I was reading the rules and need to know what type of kick you can use of the start and the turns. The rules are not that clear.
btw, i swam my first meet in 13 years on Sunday. had serious case of the buterflies but all that left when I was on the block of my first race. did better than I expected.
Parents
Former Member
I read an article with Misty Hyman's trainer about that sideways kick. It's based on the way fish swim. The sideways motion creates eddies that result in low pressure areas, which in turn reduce drag. It doesn't work the same in an up and down kick because gravity causes the eddies to fall away so that they aren't symmetrical and are in the wrong place in relation to the body to reduce drag.
To develop it, the coach went along beside her in a boat dropping dye in the water and watching the eddy patterns. They adjusted the stroke until they got the drag down. There was a great quote that went something like, "She's going to go into oxygen debt, but we'll train her to deal with the pain."
At the time the technique debuted in competition, the only applicable rule was that the swimmer had to take one stroke above the water. She swam the length of the pool on her side, surfaced half a length ahead of everyone else, did one stroke into the wall and turned. I believe some of the other coaches protested, but there was nothing they could do. Hyman was then accused of unsportsmanlike conduct: there was talk that even though such a technique wasn't technically illegal, it still went against the spirit of the event.
I like people who buck the rules, and I like people who find interesting ways around the established norms also. I had to laugh when I read that. :D
I read an article with Misty Hyman's trainer about that sideways kick. It's based on the way fish swim. The sideways motion creates eddies that result in low pressure areas, which in turn reduce drag. It doesn't work the same in an up and down kick because gravity causes the eddies to fall away so that they aren't symmetrical and are in the wrong place in relation to the body to reduce drag.
To develop it, the coach went along beside her in a boat dropping dye in the water and watching the eddy patterns. They adjusted the stroke until they got the drag down. There was a great quote that went something like, "She's going to go into oxygen debt, but we'll train her to deal with the pain."
At the time the technique debuted in competition, the only applicable rule was that the swimmer had to take one stroke above the water. She swam the length of the pool on her side, surfaced half a length ahead of everyone else, did one stroke into the wall and turned. I believe some of the other coaches protested, but there was nothing they could do. Hyman was then accused of unsportsmanlike conduct: there was talk that even though such a technique wasn't technically illegal, it still went against the spirit of the event.
I like people who buck the rules, and I like people who find interesting ways around the established norms also. I had to laugh when I read that. :D
