Swimming pool etiquette

If somebody is mindlessly ploughing up and down a fairly busy pool with no regard for other users are you allowed to kick them accidently in the face?*

*In the pool, not in the car park afterwards.

Are they driving a White Audi?

I got pulled aside in my pool, for doing just that! A bloke was going up and down the fast lane at about 1 minute per 25 m, in the middle of the lane. I had a word with him, he complained! I got a bollocking.

just so not fair!

Strava length?

fart in their general direction as they approach you. or make the coffee bean signal underwater as they approach if they are wearing goggles.

as a former swimmer, it is rather irritating when people don’t keep out of the way of important athletes who are busy training

No, you must stop and apologise to all your fellow swimmers for being a twunt and hogging the middle lane.
Now go do that..
🙄

Oh dear kicking this chap in the head just for inconsiderate swimming isnt a grown up response is it? You can get way more power and accuracy with an elbow.

Can’t you just lay a “mine” in front of them?

This was a Saturday morning public session full of kids and OAPs etc. The woman in question was almost punching her way through the water clattering everybody not as awesome as her (including my wife) to get her important laps in.

My hoof to her head was an accident as she approached from behind. I’m just struggling to feel bad about it.

Get bombing!

The woman in question was almost punching her way through the water……..

So she wasn’t?
So what was she doing wrong?
You like kicking women in the head for no reason?
You are a very strange person.

Don’t get your pants in a bunch.

She was barging past/through anybody that got in the way including me when I caught her with a stray foot.

I never said anything about enjoying it.

Yup I’d be a bit miffed and feel tha same way HtS. Clearly it’s a moral issue and she had none, shame she took the time she had to hack through kids, would have thought a quite word by the pool attendant would have sufficed.. Shame you didn’t bring it up then.

You didn’t do it deliberatley did you?? seriously? If not I’d not worry, dare say it’s not the first time it’s happened to her.

Only thing I’d concern myself with is if she felt you did it on purpose.

I see what happens next week.. Then have a chat with the attendant.

Edit: spelling on iPhones is carp.

just swim widths when she is approaching……that is far more annoying.

lol @ binners
Harry,
You didn’t ask her to pi@@ of to the other side of the pool to annoy the others?

I dunno, it’s really irritating if you’re trying to do lengths and other people are just milling about. If it’s a swimming pool it’s for swimming. If it’s public baths or a spa then doing lengths would be anti soial.

OP – she’s a knob, most of the people in the queue behind me politely wait til the end of the length, where i let them through.

There’s lane swimming for lane swimmers, when I go on my own, and splashy splashy time for the kiddies, when i take the boy. Only a fartwit would plough up and down a pool on a weekend morning when it’s obviously going to be full of kids. Get her a copy of the pool time table and highlight the lane swimming sessions.

Were all people concerned in the correct lane? Swimming at an appropriate speed. Was it a family peak time type session, or a time where the faster swimmer may have hoped the pool was less busy.

Just seems to be one of those things. Some people seem completely unaware of those who share the same space around them; or they are aware but don’t give a toss.
I’ve not hit people inentionally, but I have intentionally not altered my stroke when these knobbers decide to barrel everyone out of the way. Funnily enough, they are often the first ones to get shirty.

Had a similar thing a while back with a bunch of kids chucking a ball about in a pool – half the pool was closed off for training sessions, so the remaining half was fairly busy, but manageable. Everyone seemed to understand the need for compromise.
Cue large group of blokes who wanted to throw a ball about completely taking over the pool. They were told several times by the lifeguards to move over and not take up the whole reamaining width of the pool, but were pretty good at ignoring them. They also seemed to be very good at mis-throwing the ball and hitting swimmers just as they passed. After about 10 mins of this, several of the female swimmers had got out and left. I was still trudging up and down, trying my best to avoid them when one of them dived across the front of me to retrieve another ‘mis-thrown’ shot. He could have waited 5 seconds for me to pass, but got right in my way so as I went past I decided not to alter my stroke or compensate for his proximity and gave him a kick in the leg. The reaction was like I’d just sawn his foot off with a cheese wire! Didn’t seems to make any difference, but cheered me up, no end.

I’d have had a word when she stopped, or asked the lifeguard to say something. Could be she’s totally oblivious, that’s not a defence, just that sometimes if you’re doing a long session it’s easy to drift off into another place.

Alternatively she could be in training for the London Triathlon and so welcomes the kicks and punches as it’s good preparation.

I get a bit miffed at the pool at my gym.

When I go after work they have half of it laned off for kids swimming lessons. Which I can cope with, its when the bit thats left over is then full of other kids milling around when I want to swim lengths !!!

Why can’t we have at least one little lane for people who actually want to swim !!!

Edit- if she was swimming lane styley in the main pool at peak family timw, then yeah she’s a knob 🙂

Edit- if she was swimming lane styley in the main pool at peak family timw, then yeah she’s a knob 🙂

I got kicked in the face on Saturday by a special needs kid. Meh what can you do.

Isn’t there a laned off bit for people training.

I’d have said something to her first, and then to the lifeguards if it was really an issue.

Could be somebody who was shortsighted as well.

Sounded to me like the OP was in a lane already and the lady in question wasn’t following lane etiquette…

Actually, a sure fire way to bring the issue to a head would be to swim in the middle at the same time. Once you’ve both collided a few times it would get resolved one way or another! Might not help any others in the lane though.

No lanes other than those used for swimming lessons. Open swim session at 10:00am on a Saturday.

Probably because that’s the time of day when kids want to go swimming. To be honest I’d expect a lot of pools to be all kids’ lessons at that time of day. I think in most of the pools I’ve used lane swimming is early morning, lunchtime and late evening, which does actually give you quite a lot of options.

Edit- if she was swimming lane styley in the main pool at peak family time, then yeah she’s a knob

Probably not the wisest decision on her part.

But maybe she’s a medic who works shifts, maybe she can’t always time her swimming with the lane sessions. Meh. If I see someone swimming laps and it’s not a lane session, I just try and keep out of their way. Is it that hard?

No mention of kicking

I just try and keep out of their way. Is it that hard?

Depends if you’re a 7 year old more concerned with aiming a beach ball at your sisters head?

Cycling is the only sport where people are allowed to punch you in the face, sadly.

If it is laned off, with indicated slow, medium and fast lanes and they are clearly in the wrong lane then just swim over them, it is quite easy especially if doing front crawl to grab there ankle and pull them under you.

If there are no lanes, then it is just up to everyone to to try and find their own space and use a bit of common sense in avoiding each other.

Depends if you’re a 7 year old more concerned with aiming a beach ball at your sisters head?

Said 7 year old has no more “right” to be there and horse around than a person swimming lanes does, unless it is a specifically designated kids’ session. See below.

If there are no lanes, then it is just up to everyone to to try and find their own space and use a bit of common sense in avoiding each other.

Probably because that’s the time of day when kids want to go swimming. To be honest I’d expect a lot of pools to be all kids’ lessons at that time of day. I think in most of the pools I’ve used lane swimming is early morning, lunchtime and late evening, which does actually give you quite a lot of options.

Its a members gym and on the web site it says that pool is always available for people swim lengths at any time.

Its not convenient for me to swim at any other time. I leave for work at 6am and have an hour commute. Gym is on the way home and I don’t want to

a) leave work any later
b) Go home first

I pay my gym fees so the pool is available to me when I want to swim.

Its annoys me that they are using the lessons to get extra money at the expense of fee paying members. Would expect it at a municipal pool and I think you would be right. At a private gym/pool I expect it to be available to me.

Cycling is the only sport where people are allowed to punch you in the face, sadly.

Well that and boxing I guess.

Well clearly that’s the way their economics works – presumably if they weren’t making money that way they’d have to pay their fat cat directors less charge you more. Presumably it doesn’t say anywhere in their terms that use of the pool is exclusive, so maybe you need to find somewhere that does – I don’t think there is any law about private gyms chucking kids out of their pool!