Swim Rant

. She had been swimming fly illegally for 2 years and had never been DQed. Her response on her first DQ? "I thought that was how it was supposed to be swam". She has since corrected the problem and is actually our #1 swimmer in the stroke now. Paul Does this kid not have a coach who watches her swim in practice? :dunno:

I was a stroke judge for many years in summer league. I called the DQs I saw. The philosophy of our league was to judge the stroke correctly and gently inform the swimmer what they did wrong. Breaststroke through 7-8 age groups was often pretty ugly. We did this very well and the coaches used a DQ as an opportunity to teach the child. I think it is a mistake to let stroke faults go uncalled. They are supposed to swim breaststroke, not almost breaststroke. The coaches shouldn't put the child in a race they don't have a reasonable chance to swim legally. In swimming - doing the stroke correctly is an achievement and is part of the sport. In tennis they call lines. The ball is either in or out. Swimming should be the same way.

Geek is not alone in his practices. I swam summer league from 7 to 18 and can recall many times when the Starter/ Referee/ Judge (often the same person) DID NOT call DQs. I recall several times when youngsters attempted a version of fly or *** (that was not even close to the stroke) and it slipped by. Rarely were these "no calls" contested by parents or coaches (of either team - and it would make a difference in team scores). From what I saw and as a general rule, summer league was more lax in its rules than USS. I would guess that rule enforcement varies from league to league and even from official to official.

Glider that is soooo neat! Monroeville...ah, it warms the heart. I just got back from PIT (annual trip to visit the parents - see also kung pao thread and Allegheny Mountain!). Greater Pitt was THE team to swim for in your day!! (I'm 40 now, so I think I am about 8 years younger than you?). I swam for JCCS. Gateway High School, WPIAL region VII in PIAA swimming!!! Arguably the 2 worst pools in Western PA, if not the entire state. Hulk I agree 100% with. You are the man. Have you gotten your volunteer ribbon award yet? You get one for every meet you officiate. Geek, I understand exactly what you mean - and perhaps our league was more like yours, but the problem is abuse of the system. It got so bad that no one was teaching the kids how to swim - just what to do to win the events - like all the girls would kick free with *** and there were only 2 girls legal in all of all-stars (top 16) who got around 8th, 9th place. Ok, since this is the swim rant thread - another thing that still makes my blood boil is people who tried to draft off of me when I was pregnant.

(S)he, I tried that after the first week and was turned down. In an effort to avoid being perceived as one of 'those' parents I haven't offered since.

This is funny...all the ribbons and ribbons I print labels for from Hy-Tek in our summer league meets...Everyone's a winner in our 5-lane pool. Back in the day when I swam summer league in Monroeville, PA, we didn't have no stinkin' ribbons. I just don't know how I was able to get on with my life. Oh wait...I was one of those year-round swimmer ringers... DQ'ing isn't a bad thing - and it's not the stroke/turn judge's responsibility to make sure there are no hurt feelings. It's the PROPER reinforcement to learn how to do the stroke right. Unfortunately, that is not the prevailing school of thought - a lot of parents think it's cute to see the little ones flail around and call it breastroke or butterfly or...the 100IM! And...(aarrgh!!) if you were here, you'd still get your participant ribbon or your place ribbon since the ribbon writers override any DQ swimmers. If the DQ isn't done right on the spot, the impact is gone. oops. forgot to add...and your heat winner ribbon and best times ribbon!

Hulk, move to Dallas!! We need YOU! Our summer club has 200+ kids. For starters....15 screaming 6 & under girls, 35+ 7-8 yrs, and 55+ whopping 9-10 year old girls...and lots of boys! We don't have enough coaches, either. Great pool, 6 lanes, 3 workouts a day, but with 200+ kids...there is very little dedicated stroke technique/instruction. Our coach who does an amazing job (especially with 400+ parents), a fellow master swimmer, is all about getting help on deck or in any position! Who was that other poster - about the noodler - her sister must live here. Except she's a reader. Always reads a book and walks (hogging up the prime-o deep lanes with the running belt) and glares when you splash her book. My biggest pet peeve is how crowded MY club is after the new year. MY locker is always taken, MY parking space, and MY favorite high pressure shower. (Just kidding). But the thing I really like is how everyone comes to the noon workout over the holidays, yeah!

We swam a team the other night that had 55 shrimps, our term for 6 and unders. It was mayhem. Fortunately, the shrimps only swim the 25 free and are done. This is nice if that's your only swimmer as your meet is over in 5-10 minutes. For the rest of us it's a 4-5 hour slog. Good thing they invented the beer. We've had the water walkers, or whatever that is that they do, complain when we've had 6-7 adults per lane for a wokout which has forced them to share their precious lane with a single other person. If I saw a walker reading, I think I'd have a rage issue.

What IS it with young swim coaches? A nice dose of inexperience. Sorry you have to deal with it. Sounds like a long summer. . .

I have two rants. Had a woman the other in the pool point directly at a fellow swimmer and say "stop splashing." Guess what, she was a noodler. Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! The more untidy your strokes is the better! I love the over shoulder ldirty ooks from the "float and talk" class with their beautiful, dry, styled hair, when I do 50's or 25s of fly. Spurs me on for an extra rep. It's a pool it has water in it... They seem to not mind hooking the dumblells on the lane line so they are on my peripheral vision as I swim. I've either pulled up panicking that I'm about to collide with someone that has gotten into the lane or hit my fingers on them (if sharing the lane). Now I do a nice long underwater pullout and pop up where the dumbells are and push them back into the area they have for their class. I've seen a mother and toddler been told to get out of the other end of the pool b/c it's reserved for the "float and talk" class. Hooking dumbells on the lane line (on my side) is lazy... I feel like telling them "put them on deck and actually use your legs and arms in some rudimentary stroke to get them when needed"...they'd soon moan if I hooked my fins and stuff in their area.