Hi,
I just read Doug Strong's awesome story from LC Nationals. He had mentioned a previous DQ in the meet for something he thought was very questionable. That reminds me...
Does anyone else think the latest backstroke rule is a little silly? I'm talking about the one where one glides into the wall "too long" on their stomach for the turn. To me, as I mentioned, it just seems silly. (1) I believe the rule says that you must have continuous forward motion into the turn. If you are gliding in, which by the way is not faster, then you are moving forward. I've yet to see one stop completely! And (2) there is definitely no advantage to gliding in for that "moment too long" that is the decision of the official.
I have a feeling that this rule will go by the way of some other rules and be gone in the next few years.
Just some thoughts, and a question :)
Karen
Parents
Former Member
Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com
I'm under the impression from judges I talked with that if both hands are at your side before you tuck your head to start your change of direction (your flip), you are gliding and will get DQ'ed. Yesterday, I tried to do some turns where I'm bringing my hands together as I'm also tucking my head. It seemed almost impossible. Generally, my hands are at my hips right after I turn. Then I tuck my head & flip.
I'm not sure I understand what your problem is.
When you are swimming backstroke, you are leading first with one arm and then with the other. So when you arrive at the wall, one of your two arms should be leading. At that point, you want to roll onto your ***, sweep your leading arm under your body, and tuck your head.
While you could sweep your arm under your body (essentially taking a stroke of freestyle) and then tuck your head and begin your flip, you would not only be risking getting DQed - it would also make little sense, since you would be wasting the angular momentum of the arm sweep. It makes more sense to synchronize the arm sweep and the head tuck so that the two combine to impart the angular momentum that flips you over.
Once your arm reaches your hips, you can then turn both hands palm forward and sweep them up over your head, helping to flip you the rest of the way over, and leaving your arms very close to the position they need to be in to snap into your streamline.
Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com
I'm under the impression from judges I talked with that if both hands are at your side before you tuck your head to start your change of direction (your flip), you are gliding and will get DQ'ed. Yesterday, I tried to do some turns where I'm bringing my hands together as I'm also tucking my head. It seemed almost impossible. Generally, my hands are at my hips right after I turn. Then I tuck my head & flip.
I'm not sure I understand what your problem is.
When you are swimming backstroke, you are leading first with one arm and then with the other. So when you arrive at the wall, one of your two arms should be leading. At that point, you want to roll onto your ***, sweep your leading arm under your body, and tuck your head.
While you could sweep your arm under your body (essentially taking a stroke of freestyle) and then tuck your head and begin your flip, you would not only be risking getting DQed - it would also make little sense, since you would be wasting the angular momentum of the arm sweep. It makes more sense to synchronize the arm sweep and the head tuck so that the two combine to impart the angular momentum that flips you over.
Once your arm reaches your hips, you can then turn both hands palm forward and sweep them up over your head, helping to flip you the rest of the way over, and leaving your arms very close to the position they need to be in to snap into your streamline.
