At this past weekend's Zone meet I was DQed in my 100 backstroke during my turn. I was told I glided into the wall, of which means that I must either be flipping or making an arm stroke. However the rules:
Upon completion of each lenght, some part of the swimmer must touch the wall. During the turn the shoulders may be turned past the vertical toward the ***, after which a continuous single arm pull or a countinuous simultaneous double arm pull may be used to execute the turn. Once the body has left the position on the back, any kick or arm pul must be part of the continuous turning action. The swimmer must have returned to a position on the back upon leaving the wall.
do not say that I have to be moving, it just says may. I searched the rest of the rules and found no "glide" anywhere in the rules. I do not understand why they told me I must use my arm when the rules state that I may. Is it possible that they used a different set of rules? I was talking to my coach afterwards and was told that many of the officials do kids meets as well and there are some differences. I just want to know why when to me it seems I didn't do anything wrong.
Parents
Former Member
There is the letter of the law, the spirit of the law, how the law is enforced, and what the law should be.
The letter of the law: ? (I don't have a clue)
The spirit of the law: You should not swim on your stomach. That means you should either be swimming on your back, or turning. Swimming means going forward by any means on your stomach, so gliding or kicking after you roll over is not allowed, whether a stroke is taken or not.
How the law is enforced: Pretty much according to the spirit of the law, but it is not clear how that happened. In the stroke and turn judge training classes the various phrases of this law are repeated endlessly, as if that will make it clear what they mean. I saw no explanation of what the real intent of the law was, and the method made it appear that the law was *only* intended to disallow glides after the 'turn stroke.'
What the law should be: rewritten. I have heard a couple of coaches make pleas to officials to change the rule to allow a glide, because "no advantage is gained." I don't really buy that argument, but I think it carries weight as long as the spirit of the backstroke law is buried in the confused wording.
There is the letter of the law, the spirit of the law, how the law is enforced, and what the law should be.
The letter of the law: ? (I don't have a clue)
The spirit of the law: You should not swim on your stomach. That means you should either be swimming on your back, or turning. Swimming means going forward by any means on your stomach, so gliding or kicking after you roll over is not allowed, whether a stroke is taken or not.
How the law is enforced: Pretty much according to the spirit of the law, but it is not clear how that happened. In the stroke and turn judge training classes the various phrases of this law are repeated endlessly, as if that will make it clear what they mean. I saw no explanation of what the real intent of the law was, and the method made it appear that the law was *only* intended to disallow glides after the 'turn stroke.'
What the law should be: rewritten. I have heard a couple of coaches make pleas to officials to change the rule to allow a glide, because "no advantage is gained." I don't really buy that argument, but I think it carries weight as long as the spirit of the backstroke law is buried in the confused wording.
