Track start vs. Traditional start?

Wayne- I thought your one comment was interesting, that actually a majority of the Olympic sprinters used the grab start over the track start. It seems lately that more and more kids are being taught the track start, and when you ask their coaches anything about starts, one answer I've heard is "Oh, everybody does track starts now, it has to be the best." That's not a great decision-making process to take. But I do think that with the amount of world-class swimmers that are using the track start, there has to be something to it. A swimmer like Ervin or Hall wouldn't use the track start if they (and their coaches) thought they could lose from 0.5 to 1.0 seconds during the dive and underwater portion. For some reason the track start works for them. That is why I wouldn't completely rule out experimenting with the track start with swimmers of all levels. The most important aspect of the first 15m of a race is to preserve as much of the initial start speed as possible. Here's where having film and high-tech instruments would help... Speed through the air is faster than speed through water. So the goal would seem to be to travel as far in the air as possible. But that may involve spending too much time in the air. Let's say swimmer A enters the water at 5m because they did a nice high start presumably from a grab position. Swimmer B does a track start and enters the water at 4m. It is possible that swimmer B is still better off *IF* they are at 5m at or sooner than swimmer A and if they have a higher initial in-the-water velocity. The only place to go once entering the water is slower, so A will not catch up during the underwater glide portion and will have to make up the time with superior streamline and/or kick. Those factors being equal and B will have won the start. Increasing distance in the air by jumping higher won't necessarily give you a faster start. It could add too much time to the start. Now I have to say, I like the grab start better. I use the grab start and teach the grab start. I only teach a track start to swimmers who seem to go too deep. And even then the results are mixed. Some catch on real well and instantly improve, others we go back to the grab start a work on shallowing out the underwater portion to make best use of the start speed. It is absolutely amazing how much (esp. in age goup swimming) of an advantage good wall work is over the rest of the field. I would guess that an average age group swimmer can take at least 1.0 seconds off at the start and on each turn if their coach(es) take the time to work with the swimmer to find out what's best for them. Some questions to answer would be: Does the swimmer have good/poor leg strength? Does the swimmer have good/poor streamline? Is the swimmer a weak/strong kicker? Does the swimmer tire easily? If you answer these questions about a swimmer you can come up with the most effective way to coach their wall work. Someone with poor leg strength would probably be better off with the grab start (2 poor legs being better than one). Poor streamlines need to be tightened up. Weak kickers should surface and swim at 4-5m while strong kickers might benefit from 8-10m underwater. A swimmer who tires easily has to take that into account when deciding how much time they will spend in full exertion underwater. Going into oxygen debt during the last 50m of a 200m (SC) free might be worse than not stretching the streamline dolphin for 10m off each wall. Well I went off on somewhat of a tangent there. But does anyone have the answer to the question of "why has the track start become so popular of late?" Regards, RM

Wayne- I thought your one comment was interesting, that actually a majority of the Olympic sprinters used the grab start over the track start. It seems lately that more and more kids are being taught the track start, and when you ask their coaches anything about starts, one answer I've heard is "Oh, everybody does track starts now, it has to be the best." That's not a great decision-making process to take. But I do think that with the amount of world-class swimmers that are using the track start, there has to be something to it. A swimmer like Ervin or Hall wouldn't use the track start if they (and their coaches) thought they could lose from 0.5 to 1.0 seconds during the dive and underwater portion. For some reason the track start works for them. That is why I wouldn't completely rule out experimenting with the track start with swimmers of all levels. The most important aspect of the first 15m of a race is to preserve as much of the initial start speed as possible. Here's where having film and high-tech instruments would help... Speed through the air is faster than speed through water. So the goal would seem to be to travel as far in the air as possible. But that may involve spending too much time in the air. Let's say swimmer A enters the water at 5m because they did a nice high start presumably from a grab position. Swimmer B does a track start and enters the water at 4m. It is possible that swimmer B is still better off *IF* they are at 5m at or sooner than swimmer A and if they have a higher initial in-the-water velocity. The only place to go once entering the water is slower, so A will not catch up during the underwater glide portion and will have to make up the time with superior streamline and/or kick. Those factors being equal and B will have won the start. Increasing distance in the air by jumping higher won't necessarily give you a faster start. It could add too much time to the start. Now I have to say, I like the grab start better. I use the grab start and teach the grab start. I only teach a track start to swimmers who seem to go too deep. And even then the results are mixed. Some catch on real well and instantly improve, others we go back to the grab start a work on shallowing out the underwater portion to make best use of the start speed. It is absolutely amazing how much (esp. in age goup swimming) of an advantage good wall work is over the rest of the field. I would guess that an average age group swimmer can take at least 1.0 seconds off at the start and on each turn if their coach(es) take the time to work with the swimmer to find out what's best for them. Some questions to answer would be: Does the swimmer have good/poor leg strength? Does the swimmer have good/poor streamline? Is the swimmer a weak/strong kicker? Does the swimmer tire easily? If you answer these questions about a swimmer you can come up with the most effective way to coach their wall work. Someone with poor leg strength would probably be better off with the grab start (2 poor legs being better than one). Poor streamlines need to be tightened up. Weak kickers should surface and swim at 4-5m while strong kickers might benefit from 8-10m underwater. A swimmer who tires easily has to take that into account when deciding how much time they will spend in full exertion underwater. Going into oxygen debt during the last 50m of a 200m (SC) free might be worse than not stretching the streamline dolphin for 10m off each wall. Well I went off on somewhat of a tangent there. But does anyone have the answer to the question of "why has the track start become so popular of late?" Regards, RM