Hello,
I have a few questions I hope you all can answer. First, how many of you compete in meets? If so, how many have you attended and where have they been?
I was reading in a Triathlon magazine that there are "postal meets" where you compete in something, and when you finish you record your score and send it in the mail. This way you don't get to see you competitors. Has anyone ever heard of this or competed? What do you think the advantages (except for seeing your competitors are) and disadvantages are?
I understand that flipturns are a must. Do any of you have any tips for flipturning? I can do them but not perfectly. And about using the blocks, do you "have" to dive off them in Masters meets or can you dive off the edge of the pool instead? I don't have a problem diving from them I just want to know what the rules are for this. I understand there is more of an advantage diving off the block then off the pool edge.
One last question: If I decided to join (I am waiting until school gets out for the semester which is mid Dec.) how long does it take to get an ID card and what is included on it?
Thanks for reading and responding! =) Have a good week everyone!
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"When life's gotcha down, ya know you gotta do?...just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, just keep swimming"--Dori from Finding Nemo
Originally posted by TheFish
I understand that flipturns are a must.
Perhaps "strongly encouraged" would be better. If you are want to do open turns, do what floats your boat. I have a friend who has only been swimming a few years. He has worked on his flip turns for a while (when it is not too crowded in practice), and has said that he finally feels comfortable enough to try them in meets.
You could always skip freestyle, then you wouldn't have to do flipturns. :D
Since you list Los Angeles as your area, you're registration will go through me. It takes about a week, depending mostly on the speed (both ways) of the post office.
I would recommend registering this week because you're registration will be valid through December 31, 2004 and the deadline for labels for the Jan/Feb SWIM Magazine is the very beginning of December. Our local newsletter is published as an insert in SWIM.
You can download our form from www.spma.net. If you have any questions my contact information is on the registration page.
Julie
I joined Masters in the fall of 2000 at age 39 after learning to swim that spring. I competed in my first meet a year later at 40 and have done 2 more since, one long course.
I sometimes do flip turns, sometimes not, depends on how I feel, still working on those. I have seen people dive off the side, start in the water, and use the blocks, it is up to you.
Don't know anything about postal meets, but I can see the advantages are no travel. That is what prevents me from competing, no time to travel to meets.
My card came within a week.
Originally posted by TheFish
And about using the blocks, do you "have" to dive off them in Masters meets or can you dive off the edge of the pool instead? I don't have a problem diving from them I just want to know what the rules are for this. I understand there is more of an advantage diving off the block then off the pool edge.
Diving from the blocks is NOT required -- in masters meets you have the options of diving off the pool edge or pushing off the wall in the water, in addition to using the blocks. Diving from the blocks should give you a significant advantage (unless you dive like me :D ), since you move through air faster than water and it gets you farther down the pool.
There are many postal events, mostly long distance, like the annual One Hour Swim (scored by distance covered in an hour) and the Postal 5K and 10K pool swims. The entries are in SWIM Magazine, which you get as part of your USMS membership. I've only done the One Hour Swim The advantage of a postal meet is being able to do the event at your own convenience and without travelling; the disadvantage is not meeting your competitors and having to arrange for someone to count, as well as being limited, mostly, to distance events.
I joined Masters in 1999. I hadn't competed since college 1989. I usually swim in about 5 meets per year and have attended Nationals (Short Course in 2000 and Long Course in 2002). Local meets are very accomodating and you should not run into any problems starting from the edge of the pool.
Flip turns...the number 1 problem I usually see is wrong arm usage during the turn. If you can get some literature with pictures to visualize it may help. But, most people (especially when first learning) make a circular motion with their arms out to the side. What needs to be done is to push the water and the arms up over your head with the palms up. Doing this correctly will throw the hips over the top with less effort and allows you to extend into a streamline position immediately.
I recommend you join as soon as you can because the newsletters contain lots of helpful advise. In addition, if you are worried about a meet go to one as a spectator. Then, when you are ready, you can compete in one.
Good Luck
You must be from west La instead of east La, no spanish surname, just joking. But there are a lot of small meets in the Spma area. I look up them up on web site since I use to live in Southern California. They are a pretty good group. And I workout on my own in Arizona like you do. Like yourself I had some reservations about diving from a starting block since the last time I did it in competition was back in the 1970's. If you can dive from a standing position, you can make the blocks. Most masters swim meets at the end of warm-up open two lines in order to practice starts. As for flip turns, the freestyle turn is good but my back is still bad even with the newer turn. I do just as good with an open turn in back but its my slowest stroke so I doubt I would swim it in competition.
Thanks everyone for the information. Regarding diving from the blocks, I can dive from them, I just wasn't sure if there was a specific rule whether you had to dive from them or not. Another concern is that when I dive off the block my goggles come off. Is there a way to prevent this? I will continue swimming without them but I would like to know if there is a trick to keeping them on as you hit the water.
Thanks again for the replies and tips!
Be sure your chin is tucked on the dive. I also find it helpful to pull my cap over the upper lip of my goggles; I may look a little dorky, but haven't lost my goggles once since I started doing it :p
