A kid swam the 500 all fly in a high school dual meet yesterday. His coach was furious and benched him for the rest of the meet. One of my lane mates this morning, who was the Starter at this meet said that was showboating and demeaning to the other competitors. I disagree. Was that any more demeaning than swimming free and lapping people? Plus, I saw the flyer ask everyone in the heat if it would bother them. Even on the blocks he said "Are you sure you guys are OK with this?"
I'm with Treebox on this. How does it impact you directly, except maybe (hopefully) inspiring you to swim faster or get better?
I coached in summer league for a while. One of my best swimmers had been having shoulder problems and was ordered only to swim only with one arm so her shoulder could recover. She wanted to contribute to the team and insisted on competing -- we also have a rule that you can't swim an event in the championship meet that you didn't participate in during the regular season -- and she did a freestyle and a backstroke race with one arm. But she has an amazing kick and won both her races even so.
A few people (all parents) were offended, thinking she was showboating. Explaining the situation only mollified some, others thought she should not have competed at all. Somehow the fact that she would have crushed their little darlings even more thoroughly with two good arms escaped them.
Regarding the 500 fly, as long as a swimmer entered a reasonable guesstimate of his/her time (b/c sandbagging is of course evil), my hat's off.
Some parents don't get it. That swimmer could be thought of as a role model, obeying the rules, accepting her limitations and giving her best effort for herself and the team. She didn't quit, she found a way to do something productive. Those offended parents need to understand that every swimmer out there has *some* limitations. Your girl who won one-arm and kicking accepted hers. If another swimmer wants to take her spot in the fast heat, or win the race, that swimmer must figure out how to do so in spite of their own limitations.
If someone were to beat me in a freestyle race swimming all fly, I might be humbled, embarrassed even if I got trounced badly enough, but not offended. Now if that swimmer stopped at every wall, waited for me to get one meter from the wall, yelled. "you suck you lame tadpole" then pushed off and repeated this procedure, that would definitely be unsportsmanlike. In none of the examples cited above, is there any mention of the swimmer behaving in such a way.
I'm with Treebox on this. How does it impact you directly, except maybe (hopefully) inspiring you to swim faster or get better?
I coached in summer league for a while. One of my best swimmers had been having shoulder problems and was ordered only to swim only with one arm so her shoulder could recover. She wanted to contribute to the team and insisted on competing -- we also have a rule that you can't swim an event in the championship meet that you didn't participate in during the regular season -- and she did a freestyle and a backstroke race with one arm. But she has an amazing kick and won both her races even so.
A few people (all parents) were offended, thinking she was showboating. Explaining the situation only mollified some, others thought she should not have competed at all. Somehow the fact that she would have crushed their little darlings even more thoroughly with two good arms escaped them.
Regarding the 500 fly, as long as a swimmer entered a reasonable guesstimate of his/her time (b/c sandbagging is of course evil), my hat's off.
Some parents don't get it. That swimmer could be thought of as a role model, obeying the rules, accepting her limitations and giving her best effort for herself and the team. She didn't quit, she found a way to do something productive. Those offended parents need to understand that every swimmer out there has *some* limitations. Your girl who won one-arm and kicking accepted hers. If another swimmer wants to take her spot in the fast heat, or win the race, that swimmer must figure out how to do so in spite of their own limitations.
If someone were to beat me in a freestyle race swimming all fly, I might be humbled, embarrassed even if I got trounced badly enough, but not offended. Now if that swimmer stopped at every wall, waited for me to get one meter from the wall, yelled. "you suck you lame tadpole" then pushed off and repeated this procedure, that would definitely be unsportsmanlike. In none of the examples cited above, is there any mention of the swimmer behaving in such a way.
