I was swimming at a meet today, and I noticed that most/many swimmers get out of the pool (or at least in my heats when I was noticing it) more or less right after they're done with their race.
Back when I was about 9 (1993ish), I remember my coach told us before the local summer swim league championship meet (it was my first) at UNC's Koury Natatorium using electronic timing, etc., that it was good sportsmanship to wait until the entire heat is finished with their swim, and then get out of the pool. The reasoning was never explained to me at the time, but I can infer a good reason: no one has to finish the race alone (there are probably other good reasons).
I've generally adopted this practice for the most part when I swim in meets, even though this can impact the operation of the meet (namely, if it takes longer to exit the pool, the meet takes longer, unless you use dive-overs). And this practice can be problematic if you win the heat, and it takes a long period of time for the heat to finish (say 5 minutes). I should also note that I haven't paid a great amount of attention to this, and that the heats that I generally swim in are early heats, which tend to have larger time spreads (which would skew my perception). Furthermore many people who didn't have the lengthy experience with competitive swimming that someone like I would might not know about this idea. And in the grand scheme of things, waiting doesn't make you a better person or a worse person than anyone else--it's just a custom.
So what does everyone think about this kind of thing? Is it something that matters or is it largely irrelevant? And is the practice of waiting commonplace or haphazard?
Patrick King
It's also good to wait until the previous heat is completed to enter the pool. In the distant past (college) I swam a 500 free and then started warming down in my lane since I knew that there was going to be a 20 minute break following the event. When I got to the other end, one of our breaststrokers hopped in with me to warm up for his 200 that was soon to follow. From his perspective, everyone in the pool was warming down, so it was okay to hop in. However, one or more of the end-lane swimmers weren't done racing yet. (It looked like they were warming down, but they were, in fact, still racing...) So me and my teammates in the 500 that day were all DQ'd through no fault of our own. Anyway the moral of the story is don't do that.
Good sportsmanship is one reason to wait till the entire heat finished before exiting the pool.
Another reason is that if you don't exit cleanly, i.e. slip back in after the first attempt, you can be DQed for interfering with those still swimming by creating excessive/unnecessary waves. (It happened at a local High School meet a few years back)
Waiting is good sportsmanship.
Some meets have fly overs just to keep the cattle drive going.
But that's usually only the big ones...like zones or nationals.
Most masters swimmers from what I've seen, climb right out. It keeps the meet moving.
A high five or fist clunk to the neighboring lane is a good gesture just before getting out. Again these are backyard meets, not nationals.
But to answer your question...waiting is a nice thing to do so the stragglers don't feel demoralized.
Interestingly, this was posted in the FINA Masters World Champs thread:
Both Sue and Shane could have been DQed as they left the pool by going over the top as opposed to going to the side to get out. They were told not to do it again.
all the meets I have been to in the last 2 yrs have had rolling starts. to speed up the meet, all swimmers stay in the pool about 3-4 feet from the wall, hanging onthe lane line, after the next heat starts, swim to the side and get out.
those swimming in lanes 1 and 6 or 1 and 8 sometimes sneak out, and swimmers try to move to the side lanes if they are empty.
and we are also told that we cannot climb out the end of the lane, it can damage the touch pads.
Oh this is a touchy subject in our household!
A couple of years back my son swam a heat with one of his practice buddies.
He finished, crossed the lane line and waited for his friend to finish so he could shake his hand.
Needless to say-he now gets out of the pool ASAP.
Over the top? You are not permitted to climb out at the starting block?
One is not permitted to climb out at the starting block. One must wait for the next heat to start, by hanging on the lane lines about 1 meter from the touch pads. After the heat has started, swimmers are to exit the pool by climbing out at the latter at the side of the pool.
I had never thought about waiting to exit before or not.I am sufficiently nearsighted that by the time I have figured out the scoreboard everyone has finished.anyway.As far as i know it's OK to exit at the end of the pool unless they are doing rolling starts(like at Worlds),most people seem to.
Waiting is good sportsmanship.
Amen!
I did this in USS, HS, college and Masters. It's out of respect for your fellow competitors. Plus, it gives you a moment to catch your breath. If my kids swim... I will definitely instruct them to do this.
:agree:
