Aquatics

No lifeguard on duty. Swim at your own risk!

No children under 16 years old are allowed in the pool or on the pool deck.

Adult Swim Only Hours - Please be courteous and share lanes!

Pool Rules

• Proper swimwear is required.  For safety and sanitary reasons, no street clothes, sweaty workout clothes, only undergarments or nude bathing allowed.
• Shower before entering the pool.  Please rinse off the daily grind, sweat and other potential contaminates before swimming.
• Keep bodily fluids contained.  No spitting, sprouting of water or blowing noses in the pool.
• Lanes are for lap swimming or lane walking.  During peak hours, multiple swimmers may be required to share a lane.  Please be courteous to swimmers in the next lane.
• No running, diving, rough play, playing on lane lines, stairs, ladders or lifts.
• No pool-related equipment such as kickboards, goggles, fins, caps or towels are available for check-out.
• Pool floats are allowed, but depending on the size of the float and amount of people in the pool, people with floats may be asked to discontinue use if it becomes a safety issue.
• Food and small coolers are permitted, but no glass or alcoholic beverages are allowed.  Please discard of any trash properly.
• Dry off before entering the locker room or facility.  Please help us keep the slip risk indoors to a minimum.

Family and Children Memberships

The Recreation Center has decided to continue to keep our membership age requirement at 16 years of age and up.  We have always had limited space available to anyone under 16 years of age – only the leisure games, athletic outdoor courts and swimming pool seasonally.  Also, a parent/guardian was required to be present with their children at all times.

With some changes in the Weight Room in the past few years, we no longer have a Leisure Gaming Area with four tables – two ping pong and two billiards.  Instead, the one remaining ping pong table shares court space with the racquetball court, again limiting the space available for children even more.  These moves came out of a need for more spacing and safety in our higher use areas.

As for the outdoor courts, the usage has dramatically increased since the pandemic began and we cannot accommodate all of our current member’s needs with most courts consistently booked in advance.  We are always studying potential opportunities for additional facilities.

Lastly, we used to hire summer staff to teach swim lessons, perform pool maintenance and enforce pool member management.  During the pandemic, our Child Development Center (CDC) was unfortunately closed permanently.  We taught swim lessons in the past for the CDC that funded our summer programs and summer staffing needs.  Without swim lessons and the additional summer staffing, it becomes a higher safety concern and liability issue to allow children to use the pool without the additional supervision.  Also, the majority of our pool is dedicated for lap swimming.  While we have not yet returned to indoor group programming (like group fitness classes) we anticipate to utilize the shallow/deep ends for adult aqua classes in the near future.

Although we would love to include families with young children again, we have weighed all our options currently and overall due to limited resources, feasibility and safety concerns, we will not be opening up to children under 16 years of age at this time.  In the meantime, we do hope to host some family – friendly special events on our athletic fields/grounds areas in conjunction with our neighbors at UT Housing.

We will re-evaluate for Summer 2025!

University of St. Thomas Men's & Women's Swimming

UTHealth is proud to partner with with the University of St. Thomas' Inaugural Men's and Women's Swimming.  The Celtics are welcoming 8 student-athletes to campus in Fall 2023 and will hold swim team practices here at the UTHealth Houston - Recreation Center.

For a printable Spring 2024 UST Practice Schedule, click here.

• UST will have 5 lanes reserved maximum (#9-13) and 4 lanes minimum (#10-13.)
• UST practices are closed to members of UST Swimming only.
• UST will not host swim meets or special events at the UTHealth Houston - Recreation Center in the 2023 - 2024 season.
• UST has access to reserved lanes and locker rooms only, not the weight room, cardio area or courts.
• Dates and times are subject to change.

Swim Lessons

We will not be offering swim lessons in 2024.  We will re-evaluate for 2025!

Private or semi-private swim lessons are available during the summer for adults.  Lessons are designed for all levels!  From basic skills + water safety to transitioning to defined strokes or advanced stroke refinement. Participants do not need to be current members of the Recreation Center, but must meet eligibility requirements.  Lessons are open to all Texas Medical Center faculty, staff, residents, students and families and UT System alumni. Lessons typically begin by June and wrap up in August.

Employment Opportunities

We will not be hiring any summer staff for 2024.  We will re-evaluate for Summer 2025!

Each summer we hire Private/Semi-Private Swim Lesson Instructors and Pool Attendants. Individuals may be employed in just one or any combination of the two positions, depending on experience. Employment is for June through August with training beginning in late May. Applications accepted in February/March. Ideal position for teachers, college students and recent high school graduates with an aquatic background. Employees must be at least 18 years old and a high school graduate by the time lessons begin in June. For specific questions, contact the Program Manager.

Water Polo [HOPS]

Mondays and Wednesdays from 7 to 9PM
Water Polo is not affiliated with UTHealth

 If interested, please contact: Shaun at hopswaterpolo@gmail.com 

Underwater Hockey

Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:15 to 9:15PM
Underwater Hockey is not affiliated with UTHealth

If interested, please contact: Nicole at nicolesaddress@hotmail.com or Rick at rjchurch@aol.com

Aquatics General Information