Dear President Wright,

 

The Karl Michael Pool is admittedly not considered to be a

fast pool. It does not have a gutter system that allows

water to stream effortlessly out of the pool nor does it

have the capacity to inhibit waves from recoiling from the

outer lanes back toward the inner lanes. The substandard

depth of the pool is conducive to waves bouncing from the

bottom of the pool to the surface water. The lanelines do

not adequately hinder the waves from controlling the water

flow.

 

The Goodwill Games Pool constructed for that very event in

1998 is the home of the largest pool in the northern

hemisphere; it is considered to be the Mark Spitz of

swimming pools in a world of the aquatically-challenged if

indeed such an analogy makes sense. It is also considered

to be among the fastest pools in the world with its

technologically advanced gutter system, superior lanelines,

and standard depth. Barring the dubious possibility that

New York City wins claim to the 2012 Olympic Games and

those in power select the Goodwill Games Pool as the host

facility to showcase swimming, diving, synchronized

swimming, and water polo, the pool will be shutdown within

the next two years. The pool which only five years prior

handicapped a county already bogged down in fiscal debt is

now in a state of disrepair.

 

The notion that it is necessary to invest in a completely

new aquatics facility at Dartmouth is preposterous when The

Karl Michael Pool has, is, and will be perfectly suitable

for generations of Dartmouth swimmers, divers, and water

polo players. The construction of a new pool, whether on

the site of Hanover High School or not, would only spell

trouble with Hanover residents and it may very well turn

out to be a “bust” as has turned out to be the case with

the Goodwill Games Pool. Fast pools, like sharkskin bathing

suits and Jammers, do not make fast swimmers. Elephants

sink in fast pools just as they do in slow pools. Hard

work, superb stroke technique, excellent coaching, and well-

timed tapers make fast swimmers. Ivy Records, even World

Records, have been set in comparatively slow pools.

Dartmouth swimmers have set best times at The Karl Michael

Pool.

 

In addition to the obvious impact the decision to eliminate

the Swimming and Diving teams is on the swimmers and divers

who will lose the opportunity to compete in a sport that

they so love, I seek to draw your attention to how this

decision also impacts to a lesser degree the water polo

teams. Not only does the decision disrespect a coach, Jim

Wilson, who has won numerous New England water polo titles

in addition to a National Championship, but it disrespects

the man who fills the plates of his players with pasta in a

matter of seconds and who constantly encourages his players

with kind words and helpful advice. As a swim coach, his

record is meaningless for his passion for his athletes as

well as the remarkable example that he sets is of much

greater significance. Furthermore, in the absence of a

varsity swim program, where are the water polo teams

supposed to derive its players from? While there are indeed

non-varsity swimmers who compete for the water polo teams,

many of the greatest players who have ever set hole

and ran a pick for the Big Green have been varsity swimmers

at Dartmouth with water polo backgrounds. Of the current

men’s team, five of the thirteen team members are also

varsity swimmers. The two top players, next year’s

captains, are varsity swimmers.

 

The Dartmouth swimmers and divers exemplify the very spirit

of sport both in the pool and in the classroom. They are

ambassadors for their sport to the age-group swimmers who

strive to compete for an Ivy League school, to the

residents of Hanover who send their children to the annual

swim clinic, and to the Dartmouth community. To rob them

of their sport, of their passion, but most of all of their

lasting friendships and future memories, which they have

and would make as members of their respective team, is to

defy the very mission set forth by the College. Please

reconsider.

 

Sincerely,

Brian Taylor '06