I just posted,slightly tongue in cheek,that changing the breaststroke rule so ones head can go underwater was the best change ever.It got me thinking what was the best rule change.(someone else can do a worst change poll.)
as life long backstroker, I'm not a fan of the "new" backstroke turn for 3 reasons:
1) the gray area involved in whether someone is or is not doing the turn by the rules (single motion arm pull, no kicking, etc). it was cut and dried before, either your hand touched the wall, or it didn't.
2) one less skill required to master the stroke. now all it is is a freestyle turn. before it required you to learn how to turn properly and to practice it. now you just flop over and do a freestyle turn.
3) large drops in times for backstroke events for a reason that has nothing to do with better training techniques or stroke improvement. You might as well let breastrokers and flyers do flip turns now too. The old turn worked great, I honestly saw no need for a new one.
as life long backstroker, I'm not a fan of the "new" backstroke turn for 3 reasons:
1) the gray area involved in whether someone is or is not doing the turn by the rules (single motion arm pull, no kicking, etc). it was cut and dried before, either your hand touched the wall, or it didn't.
2) one less skill required to master the stroke. now all it is is a freestyle turn. before it required you to learn how to turn properly and to practice it. now you just flop over and do a freestyle turn.
3) large drops in times for backstroke events for a reason that has nothing to do with better training techniques or stroke improvement. You might as well let breastrokers and flyers do flip turns now too. The old turn worked great, I honestly saw no need for a new one.
