starts

Originally posted by Scansy Congrats on the improvement. I compete against myself (and the clock) too. I focus more on my 100 time and it is great when I can drop it some. thanks ,i'm still on a high..just hope i can keep improving as theres loads of room for it.:)

Grad. When I try the track start, I find that I lean too far back. Recently, I waswatching many people do the track stat & I noticed that most have their center of balance very far behind thier front foot. When they started they had a long way to go before they got their hips over the end of the block. they seemed to take longer to get into the water. The I looked at some books. All coachs seemed ot warn about this intheir books. Very interesting!

When I do a track start, I don't lean back at all. In fact, I can get more of my body leaning forward, since I have my back leg to counterbalance.

We were always taught not to transfer our energy into the block itself. By grabbing onto the block your potential energy is transferred into the block itself and by putting your foot at the back of the block you are placing your body, in a sense, away from the other end of the pool. I would place a bet that a swimmer who has good reaction time will have a faster start by using the "grab start" over the track start. "Grab start" is a misnomer due to the fact that you should not actually grab the block. By lightly touching the block and leaning forward just enough to slide a sheet of paper below your heal, you can react quicker than if you grab a handful of block and lean backwards. IMO Also, if you react with a burst forward with your arms rather than backwards or up, I've been taught, you can get a jump on your competition. We used to do this drill called 'Bleacher Starts.' We would dive into a 3' deep pool from bleachers set 3' from the edge of the pool. Some could start from the 4th bleacher up and scoop well enough that you did not scrape your head or body on the bottom . If you didn't do it right... you can imagine the consequence. It did teach us to start quick and enter the water vertical and scoop to avoid going to deep.

The difference between grab and track dipend of the kind of blocks. You have to try on 12.5 meters (i don't know in yard but is half pool). This my last result: Grab: 4''98''' Track: 5''11''' Tomorrow i'll use grab.

Originally posted by shark We used to do this drill called 'Bleacher Starts.' We would dive into a 3' deep pool from bleachers set 3' from the edge of the pool. Some could start from the 4th bleacher up and scoop well enough that you did not scrape your head or body on the bottom . If you didn't do it right... you can imagine the consequence. It did teach us to start quick and enter the water vertical and scoop to avoid going to deep. And someone actually thought that this was a good idea?

We used to do this drill called 'Bleacher Starts.' We would dive into a 3' deep pool from bleachers set 3' from the edge of the pool. Some could start from the 4th bleacher up and scoop well enough that you did not scrape your head or body on the bottom . If you didn't do it right... you can imagine the consequence. It did teach us to start quick and enter the water vertical and scoop to avoid going to deep. I used to do a similar start from the wall (in my dreams) which was ten feet from the pool and would swim through the air but had to be careful (in my dreams) that I got back in the water before I got to the other end of the pool 25 yards away. I found my self on the bedroom floor many a time. George

Originally posted by shark We used to do this drill called 'Bleacher Starts.' We would dive into a 3' deep pool from bleachers set 3' from the edge of the pool. Some could start from the 4th bleacher up and scoop well enough that you did not scrape your head or body on the bottom . If you didn't do it right... you can imagine the consequence. It did teach us to start quick and enter the water vertical and scoop to avoid going to deep. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME I find this post very ironic that it should come today. Many years ago a friend dove into the deep end of a shallow pool and hit his head on the bottom that sloped up. He broke his neck at c3. I got word yesterday that he had passed. If there is one thing I would like USA Swimming to change it is the regulations that allow dive starts in the shallow end. I know if the water is less than 4" the start must be in the water. BUT ask yourself folks, is 4" of water really deep enough for a child, or anyone, for that matter, who might misjudge? Lainey

I completely agree. I had a meet this weekend and the pool was only 4 feet deep and it made me uneasy. I have been doing this for years and the thought of my daughter having to use that shallow of a pool is sickening.

Talking about starts - how do you keep your goggles on, I seem to have a problem with that - not that I lose them completely, but they move just enough to get filled with water ... Easiest for myself is 2 tension levels for the straps. A somewhat slack or loose level for working out and a significantly tighter one for racing. When starting, just prior to entry into the water, tuck the chin a bit and leave the head down (somewhat). Raising the head too soon may result in filling with water or removing the goggles completely (or worse - just enuf to cover your mouth!). For me, since I don't tend to enter a lot of "sprint" races, this method works far and away, the majority of the time. Perhaps a sprinter will chime in with their method(s). Jim