Serving the local swim team and students of the South Puttman high school along with members of the surrounding community – day in and day out, 12 months a year – generally does not make for splashy headlines or warrant national media attention. But it is exactly this type of pool with which most pool managers in North America are intimately familiar. Nearly everyone at one point or another in his or her career has or will manage a pool much like it.

The South Putnam High School pool’s strengths include a dedicated and professional coach/pool manager and a community fully committed to its support. Its weaknesses – before a recent renovation was undertaken – included a deteriorated and badly corroded metal gutter, a completely worn out diatomaceous earth (DE) filter tank, a potentially unsafe diving stand, a pool finish that was badly chipped and faded, a lack of modem automatic pool controls and a severely limited budget.