Breastroke kick used in butterfly

The answer to your question was just posted in The 2002 Spring edition of USMS National Office Newsletter, Streamlines... From the National Office. Page 20 reports on the FINA Congress. Breaststroke continues to be legal in Masters butterfly events.

Greg: As I wrote in a previous post the competitors get to decide the technical rules of the strokes. 2002 is a Rules year. To get the rule changed, go to your LMSC and have propose the change in the butterfly kick rule. If the rule is voted to be submitted by your LMSC it will be sent to all the convention delegates and will go to the Rules Committee of the House of Delegates. If the Rules Committee votes for your change, it will be sent to the House of Delegates, where a 50% + one vote will change the rule. (If the rule gets turned down by the Rules Committee, the House of Delegates can overturn the Rules Committee but it will take a 2/3 vote). The first step is for YOU TO CONTACT YOUR LMSC ABOUT CHANGING THE RULE. It is not that hard. I probably have had about a dozen of my ideas that have made the Rule Book. michael

There is only one stroke rule that is vastly different in Masters swimming from USA swimming, and that is the allowance in butterfly for use of the breaststroke kick. When Masters swimming began back in the 1970's, maybe there was some rationale for this, being that butterfly is the most difficult stroke to learn and perfect. However, I believe that Masters swimming has grown up enough now to eliminate this one discrepancy. Using a breaststroke kick makes an entirely different stroke that just isn't butterfly, even if there is a rulebook that says it is.

We do DQ competitors who do not swim the stroke under the technical rules of the stroke. The question is what are the technical rules of the strokes? In Masters, more so than USA-S the competitors get to decide. michael

Why do you feel threaten by someone who swims fly with a breaststroke kick and/or a combination of breaststroke/dolphin kick? Are they recording faster times than you? If not, don't worry about them. Fast fliers have nothing to fear from us.

That's really too bad. It's time for USMS to legitimize itself by conforming with accepted rules of swimming for all strokes. In USA Swimming we do not make allowances for kids who are too young to properly swim butterfly...the rules are applied equally and if a kid is illegal he/she gets disqualified. For masters swimmers, eventually this rule will be changed and those who cannot swim butterfly correctly, should not enter those events, or risk getting DQ'd.

I believe there is a big difference between a young swimmer who will eventually learn the motor skills to swim a legal butterfly and an older masters swimmer whose strength, flexibility and range of motion are in decline, making the possibility of a legal butterfly with dolphin kick less and less likely as the years pass. It's not in USMS's best interest to block older swimmers out of butterfly and IM events by mandating a dolphin kick.

Steve, No need to get bent out of shape, please. And, no, I don't feel threatened by butterfroggers. I just think it looks silly for a serious organization committed to swimming to have such an allowance in the rules. It makes us look less than legitimate to the other organizations involved in swimming, USA Swimming, FINA, and even the multitude of little summer leagues around the country who all abide by the commonly accepted rules. As a USA Swimming official, I have witnessed numerous kids who struggle to learn how to swim butterfly until they finally get it right and they don't ask for special circumstances because they're too young to swim legally. They learn to swim the stroke or they get DQ'd and we should be held to the same standards as any eight year old.

Rick, Karlene, and others, I'd be glad to participate in any effort to change the rule. Sorry Karlene, but the difficulty of butterfly is part of it's mistique for those of us that consider it's esoteric beauty in our belief that butterfly "rules" as the preferred competitive stroke. Masters swimming began in the early 70's, some twenty or more years after butterfly was recognized as a distinct stroke so there shouldn't have been consideration for the breaststoke kick allowance other than the inherent difficulty. If, given the option, kids were allowed to use either, many of them would never put forth the effort to learn the stroke correctly. Change the rule and Masters swimmers who want to swim it will learn it.

So what you're saying is that if the kids under USS/FINA have to swim fly a certain way, then, as Masters so should we (in spite of what our rules say)? There are other rules that are different between USS/FINA and Masters. Why stop with the fly? go after these too. The start. FINA says you must use a starting block for starts (SW 4.1). USMS (101.1.1) states blocks, deck, water, your choice. Are you going to try to outlaw this method of starting? Why not go for it? After all, there is such “esoteric beauty” from a start from the blocks compared to the deck or water. Relays. USS/FINA state you must exit the water as soon as possible when you finish on a relay (SW 10.13). USMS allows you to stay in the water (101.7.3). Here’s another one for you to go after. Just between you and me, I never did like all those people loitering in the water after they completed their leg of the relay. Don’t cut those who can’t or don’t want to get out of the water any slack. Outlaw them too. Granted, the fly with a dolphin kick can be pretty to watch. However, this is not synchronized swimming, pretty doesn’t count. The name of the game is swim by the rules in the fastest possible way you can. And for those of us who employ the breaststroke kick (with or without a dolphin kick thrown), we offer no apology for our method of swimming fly.