to sink money into minor
repairs in order to keep the facility running both during and outside of the
varsity swim season.
As a current member of the varsity swim team at ONU, I can attest to the poor pool conditions. For fans trying to sit through a meet that will last a few hours the seating section extremely hot and uncomfortable. The air quality is also poor, often times the coaches have to set fans by the door ways to blow fresh air into the pool during practice so that the swimmers can breathe a little bit better.
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