Swimming Facilities

Eton has a six-lane 25m indoor swimming pool (built in 1980), which is used for the teaching of swimming and associated pool activities and for recreational purposes too, and also a large unheated outdoor pool which usually opens in the summer for the use of boys. The outdoor pool is also available for use by the Eton community, Old Etonians, and current Etonians and their families during the school holidays on payment of a fee. The pools are staffed by the Master i/c Swimming Pools and three full-time assistants.

Activities

All boys receive swimming instruction in their first two years in the School and undergo a formal swimming test before being allowed on the river. Boys can also engage in recreational swimming throughout the year in the indoor pool, and in the outdoor pool when it warms up. Both pools are made available to the families of Eton staff and the immediate families of Old Etonians.

The School’s three swimming teams (School, Under 16, Under 14) compete against other schools, mainly in the Summer Half, and we regularly enter teams in county and independent schools national competitions. The School has produced two divisional swimmers in recent years, and we came third in the English Schools senior freestyle relay championships in 1996. An Eton swimming team toured Hong Kong and China in 1993 and the School medley relay team came third in the 2001 Otter Medley Competition.

Our three water polo teams (School, Under 16 and Under 15) compete throughout the year against other schools. Our Under 16 team won a silver medal in the ESSA tournament of 2000, and nine players represented the county in 1999. Eton water polo teams have toured South Africa (1996), Florida (1999), and California (2001). In 2002 there was an Etonian player in the English Schools Under 19 final trial, and Old Etonians have played for Hong Kong, Bristol, Durham, Edinburgh, London (incl Imperial, & UCL), and Oxford Universities.

Click here for details of this half's swimming and water polo fixtures.

Eton is a School Member of the British Sub-Aqua Club and trains about twelve divers a year to BSAC ‘club diver’ standard. The divers have mounted expeditions to Malta and have lately undertaken a number of tours of the Red Sea.

The kayaking club is a small but enthusiastic group who train to BCU standards in the indoor pool before venturing forth on rivers in Wales and Scotland.

Boys can also learn RLSS live-saving skills with a local life-saving club which uses our indoor pool for its training.