March 30, 2011 | Matt KucinskiMyrna Anderson



Several features of the Calvin pool combine to make Calvin swimmers swim faster.

Calvin’s Olympic-sized swimming pool—opened in the Venema Aquatic Center in 2009—has long held the reputation as one of the “fastest” pools in the state. “It’s certainly the fastest collegiate pool in west Michigan,” said Calvin swimming and diving coach Dan Gelderloos. What makes the pool fast is the depth of the water and the size of the gutters, Gelderloos said; that extra roominess allows swimmers to swim above the turbulence they create while swimming.

And the speediness of the Venema Pool makes coaching easy, said Gelderloos: “It’s great when the pool does all the work.”

Lately, Gelderloos has been tinkering with the pool's chemistry, trying to give his swimmers even more momentum. And recently, members of Calvin’s swimming and diving team took to the pool to test the results:

Watch video.

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