On Nov. 17, the Aliso Niguel pool heater was found broken. This incident had disrupted the schedules of our student athletes, but it has now been fixed.
California state laws state that pools must be heated between 78° and 82° Fahrenheit. Following the California state code, Title 24, heaters must operate efficiently and must manage water quality effectively. Pools must meet the state regulations, which focus on water clarity, disinfecting, circulation and cleanliness.
Since the heater was broken, the Girls Water Polo team was unable to practice. The team had tried to coordinate practice times at other schools, like Dana Hills High School and Capistrano Valley High School, but it turned out to be unnecessary.
The heater broke about one week into the Girls Water Polo season. However, the heater has been fixed using extra funds.
The team was required to play in games without having practiced, and even missed a home game due to the heater being broken.
Ella Aguilar (10) says, “We train really, really hard and all of us are very committed to improving. A lot of us were upset about our home game getting canceled, since it was an opportunity to represent our school in home waters.”
Our students value their time practicing, and losing the opportunity because of the broken heater has upset some athletes.
While some enjoyed the small break, the Junior Varsity and Frosh teams were able to practice or play. The Varsity team had no time to practice this week, yet still had to play games.
Julia Sepe (10) says, “We were either going to go to Dana Hills High School or Capistrano Valley High School.”
However, this did not end up happening as the pool heater was fixed in time. Despite coaches reaching out, our teams did not have to travel to other schools to use their facilities to practice.
Thanks to the amazing staff at Aliso, the pool heater was able to be fixed very quickly.
Aguilar went on to say, “Thanks to our amazing coaches and some perfect timing with games, they were able to figure it out very quickly, so we could get back in and get right back to the rest of our season.”
Despite the heater being broken, the players have wanted to get into the pool and back to practice. The girls are dedicated and excited to get back to practice.
The Aliso Niguel administration has worked diligently to return our student athletes to their regular schedule, repairing the pool as soon as possible.
