Some swimmers on the MSU swimming and diving team who received skin burns and body hair loss from chemicals in the IM Sports-West pool said their coach intimidated them into swimming in unsafe conditions.
Multiple swimmers who reported for a Dec. 28 men’s and women’s swimming and diving training camp left the pool with redness and irritation on their skin, but said they were asked to report to the pool for training the next day.
“I don’t want to miss a day of training, but at the same time, I didn’t want to get in the pool,” said Erinn Wertz, a sophomore on the swim team. “It felt like I was being forced, I guess.”
Wertz said after the second day, the dry skin symptoms she experienced worsened.
“I had a dry throat, I didn’t have hair on my arms anymore, our eyebrows turned really blonde,” she said. “And I still had really dry skin that (made it) about unbearable to sleep.”
Wertz and other swimmers complained about the pool conditions after both practices, but the coaches asked them to report back the following day, she said.
“They kept saying they understood, they knew what was going on, but they didn’t really know what was going on in the pool,” she said.
MSU swimming head coach Matt Gianiodis said safety is always a concern. The chemical levels in the pool were the result of maintenance and construction to the pool earlier in the month, he said. The coaching staff was never told it wasn’t OK to swim, he added.
“From one day to the next, at least atmospherically, it got better, so we just assumed the water was better,” Gianiodis said. “Once we found out about (the unsafe levels), we got them out.”
Some members of the team didn’t show up to the third practice because of the pool’s condition, Wertz said, although she attended because she didn’t want to lose a day of training.
“It made me feel like I couldn’t put forth my best effort in the pool because I kept thinking about what it felt like to be in there,” she said.
After speaking with the maintenance staff and the Physical Plant, Gianiodis said the pool was shut down. The teams moved practice to Jenison Field House and IM Sports-Circle.
Senior swimming captain Matt McNichols said the coaching staff didn’t make swimmers return to the pool after learning about its condition.
“If they knew the chemical level was what it was, we wouldn’t have been here from day one,” McNichols said.
The conditions were bad but were more uncomfortable than dangerous, junior captain Marlys Fuqua said.
“It’s not like skin was falling off or anything,” she said. “It was a nice burn, but it wasn’t anything that needed an emergency trip.”
MSU Athletics Director Mark Hollis said he’s aware of the situation and no swimmers went to trainers for medical assistance.
Gianiodis said the team usually travels outside of East Lansing for training camp when the pool undergoes maintenance.
The team has gone to Florida, the Bahamas and California in past years.
“When you stay over break, it’s difficult, especially with facilities,” he said.
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