Pools under Sports Bureau management | Copious rules and prohibitions spoil the fun at public pools

Cheoc Van pool

Summer time and school breaks in Macau are usually synonymous with visits to local swimming pools. But the start of this year’s “bathing season” has left pool users perplexed with the enforcement of nonsensical rules, such as the ban on eating and drinking inside the pool facilities.
Following an administrative revamp this year, the management of public pools was transferred from the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) to the Sports Bureau (ID).
Currently there are more rules and they are rigorously enforced, according to users’ comments and posts on social networks.
In a visit to some of the venues, the Times reporter found new signage detailing the new regulations. “No Eating”, “No Drinking” and “No Photo Taking,” are just some of these.
Another new rule is that each adult can only accompany a maximum of three children, which has already prevented some schools from holding their regular summer activities in the facilities and forcing others to request help from students’ parents or guardians.
A few local residents told the Times about their experiences and some inconsistencies.
Although pool signage states that you cannot eat, “there is a soft drink vending machine [inside the pool facility],” remarks Belinda Garcia.
Garcia highlighted other differences between this season and the previous seasons. “You cannot enter and exit like before,” she said. Previously, an entry ticket was valid for the entire day; a new ticket is now valid for only one use.
“Let’s say I want to eat at Gondola and come back later for a swim. I have to pay again,” she said, adding that the cost of the ticket is less of a problem than the inconvenience.
Ronnie Vaz, a Macau resident and a pool-goer at the Cheoc Van swimming pool, says, “Now they bug people for pretty much everything, small things even.”
“T-shirts inside the water are strictly prohibited.  Sunglasses are not allowed any more when in the water and the slippers near the pool edge are also not authorized. I guess it has to do with hygiene matters.”
Besides these instances, Vaz described other situations as “absurd.”
According to him, the pool attendants wanted to stop a mother from entering the pool with a baby who was wearing a hat.
“Of course the mother refused to take off the hat from the kid, [it] was really just a baby [that] may be between 1 to 2 years old,” he added. “It’s too much.”
According to several other accounts, baby strollers are also not allowed past the entrance door. Adults accompanying children must also don full swimming gear.
Toys and other items are no longer allowed inside the pool areas. Floatation devices are restricted to small items like armbands. Jumping or grabbing each other in the water are also cause for a lifeguard’s whistle.
Parents or guardians accompanying children aged six and above have been warned that if they and their child are of different genders, they cannot help the child in the dressing room. Individuals of one gender are not allowed in dressing rooms of the other gender, and family rooms are nonexistent.
The architect that designed the Cheoc Van pool, Eduardo Flores, told the Times that the pool was “designed to be a leisure facility where families and people in general could go to have fun.”
The architect added that in the original project, one area that has a depth of three meters (now with blocked access) was “supposed to be installed [with] a waterslide coming from the top of the big rock and unloading the people in that area,” but was never finished.
Flores admitted that he disagrees with most of the changes that have been made to the facility over the years, and noted that he “was never consulted […] at any time” adding that he still considers the facility “the most charming” swimming pool in the territory.
Regarding the problems stated by many users, the Times contacted the Sports Bureau, who replied that all five outdoor public swimming pools – Piscina Estoril, Piscina Sun Iat Sen, Piscina do Parque Central da Taipa, Piscina de Cheoc Van and Piscina e Instalações Desportivas do Parque de Hác-Sá – are, like all other sport facilities under ID, “open [to the] public for sport practice and participation.”
The bureau adds that in order “to encourage citizens for continuous sport participation, we have maintained the previous IACM management approach. [As with] all other sport facilities, safety and sanitation are always considered top priorities. Hence, the related terms concerning the usage of outdoor swimming pools were modified and optimized.”
Aware of users’ needs, the ID also stated: “Taking into account that pool users may […] need to replenish food and drink [after] hours of outdoor exercise, we have assigned a specific area equipped with tables and chairs in the above swimming pools, allowing users to bring in food and water for themselves, on the condition that cleanliness and quality of pool water should be well maintained.”
Regarding many parents’ requests to address the lack of family-friendly changing rooms, the bureau said there are plans “to optimize the conditions, including parental changing rooms in the long run. Therefore, after the conclusion of this year’s swimming season, we will have an overall evaluation and plan for further improvement.”
For the time being, the ID will enforce the same rules as the IACM management, which permit “children under six years [of age] to go to changing rooms with their parents, regardless of gender, so as to be well taken care of by adults.”