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
Originally posted by Rob Copeland
3) The swimmer turns past vertical towards the *** and executes a single or simultaneous double armpull to initiate their turn. Once the arm(s) has (have) stopped moving (and you’re sure it has stopped moving), the swimmer must be doing something to initiate their turn. If they’re not doing something to initiate the turn as soon as their arms stop moving, that’s a DQ. They can kick throughout the turn, as long as it’s part of a continuous turning action. They must touch the wall (usually with their feet) and they must be past vertical towards the back when their feet leave the wall. If they miss the wall, they cannot “scull” back to touch the wall as that reverse motion would constitute a “non-continuous turning action.”
According to this wording, if you do end up too far from the wall after you pull through to your waist, it should be perfectly legal to scull the rest of the way in to where you need to flip. It would be hard to argue that sculling does not constitute motion of the arm, so as long as there's no pause between the end of the arm pull to the waist and the beginning of the sculling action the rule is met and you shouldn't be DQed.
Anyone find any flaw in my reasoning?
Someone call Aaron Peirsol and let him know :)
EDIT: just to clarify, this doesn't violate the part about sculling back if you miss the turn. I'm talking about sculling prior to the flip.
Originally posted by Rob Copeland
3) The swimmer turns past vertical towards the *** and executes a single or simultaneous double armpull to initiate their turn. Once the arm(s) has (have) stopped moving (and you’re sure it has stopped moving), the swimmer must be doing something to initiate their turn. If they’re not doing something to initiate the turn as soon as their arms stop moving, that’s a DQ. They can kick throughout the turn, as long as it’s part of a continuous turning action. They must touch the wall (usually with their feet) and they must be past vertical towards the back when their feet leave the wall. If they miss the wall, they cannot “scull” back to touch the wall as that reverse motion would constitute a “non-continuous turning action.”
According to this wording, if you do end up too far from the wall after you pull through to your waist, it should be perfectly legal to scull the rest of the way in to where you need to flip. It would be hard to argue that sculling does not constitute motion of the arm, so as long as there's no pause between the end of the arm pull to the waist and the beginning of the sculling action the rule is met and you shouldn't be DQed.
Anyone find any flaw in my reasoning?
Someone call Aaron Peirsol and let him know :)
EDIT: just to clarify, this doesn't violate the part about sculling back if you miss the turn. I'm talking about sculling prior to the flip.
