So I'm back to swimming, 20 years later.
Swam backstroke when I was a kid and used what I'd call a "bucket turn" back in the days when you were DQ'd if you broke the plane and flipped over onto your stomach at any point.
I think they've since changed the rules. It seems I'm seeing people do what looks like a regluar freestyle flip turn. They just roll over on the last stroke, do a regular flip turn, and then push off on back.
Any tips on how to do this? Other than practice, practice, practice? I'm very comfortable doing freestyle flip turns, but combining it with back feels very ackward to me.
Guess I'm old world.
What you are encountering is the rules that caught up with reality. I swam in the bucket turn time in college, and many of the backstrokers at that time tried a style of flip turn, touching the wall on their back before trying the flip to keep it legal. This was very awkward to do and few swimmers could do it well.
The "new" turn, legalized in about 1988, does away with the need to touch the wall with your hand before rolling off your back and initiating the turn. Now you have only to make a "continuous motion" turning, which means that you cannot take a stroke (and some referees will not even allow kicking) while you are on your stomach, preparing to flip.
What you are encountering is the rules that caught up with reality. I swam in the bucket turn time in college, and many of the backstrokers at that time tried a style of flip turn, touching the wall on their back before trying the flip to keep it legal. This was very awkward to do and few swimmers could do it well.
The "new" turn, legalized in about 1988, does away with the need to touch the wall with your hand before rolling off your back and initiating the turn. Now you have only to make a "continuous motion" turning, which means that you cannot take a stroke (and some referees will not even allow kicking) while you are on your stomach, preparing to flip.
