Simple. You have absolute power to change any technique rules, start/finish rules, age up rules, sky is the limit as long as the rules pertain to swimming. What would you change and why?
The main reason for prohibiting the standing (in the gutter) backstroke start was safety. There were a couple of cases of swimmers arching high and then coming down on the bottom of the pool to hurt themselves. The NFHS was the last organization to change surprisingly taking a couple of years to do it after the other organizations. Then again, they don't own their own insurance company so they may not be as motivated (not to imply that anyone had a financial motive as the primary motivation.)
There was a comment about the rules matching up. For those that are not aware, there is a group, called the Our Kids Initiative, that meets annually to discuss the differences in the rules. The groups consists of representatives from USA Swimming, NCAA, YMCA, NFHS, ASCA, NISCA, NCSCA, FINA and more recently joining USMS (we are just kids with bigger credit card balances/limits.) Over the years, this group has been able to achieve its initial goal of decreasing the differences in the rules so the kids don't have to worry about which set of rules they need to follow for today's swim. Right now the differences are very small. You can go to the recently created OKI website for a list of the major differences: www.ourkidsinitiative.org/ The biggest difference is the NCAA's backstroke turn rule allowing non-continuous turns as long as they are initiated after the flags.
The initiative was the brain child of Pat Lundsford and many thought that the above organizations wouldn't even get in the same room together to discuss rules. Through patient work a lot has been accomplished.
Leo
The main reason for prohibiting the standing (in the gutter) backstroke start was safety. There were a couple of cases of swimmers arching high and then coming down on the bottom of the pool to hurt themselves. The NFHS was the last organization to change surprisingly taking a couple of years to do it after the other organizations. Then again, they don't own their own insurance company so they may not be as motivated (not to imply that anyone had a financial motive as the primary motivation.)
There was a comment about the rules matching up. For those that are not aware, there is a group, called the Our Kids Initiative, that meets annually to discuss the differences in the rules. The groups consists of representatives from USA Swimming, NCAA, YMCA, NFHS, ASCA, NISCA, NCSCA, FINA and more recently joining USMS (we are just kids with bigger credit card balances/limits.) Over the years, this group has been able to achieve its initial goal of decreasing the differences in the rules so the kids don't have to worry about which set of rules they need to follow for today's swim. Right now the differences are very small. You can go to the recently created OKI website for a list of the major differences: www.ourkidsinitiative.org/ The biggest difference is the NCAA's backstroke turn rule allowing non-continuous turns as long as they are initiated after the flags.
The initiative was the brain child of Pat Lundsford and many thought that the above organizations wouldn't even get in the same room together to discuss rules. Through patient work a lot has been accomplished.
Leo
