13 Weird Objects That Have Been Found in the Pool
Picture this: you’re swimming along during practice minding your own business when suddenly, you become entangled in a web of an unidentified object floating by. You have no idea where it came from and thrash around trying to free yourself from the big hairy monster. Such is life for a swimmer.
Weird objects are always found in pools, no matter the location. Swimming World asked some athletes what the weirdest things they’ve seen in the pool were. Here are 13 of their responses. Feel free to add your sightings in the comments.
1. Austin, 20
“When I was in middle school the high schoolers on my club team made Stonehenge out of bricks at the bottom.”
2. Susan, 19
“A frog on the bottom of the pool was fun.”
3. Evan, 19
“An iguana!”
4. Sarah, 19
“Dora the Explorer bandaid.”
5. Nathan, 19
“I have vivid memories of fishing frogs out of the pool. It was a pain, because they were so hard to catch.”
6. Ani, 20
“Cicada corpse!”
7. Missy, 18
“An easy-up tent.”
8. Kelsey, 21
“A trash can full of trash. It made the water yellow.”
9. Jeff, 18
“Ducks came and swam in the pool during one of our practices.”
10. Kerry, 18
“One time I swam through a bag of grapes.”
11. Rachel, 20
“A dead raccoon.”
12. Fallon, 19
“A four rack bleacher and a huge lifeguard stand.”
13. Victoria, 21
“Maybe like a salamander or a newt. I don’t know.”
What’s the weirdest object you’ve encountered in the water during practice?
All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.
Ryan Drover when you find the set at the bottom of the pool
We found a dishwasher in the deep end of the pool one morning… yes, a dishwasher. The whole machine.
My winter formal proposal
An egg
We had old tractor tires in our pool once, and another time the bleachers.
I remember reading that back in the ’60’s when Sherm Chavoor coached at Arden Hills, he’d have to fish gophers out of the pool before the girls would get in.
I have a friend whose husband coached the Olympic track team for an Asian country. One of the jobs of the swim coach was chasing alligators out of t he pool before practice started.
We found a TV one morning at the bottom…
We found a TV one morning at the bottom…?
In West Seattle, WA there is an outdoor long course pool on the beach along Puget Sound. Coleman Pool. Saltwater is treated and used in the pool. It isn’t uncommon to find little sea creatures in there. Like a tiny crab or something. I believe the sea life is introduced by the swimmers or maybe the creatures sneak in. You have to walk along the beach about a mile to get to practice.
That was going to be my submission. (I loved practicing at Colman.). I think people toss the crabs from the beach.
A dead frog. The 6 and under group kept stopping to monitor it. My daughter sent me a picture of an owl in their gutter it held up practice for an hour finding someone to get it out safely
Lizards, snakes, mice would get stuck in the gutter until morning practice and we’d get them out, clear contact lens, ear plug (my own), dogs, water polo goals on the bottom, pool cover reels, the lane line wrench you spent twenty minutes looking for at the end of practice.
Way back in my day, off was first in at daylight because I had a real job. It was me and the June bugs!!!!
Scoreboard (Coral Springs, FL)
Ice (chiller broke at North Shore Pool, FL)
Tropical Storm (North Shore Pool, FL in the 90’s)
Water bottles thrown in the pool
Water bugs (or pinchers)
Once I showed up for morning practice at 5:00am to find the pool closed for some sort of maintenance issue. Turns out someone who was really mad at the lifeguards for some reason hopped the fence in the middle of the night and threw everything that was on the pool deck into the pool. Kickboards, buoys, lifeguard chairs and all.
Frogs. My fastest free style on those days( can’t handle those slimy creatures )
Stella
Ryley
Milena
?
Julie yep I’ve had a few of them including code browns ?? and the funniest was getting the ducks out before we could get in hahah
Milena and Ryley so what are your memories?? ???
Ryley Eckert do you remember when the dolphins would just appear??? Man, they really took up a lot of the lane, made it difficult for me to do my 3rd leg to the best of my ability
I drained a pool in Grafton, IL that was near a creek and I found a giant Crayfish!
Sandbags once, and a bunch of used syringes once.
Baby Bunny Rabbits, all the deck chairs and tables, empty cash lock box.
Coaches and lifeguards had to chase a duck out of an outdoor pool during a meet
One time me and my best friend were sharing a lane, and we swam through a dead bird on the other side of the lane. We thought it was a birds nest. it was sooooooooooooo gross.
A seagull sat on my head for almost a full lap. Technically it wasn’t in the pool, but still weird.
We had a lifeguard stand in our pool as well! We had to pull it out and it cut my teammate so he had to get stiches
I have found hair extensions, money, frogs, fish, raccoons, cicadas, and even a lifeguard stand in the pool
Hundreds of tadpoles. Oh the joys of outdoor pools.