Swimwatch has published several posts about good and bad swimming pools. Several times we have ranked pools into the ten best and ten worst pools in the world. There are however two pools that have not been mentioned. One merits being added to the list of the best pools in the world. The other is a contender for the honour of the worst.

In 2007 the big gripe of Swimming New Zealand and Jan Cameron was that the swimming pool at the Millennium Institute had too many users. We were told that Jan’s effort to coach world class swimmers was being sabotaged because the Millennium lanes were crowded and training time was limited.

Finally Jan got her way – she normally did – and the Sir Owen G Glen National Aquatic Centre was built. I’m not sure how it was all paid for but I think the money came from a combination of the Auckland Council, the Lottery Grants Board, the Lion Foundation, Sport New Zealand and the Glenn Family. The pool was opened in 2015.

I was opposed to building the new pool. I thought Jan was using pool space as an excuse for the poor performance of New Zealand teams. If it was good enough for Peter Snell and Murray Halberg to do their speed work for the Rome Olympics in the dark, on the roads, around the Auckland Domain, Jan needed to suck-it-up and cut the whining.

And so, in my mind, the new pool was off to a bad start. I scathingly referred to their bubble wall as a poor Beijing replica. I think I described the facility as an industrial warehouse with a concrete hole.

And I was absolutely wrong. I visit the Sir Owen G Glen pool almost every day and it is a brilliant facility. It is probably a sad reflection of my life, but I have kept a list of the swimming pools I have visited around the world. The total is 154 and includes pools in China, Russia, Scandinavia, the USA, Europe, Australia and, of course, New Zealand. The Millennium pool is right up there among the best of them; maybe the best.

Three things stand out. First the complex has both 50 metre and 25 meter pools. The 50 metre pool has ten wide lanes. Sensible programming means there is a brilliant balance between swimming short and long course. It is not a pool that tries to be all things to all people. But what it does for fitness, health, competitive training and water polo is as good as I’ve seen anywhere. One other Millennium facility deserves a mention. The Wholefood Bistro café is the best pool café I’ve seen. The menu and the service are without parallel in New Zealand.

But more important than the bricks and mortar is the staff. I have always been made to feel welcome. The reception staff, the life-guards and the pool manager are warm and helpful. I have no idea whether they enjoy their jobs but, to a visitor like me, they seem like they are happy to be there. And it is the small things that the staff don’t have to do that impress; things like stopping to ask how training is going, showing a welcome interest in Eyad’s training times and shifting my chair and bags when I’m in the way of their cleaning duties. Customer relations at the Sir Owen G Glen pool are first class.

And finally the place is spotless. I know it’s new but the attention to cleanliness is more than that. A swimmer I coached once described a pool she swam in as smelling like “burning concrete”. Some pools are awful; too hot, too cold, too much chlorine, smelling toilets and changing rooms and dirty floors. There is none of that at the Millennium Pool. It is kept at a good temperature and smells fresh and clean. I’m no expert on public toilets, but if you are in Auckland and need a clean loo, pop into the Millennium Institute. For the loos alone it’s worth the visit.

So there is my most recent contender for the best pool in the world. I was against it being built, but I’m bloody delighted it’s there.

And now a pool at the other end of the quality scale. In my view the West Wave Pool in Henderson is a badly managed dump. It was built in 1989 for the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Sadly it is showing its age. It’s awful. Everything the Millennium Pool is, West Wave isn’t. The lifeguards give the impression that work is the last place they want to be. They are grumpy, never smile. They give the impression they are tending to cattle, rather than caring for people who want to enjoy a swim.

I have no idea whether the air conditioning works. Perhaps no one knows how to turn it on. The place is too hot in summer and too cold in winter. The smell of chlorine attaches itself to your clothes and follows you home. I’d rather shower and change when I get home than run the risk of using the West Wave pool changing rooms. A swimmer once unkindly described the spa pool as having enough disease to kill a herd of elephants.

The whole impression is of a facility that is badly managed; with no clear purpose or direction. It tries to do everything for everybody and does it all badly. Good competitive pools have sixteen modern starting blocks. West Wave has eight. They got it half right. Good pools have a sit-down café offering interesting food. West Wave has a benchtop, some Moro Bars and a few flimsy tables in the foyer.

When I was in Saudi Arabia the facility manager told me he did not like swimmers using the pool. It meant his lifeguards and cleaners had more work to do and cost him more money. His “keep-the-customers-away” attitude was reflected in the welcome he gave the frightened few that did come through the doors. I am sure those responsible for West Wave would never make such an outlandish declaration. However while that might not be their intention, the impression when I walk into West Wave is, “Wow another Saudi pool; visitors not welcome.”

And there is my new candidate for the worst pool in the world. For me, it’s a winner.