Pool Review (#735): Jeff Rouse Swim and Sports Centre

1 May 2025

Back in the day, at the start of my high school years in the early 1980s in Virginia, I thought for a while that I was a pretty decent backstroker.  The 200 backstroke featured alongside cooler events like the 400 IM and the 400/500, 800/1000, 1500/1650 freestyle in my repertoire at Junior Nats/Nationals and, for a short time when we could do the standup backstroke start, I wasn't all that bad (though no national Q-times) in the 100 backstroke.

Then along came Jeff Rouse (the swimmer not the rocker), who was about three years younger than me and quickly showed any of us backstroke pretenders that there was a whole different level.  Jeff went on from his semi-central, semi-northern Virginia home to Stanford University and then multiple Olympic medal performances (golds and silvers!!) at both the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.

I have been wanting to stop into his eponymous Swim & Sports Centre just off the I-95 in Stafford, Virginia ever since I learned it existed (sometime after its construction in 2016) and finally got the chance for a brief swim yesterday en route from my parents' home to Dulles.  I literally had the entire facility to myself.  

The only disappointment for this swim, now pool #735, is that I had a little less than 40 minutes in which to squeeze in 2,500 yards with a main set of 5 x 200 on 2:30 descending.  I really wish I could have luxuriated for double that volume and time.  

Next time.