Swimming Pool Opened at ASU

A new swimming pool has been opened at Astrakhan State University.

The Italian basin has a modern design; it meets all the world standards and has a triple purification system: mechanical cleaning (from garbage and admixtures); the chemical dosing station (addition of solutions that reduce the water pH level); the UV disinfecting unit (annihilation of bacteria with ultraviolet radiation). The pool has a standard size (25 for 16 meters); its minimal depth is 1.8 meters, whereas its maximal depth is 2 meters (not for kids). Its water surface has a special lighting; it is divided into 8 lanes; each lane is 2 meters wide. Visitors may use a shower stall (there are 10 stalls), as well as a dry land swimming facility, which has exercise bicycles, treadmills, steppers, and other sports equipment. The facility is not only for swimmers’ exercises, but also for evening training in aerobics, pilates, and callanetics. Our University has already recruited the right staff (lifeguards, coaches, administrators, and a medical nurse); it has also developed an official price list. The poll shall work from 08.00 a.m. to 09.00 p.m. on daily basis except for Sunday. Now the pool works in the testing mode: all the life support systems are being given trial runs.

Since the next academic year, swimming shall be included into our students’ physical training program. Our Chair of Physical Training may use four lanes from 10.00 a.m. to 12.00 to train students. A preliminary testing of students to determine their swimming skills is to be organized. Training outside visitors is planned as well.

According to Mr. Sergey Popov, Director of the School of Sports, Physical Development, and Healthy Lifestyle of ASU, special swimming tests for our students and staff will be organized soon. One of those tests is 50-meter swimming in any style without time records.

Staff members of a number of federal and regional legal authorities and key industrial enterprises have already expressed their wishes to attend swimming classes at our University.

Speaking about the significance of the new swimming pool for our University and for our city, Mr. Popov remarked: “Swimming is the sport that makes you keep fit and be healthy. Swimming skills may save both your own and someone else’s life. This skill is of special value in Astrakhan Region, which has so many rivers and channels”.