Day 11, Thursday August 15th- New Pool Opening Ceremony to Old Russian Deserted Pool

Scott & I getting ready for the day ahead of us



Waiting for our AM ride in front of our guesthouse which is about 10 minutes late

teaching the guys deadbug style egg-beater kick, flutter kick, breastroke kick...plus they get a good abdominal/core workout

demonstrating proper hand sculling techniques to the players



I think I am yelling at the team because they are not paying attention and listening to instructions the first time

Scott & I are conversing probably about how we are going to deal with some of the lazy players

deep end leg workouts, switching up egg-beater, breastroke kick, flutter kick, jumps, lunges

Line passing, still working on proper technique

in and out sprints

end of morning workout talk, talking about health, rest, nutrition, hydration

our federation logo on the left, looks nice

at the new Arman complex that just opened up officially today near the airport, the principal owner is on the far right

its about a 30 meter by 16 meter pool, 20 meters deep end only .... I am going to yell at the designer/architect

some of our players showed up too for an exhibition swim race commemorating the new pool, I was the starter

Jawad, one of our players who lives close to the pool and wants to get a job there, is discussing how maybe we can get the pool for national team workouts, I was talking to him about programing for all levels, especially females in the future

proposing to a group of businessmen about future pool designs and opportunities for females

wow, they gave gifts for the designated gifts...it was a nice shirt and tie, tailored locally

over 200 spectators, guests and media....they made me give a special 2 minute speech as invited celebrity special guest, I had no time to prepare, but as usual, I nailed it
 

dive tower of old Russian pool build in late 1950s, early 1960s, never really used...just collecting a lot of dirty water/trash

not much deck space and from  the edge of the pool to the side of the hill

I want this pool, it is 50 meters long, by 20 meters wide, deep end is about 35 meters long,

7 swim blocks made out of concrete, I thought standard was 8 ...many mechanical problems probably with the pool I bet

I bet the concrete dive towers are a seismic hazard by now, railing also need to be updated, including the stairs/steps

on top of a hill, expensive piece of land, government property, next to the Russian pool, and old tank to our side

great view of the city behind us, some really nice landscape and terrain

 

 

 I can imagine holding an international aquatics competition here in the future, plenty of parking space, park, vendors, scenery, good part of town .... just have to fix it all up...oh and convince everyone it is safe

 

 

OK, little local boy on a hoarse headed towards us

 

and the boy offers Scott a ride for a few bucks

 

 

 

and there you go, Scott on a hoarse in front of the old  Russian pool on top of a government owned hill on a wealthy neighborhood in Kabul