I recently posted a question about racing and received a lot of great answers so here is another question. I am about to participate in my first race (in a pool) and I am worried about being disqualified now. What are some of the common mistakes I need to be aware of? Turns maybe?
3510
Sounds silly, but make sure you verify the distance and a stroke before getting ready to start. At two meets this year I have seen folks dive in and take two strokes of a different stroke right off the blocks.
Do you know what events you are doing?
Yeah, pretty sure there's nothing wrong with fixing your goggles as long as it doesn't cause some other stroke violation. An example would be in a breaststroke race where you stop to fix your goggles but continue to kick. This would violate the "one arm stroke, one kick" sequence requirement in ***. If you need to fix your goggles it's best to do it at the turn where you can do whatever you want once you touch the wall legally.
I also checked the USA Swimming rule book and the only mention of jewelry is in the open water section. You may not wear jewelry (including watches) in OW swims. The rationale is obvious in OW swimming where lots of swimmers are in close proximity.
And you're not allowed to swear especially during the turns.
Also...do not wear a watch or any jewelry. Wrist bracelets or dangling earrings will get you disqualified as well.
Don't wear jewelry. It's a really easy way to get DQ'ed. One time in high school at the same meet two girls got DQ'ed for jewelry on separate occasions. The coach was not happy, along with the rest of the team.
Don't get out of the pool until everyone finishes. I've seen DQ's for that a few times.
You can't touch your goggles. Say for instance you dive in in the 500 and your goggles fall off and are hanging on your neck- tough luck you cant fix them.
Touching the bottom of the pool is also prohibited. This can be a problem with poor turns in shallow pools.
Touching the bottom of the pool is also prohibited.Touching the bottom of the pool is allowed. However:
“Standing on the bottom during a freestyle race shall not disqualify a swimmer, but the swimmer must not leave the pool, walk or spring from the bottom. Standing on the bottom during any other stroke shall result in disqualification.”
Regarding jewelry, the only set of rules where it is expressly forbidden is NFHS (high school sports). For masters meets, jewelry is fine- I have 3 holes in each ear and wear earrings all the time, and I've never once been asked to take them out.
For USMS pool swimming, watches are also okay, as long as they are not being used as a pacing device. The best bet with watches is to not wear one, so that there is no question as to whether or not you're using it for pacing. I'm not familiar with our rules for open water, so I'm not sure if we follow USA-S rules for watches or not.
I was recently DQ'd and I did nothing wrong...I ended up swimming a 1600 instead of a 1650.:confused::confused::confused:
Um, you didn’t swim the correct distance and you didn’t do anything wrong? In the event of official or counter error, it is the responsibility of the swimmer to complete the prescribed distance. You were obviously unaware of the infraction and it was committed without intent, but it was your swim.
The fact that you were not informed of the DQ seems a bit odd. The referee or designated official should make every reasonable effort to seek out the swimmer and inform you as to the reason for the disqualification. Even if it is after the fact.
If you want to press the issue, you could request to see the DQ slip and make sure it was signed by the meet referee.
Before directly answering your question, the real question is - why are you afraid/concerned about getting disqualified?
First, it is not the end of the world to get disqualified. I completely understand being afraid and concerned, but really, it is not going to change how anyone thinks of you.
As a novice, getting DQ'd is a good thing. It is immediately feedback that you are doing something really wrong - that you clearly didn't get the benefit of a doubt (say, 50%), and that the stroke/turn/start judge was looking at you (argueable, 25% as they cover 4 lanes). So even with a 12.5% blended chance that you would get Dq'd, you did, so it shows something you really have to work on.
Second, if you are concerned, then you should be going back over what you do day after day, and what you don't do right that is causing you to now, on the eve of racing, to worry about whether you can do it right or not.
Third, try always go into a meet with the following mantra: "I know i'm going to do well, the only question is how well?" You never want to be asking yourself, will I swim legally, can I finish a race, will I get disqualified, etc etc. If you do, then you haven't been executing the important elements in practice.
And now, to answer your question, I agree with nearly all the posts above. I don't think you will have need of Fort's 15 meter post just yet, as that is a very advanced thing. Simply as a factoid, the 15 meters refers to your HEAD, not the tips of your hands, and by your head, that means your chin. So if you have really long fingers, hands, and arms, and a long face and pointy chin, you are great luck as you can essentially pick up like, 3 extra feet further! I credit chowsh for explaining this to me. I am not sure if you open your mouth really wide and drop your jaw if you can pick up 3 more inches, but that may only be for someone like Fort.
Yes, 2 handed simul touches on ***/fly. The trickiest turn IMO is backstroke, as you have no going-backsies option (free) or the relatively easy 2 handed double touchyness (***/fly). The back turn has to be timed perfectly as the rule states it is a continuous motion, so if you are too far, you can't backpedal and get away with it. One way to eek out and save a back turn that is too far is to keep that 1-handed free turn arm in front of you, and not pull back right away, or else you are stuck kicking head first and that's an easy dq to spot. Hoever, with the hand up in front, you could arguably say you were in motion, continuous motion, so save yourself a dq if not a very clean turn.
In free, you simply have to touch the wall with any part of your body, so if you are too close and do a head cram, with body parts both on the wall and in the gutters or up in the air, as long as any part of your body, hopefully not your face only, are on the wall, somewhere on the wall, that's still ok. Or if you miss it completely, you can go backwards yell oh crap and still be legal. Google fixing optional, but yes, legal.
A total bummer for our poster who only went 1600. However, even an elite may miscount and do extra in free and you won't be dq'd, since you just have to touch with any part of your body, including your feetsies as you miscount another 50 or 100.
Finishes, like turns, have to be a legal finish for that stroke, so you have to 2 handy on ***/fly and finish on your back and have some part of your body not submerged on the back.
Butterfrog is legal in masters. It is a mirror image kick (each leg doing the same as the other leg), not limited to the traditional thinking of the dolphin action only.
Someone else may want to comment more on the UW *** pullout.
And last, my advice to any novice is to have a coach and your closest swim buds give you a "challenge event" in workout. Have them simulate what it would be like in a race. Have them walk you through a meet, from the warm up to doing the event in front of them, and then even do the warm down. Then it won't be so foreign when you actually go to a swim meet.
