Swim Rant

The thing is, Ion didn't believe me when I told him Geek was actually a pretty nice guy.

I never though it would happen, but I'm agreeing with Geek! More and more of you are joining the Dark Side daily. The Smith will be my final goal.

It seems that my league is a little different as the goal is for the kids to have fun, yes but the basic guideline is that if they are not even close to legal, they should not be entered into meets. And it's up to the coaches to determine that which is why it is greatly encouraged that the coaches enter the swimmers in thier events, not the swimmers or the parents. So far that has been working very well as the B-Meets are running much faster due to a dramatic decrease in stroke violations. I guess I just don't understand why someone would enter a swimmer in an event that htey have not even mastered the basics of the stroke. That's what Free and Back are for. Also it seems from what I am hearing, other leagues have huge all-inclusive meets with many, many heats. I can not imagine how long those meets last. Our Saturday A meets are first event at 9am end of meet by 11:30am give or take 15 min, hopefully more take than give. B meets start at 6pm during the week and are _hopefully_ over at 9pm. How long do other summer league meets take? Paul

I never though it would happen, but I'm agreeing with Geek! Doing S&T for summer league needs to be a bit more relaxed. When watching the peanut-league swimmers (non-point scoring heats), I make sure to "look away" at the start of *** & fly. When I watch these little guys fall off the block, feet entering the water before hands, I KNOW that they'll be flutter kicking and dog paddling for their lives to get to the surface. There are not enough DQ slips in the box to write up all the infractions. Instead, I give them a chance to get to the surface and start swimming. Then, if the fly/*** looks more like free/side-stroke, the hand goes up for the DQ. Yes, they need to learn. I know the coaches pretty well (they coach ou winter league too). They know which kids will never be legal, which kids are on the verge of being legal, and which kids try to get away with breaking the rules. They will look over at me during a race, and I'll give them a nod or a hand signal to let them know what I'm seeing from a judges perspective. I also talk to the opposing team's coaches when there's a kid in the "maybe" category. The coaches appreciate the feedback. I even had one coach ask me to "Please write the DQ slip (for this swimmer). This kid doesn't listen to me when I try to correct his stroke. I need him to get DQ'd so I can prove a point." That was an exception though.

How long do other summer league meets take? Paul Minimum of 4 hours, assuming no lightning delay.

Minimum of 4 hours, assuming no lightning delay. Ouch. I think I would have to fall in the pool at least twice going that long.

Hulk - 2:45 to about 8:00 including warm ups, 5 duel meets on Mondays (3 down, 2 to go). Great to save gas with all home meets this year, but we have to warm up first. Glider - yes, that's me! I swam for Al Rose. He'll be in Omaha with 2 swimmers (one guy seeded 5th in the 400IM!). Mel Nash went to Gateway and I swam for him at Texas A&M. Billy G. lives here in Dallas and swims at the noon workout! I just nominated him for the PA Sports Hall of Fame - East Boros Chapter. I hope he gets in this year! I mean, the guy was a world record holder (200 SCM fly)!!! If you visit Dallas, come swim with us (www.damswim.com)!

My YMCA used to leave a lane aside for laps-people who stand in your way even when it is obvious that you are trying to workout-worse the lifegaurds do not say anything to these people-Now Lap swimming during member swim has been taken away for water(social hour) aerobics. I would kill for a team in my area(Manvel Texas) that I could train with-I'll have to accept to be the lone stranger:soapbox:

Freezing cold water :mad: And really hot pools, for that matter too.

I didn't get much sleep last night,so I thought of taking a nap instead of swimming,but I thought I'd better as we're getting close to Nats.I got there and they had swim lessons in half the pool so it was crowded.I got in the lane nearest the lessons and had swum 200 when I saw a lifeguard with a net fishing something out of MY lane.I stopped and asked what happened and she said"Oh,some kid threw up."As I was standing there in disbelief the woman in the next lane said"don't you have to close the pool?" After some discussion among the lifeguards,they decided to close the pool and chlorine shock it.Yuck!