Outdoor leisure pool at Campus Rec reopens for spring

News – The Daily Cougar By Andrea Fernández Velázquez March 23, 2017

The outdoor leisure pool is open Monday through Thursday from noon to 8 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from noon to 7:30 p.m. | Andrea Fernandez Velazquez/The Cougar
The Campus Recreation and Wellness Center welcomed students back from spring break with an event called “Spring Fling” on Tuesday. The highlight of the event was the official reopening of the outdoor leisure pool for summer and fall.
The outdoor pool is a seasonal facility, which opens every year during the first week after spring break and stays open through the last Sunday in October. The pool remains closed through the winter break due to weather conditions.
“(The pool) gives us something to do to release stress,” said pre-psychology sophomore Ana Estrada.
The first 35 students to attend the event were given free t-shirts. Pizza and smoothies were also served.
Some students who attended the event said it was their first time being in that area of the facility.
“I have to start taking advantage here,” said health and human performance senior Nikko King. “I work out at the Rec, but I have never stepped in the water.”
The Rec’s aquatic facilities underwent a multi-million dollar renovation in December 2014 and reopened in July 2015. The renovations were the result of an Americans with Disabilities Act amendment that required the pool to have an automatic lift, said Rachel O’Mara, assistant director of aquatics for UH Campus Recreation.
“We retrofitted it to be in compliance with that law, and it allowed us to put a lift out there for people to be able to get in and out of the pool by themselves,” O’Mara said.
O’Mara said that grab rails were installed and additional work was done the rock features, waterfalls and painting in some areas.
According to College Rank, UH ranks No. six out of their 30 ...


Read more