About to get a Sport Pool. Will my daughter hate me? Am I just Cheap?

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wxguy23

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Jul 12, 2015
99
Ooltewah, TN
Here is the deal. In research I find lots of post from years ago, not today. So, here is what we are looking at.

We are putting in a 17'x34' rectangle pool. NO diving board. Pool builders are pushing sport pool. Never been in one, never seen one. All around here in East TN is deep end. When I ask around, I get people looking at me funny as to why?

Who hates/loves they have one? Who is a parent that's not cool? I only have a 3 year old, but she will grow up fast.

To me, 3-5-3 seems silly. I am 5' 10', and at the Y walking around 3' is like wading, and when swimming I hit the bottom. I can understand how a 3-5' pool makes the entire pool usable. But I can see where that is boring too.
Wife is 5 foot nothing, and kid, well, it will be a few years.
I am adding changing color lights, a few deck jets, all to offset the pool's lack of coolness.

This is a tough one. Usually I can make a decision, but this is different. I'm almost 40, so my diving days are done, but my kid is everything. Sure she gets a pool, but I don't want to make a mistake. I WANT the parties at my house.

OH, and one more thing. I ripped out three HUGE pine trees and put in 3 natchez crepe myrtles. I plan to start the concrete 4' from them, then 8' of concrete before the pool...but how much of a dummy was I to plant them? This a before and after since I cut the pines down. My main goal there, block my neighbors...so they don't watch us swim.

Again, 17x34'
Reliant Salt Sytem
Quad Cartridge Filter
Hayward Tri-Star
FOX Pal Light
3 or 4 Deck Jets
Aluminum Fence.
840' of concrete.

I attached a picture. image1.jpg
 
Welcome to TFP!

3' is too shallow IMO. If you go sport pool I would go 3.5 x 5 x 4 or so. Still plenty of fun to be had with volleyball or basketball.

Also be sure to get at least a 2 speed pump to save on electrical costs.
 
My AG pool is only 4.5' deep and my niece and nephew, ages 6 and 7, can touch the bottom fine. IMO I don't think you will end up being happy with that shallow of a pool.
 
Re: Sport Pool? Am I just being cheap? Will my kid hate me?

My pool is a sport pool 4'-5.5'-4' I would not do 3' at all - you are correct that it is just too shallow. I'll start off by saying there hasn't been a single person who didn't have fun in the pool. No one has ever complained about the pool not being deep enough. It works for us in particular because we like to float around, sit on benches and do more visiting with friends than stunts. It's also much easier for parents to keep an eye on their kids b/c you can be there in a hurry if one is having trouble. HOWEVER, it would be awesome to have a deeper area where I could do a cannonball without hitting the pool floor. Diving is obviously completely out, but other than the initial jump in, I don't see myself going in and out of the pool doing dive after dive. But kids will if they have it available.

That said, some of the wisest advice I've seen on here is to build the pool to YOUR needs; not the kid's. You will be the one who is still using it 10-15 years down the road after the kids have flown the coop. And your kid may not really care for the water as she gets older. Consider whether the activities you can do in a deeper pool outweigh the cost of additional gas/electricity/chemicals. Also check with your insurance company to see if there are any limits on your homeowners policy for pools with a diving board. Some companies will cancel your policy all together; some will increase your premium.
 
Well, looks like I might be going down the wrong path.

PB says more cost to make it deeper. Ugh. Says its in kits.

plus none of the 5 bids have pics or drawings. How are people getting all these drawings?
Am I just putting in a cheap pool?
 
We love our sport pool. We would go 4x5x4 if we had it to do over, 3.5 is too shallow. Our kids, friend's kids, nieces, nephews all love our pool. No complaints about no diving board. It also makes the usable pool waaayyy bigger because you don't have everyone jammed in the shallow end. We make a kid side and an adult side as needed.
 
Re: Sport Pool? Am I just being cheap? Will my kid hate me?

My pool is a play pool. Main part of the pool 16x36 with a depth of 3.5', to 5' in the center to 4 ft. There is also a 7x7 sun shelf and a bench all the way down one side with a depth of about 18 inches. The bench and sun shelf are very popular. Little ones love to play in the shallow water and for adults the depth is right at the seat height of a deck chair or recliner when dropped in there. I agree with the above post. Everyone seems to love the pool. If I were designing the pool today, the only change I would make is the depth would be 4, 5, 4. Three and a half feet is just a little bit too shallow. It also make the two ends the same for volleyball and othe sports.

BTW: We also put umbrella sleeves on both sides in the center, that can also serve to hold the net for the games.
 
Kids grow --- go with 3.5 -- 5 -- 4. I thought my 3.5 was too deep --- I was wrong

My neighbor has a deep end pool and would prefer the sport pool they had at their old home.

Sport pools are more family oriented and better for groups using the pool
 

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I like a deeper end, I love seeing the guys all competing in their cannon ball contests and such. I like that deeper pool ends don't get that bathwater warm feeling when the weather is so hot in Georgia. People of all sizes float around and enjoy the deeper end as much as the shallow. Kids in tubes, on floats, etc.
Go at *6* feet if possible, IMO.
 
Re: Sport Pool? Am I just being cheap? Will my kid hate me?

I'm almost 40, so my diving days are done
Click to expand...

I've got 10 years on ya and I dive every day ;) But if you don't LIKE diving, and if no one else likes diving in your family, then a deep diving well is an expense you don't need.

Some people don't like the extra liability of a diving well, and some insurers don't like diving boards. In our case, our insurer didn't have a problem and we have an umbrella policy.

My only concern with sport pools and teenagers (I know you said your daughter is only 3, but you are thinking ahead) is that without proper guidance cannon balls etc. can lead to injury. Guests have to be made to understand clearly that there's no diving allowed, and one would be wise to mark the deepest part for cannonballs if allowed. The posters above do not seem to have an issue with this. Its up to the homeowner to set -- and strictly enforce -- the rules.

While I'm sure your little girl will never hate you for getting a pool, whether or not she ever wishes she has a diving well will depend on interests you can't yet predict.

As a kid, I was a speed swimmer and a diver in our school program. I love diving. To me, diving is swimming, and if I haven't dove in, I don't really feel like I'm swimming ;) My h, on the other hand, has never dove in our pool. Nor was he ever a competitive swimmer. He still uses the pool most days, but floats on a noodle, since most of my pool is deep end....the tradeoff of a diving pool ;)

Among my friends, the more athletic ones seem to be the "divers" - triathletes etc. Some people just like it. At any given pool party, mine or others, the "divers" are generally the minority in that knd of setting. But I've noticed at smaller dinner parties among my close friends, the divers seem to be closer to 50/50.

With my obvious bias toward diving its not too hard to figure out what I'd do in your situation. I'd also teach my daughter to dive and enjoy it. But that's me, not you. Lots of people enjoy sports pools. I think you should go pool-visiting and really think about how you see the pool being used to be confident in your decision.
 
We are cool parents. Amazingly, our deep end is usable. Not sure how deep ends get considered unusable. That's the part I use the most! Our our pool is 38' long which affects how long the shallow area is.
 
I'm working on my plans now and am doing a sport pool. Of all of the pools we have been in the sport style pool seemed the most usable to us. Our inlaws pool with a deep end everyone crams into the shallow half of the pool 95% of the time.
 
Re: Sport Pool? Am I just being cheap? Will my kid hate me?

I have a sport pool, 3.5x5.5x3, with a shelf on the end, 8' long with a couple jets for sitting. I have 2 kids, 11 and 15, they love it. My son still jumps in, but only on the center. The get-togethers are always at my house, and because there are so many neices, nephews, grandkids et al, everyone seems to love it. You can fit 30 people in the pool, simply because there's no deep end. I wanted to have a pool that the most number of people can enjoy, because the extended family is so large, and I feel we accomplished that with our pool. That being said, it was no cheaper or more expensive to do it without a deep end, so cost wasnt a consideration. I'm not a diver, or even a "swimmer", I enjoy just playing with all the kids, relaxing with a cold beer, or playing volleyball. I had the pool built to my personal considerations, not what other people thought or wanted.
 
I have a deep end and it gets used a lot. My shallow end is only five foot long and rarely used. It is not long enough for volleyball and not deep enough to stand in. My incline is steep but that is where everyone tends to stand usually up to their chest and it is pretty uncomfortable because your fighting the current.
 
If you're looking to do a pool at a reduced cost have you thought about doing an owner/builder? Can save quite a bit of money AND get an upgraded pool.

Regarding depth, take this with a grain of salt but we've been swimming in our new pool for about 4 weeks and I'm already wishing I'd gone deeper in both shallow and deep end but our usage is different. My pool is 3.5' - 7 and I'm wishing we'd gone 4' - 7.5 (minimum). My deep end gets used a lot and I have kids jumping off my raised planters (+18") which makes it even worse.

We've had my 4 yo grandson here for the past three weeks and when he arrived he couldn't swim, now he's trying to do cannonballs in the deep end like his uncle and cousin. He doesn't really spend anytime in the shallow end . . . but everyone in the pool is older than he is 12/13 and have no interest in the shallow end.

I think it comes down to how you see your family using your pool. If you're big volleyball people than I'd say go sport pool if not maybe do a hybrid which we did but no one uses it in that manner.

As you said, they grow-up fast; just over the weekend I was speaking with my neighbor who has the whole slide thing going, built pool when his girls were younger, now according to him he's "stuck" with this giant rock/side thing and no one uses it, he wants to remove it but it's build out of actual rock and the expense would be crazy.

Good luck with your decision and look into owner/builder. You can see my build on here for more information and the potential ups and downs.
 

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