Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

Former Member — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:51:44 GMT

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

Former Member — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:51:59 GMT

I've done 400IM in local USMS meets where the range of times is pretty long in a single heat I'm sure that is true Steve. You swam about a 4:10 IM at Div. III Nationals back when I pretended to coach you. I'll bet you'd wait almost two minutes for me to finish if I was in your heat. I agree with the posters who think it's good manners to wait for the rest of your heat to finish, but sometimes it's just better to get out. A few years ago I was 17th seed out of 17 for the 50-54 200 Fly at Indy. There were two heats of eight for the age group, and I was thrown in with the first heat where there were a couple of open lanes. The next youngest guy was 78 I think. I didn't swim great, but I actually exited the water, ran down to the north course, watched my friend finish his race, and then returned to the south end of the natatorium to realize that two of the guys in my heat were approaching their last turn. They kept it legal, and the roar of the crowd was genuine praise for what the two 80 something swimmers endured to finish their event. I'm glad I had such a good view of it from the pool deck. Ken Taking a year off with four broken ribs. :(

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

Former Member — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:45:11 GMT

I think an exception exists for circumstances when you could take a shower and get dressed before the other people finish. I've done 400IM in local USMS meets where the range of times is pretty long in a single heat. This happened to me once back in 1962 or thereabouts. It was the University Championships. Back in Egypt, swimming is really a (country and sports) Club thing rather than High School or University. I did swim at the University Championships one year because they gave scholarships to Champions (even though University was, technically, free). I did the (LCM) 100 free, 200, 400 and 1500 in one afternoon. Won them all. The sun was setting as I finished the 1500 (in no great a time, I might add; some 25 minutes or so. I was a sprinter) and it was getting cool then cold, so I decided to "heck with sportsmanship and shaking the 2nd place finisher's hand." I went showered and put my clothes and went back and peeped through the door and decided it would be better if I just left so as not to embarass the poor sap. I know how I would have felt in his shoes, had the winner waited for me to touch, with his clothes on. Of course, I'm happy telling and re-telling the story (and he was from a different Faculty) years later, except that there were only three real swimmers (from Clubs, I mean) in the whole University and I did beat the other two who were a ***-stroker and a back-stroker but who, in real life being from our main opposing club in Cairo, had decided to take me on in my stroke. I can't even remember their names now, but I do remember the whole afternoon and each and every swim.

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

FlyQueen — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:19:55 GMT

I asked this at a USS meet I swam last summer that was doing flyovers. I had emailed the coach my times and she still came up with her own times. I swam the dreaded 200 free with a seed time about 15 seconds faster than I had ever done and basically hit the wall and a girl was flying over me. In the 100 fly I was seeded with a time about 15 seconds slower than I go so I had time to get out. I loathe flyovers so I try to get out of the way as much as possible. I was told that if there was sufficient time to get out then that was okay. Otherwise stay in. In Masters I mostly swim 50s and a few 100s so it's rarely an issue.

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

knelson — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:52:55 GMT

After the heat has started, swimmers are to exit the pool by climbing out at the latter at the side of the pool. I remember this procedure from Worlds at Stanford. It's OK in general, but gets a little interesting in the 50 frees. If you're in a middle lane you don't have much time to get across the pool before that next heat is on top of you!

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

osterber — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:17:45 GMT

Here's my perspective... if you finished so far ahead of everyone that you had time to catch your breath, and then jump out of the pool before everyone else finished, then you sandbagged. If you finished so far behind everyone that people had time to get out before you finished, then you anti-sandbagged. Either way, you should work on your seed times. :) If everyone seeded themselves well, then we wouldn't even have to debate this issue. :) (Admittedly, in events that are 400 and longer, there can be a significant gap between finishers, even in the most perfectly seeded heat.) But on the whole, I don't have a problem with people getting out. I think you wait a bit for people to finish in a competitive heat. If you "pop" out, that's a bit rude. If your heat is competitive, in a fly-over-start meet, then you should stay in the water until the next heat finishes anyways. But if someone still has 50 yards to swim, and you're done, I think you have the right to get out so you can go warm down and not get cold. (As a meet director, in that situation, I'd rather you not warm down in your lane while the other person finishes, because odds are, you'll not time it correctly, and end up holding things up even longer while we wait for you to finish your warmdown lap.) -Rick

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

Former Member — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:31:13 GMT

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

swimshark — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:12:33 GMT

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: I agree as well!

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

Muppet — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:48:43 GMT

If you find that you have enough energy to hop out of the pool immediately after you touch to finish a race, you didn't swim hard enough during the race. I try to give a handshake to both adjacent lanes... or the Handshake/Hug if a teammate or friend is neighboring. As for waiting, I'm usually trying to gather my bearings and tend to be one of the last out of the pool.

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

Former Member — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:02:49 GMT

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:

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

Allen Stark — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:27:11 GMT

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.

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

michaelmoore — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 06:48:48 GMT

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.

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

Former Member — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 05:21:15 GMT

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.

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

Rykno — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 01:25:22 GMT

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.

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

Former Member — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:37:36 GMT

Interestingly, this was posted in the FINA Masters World Champs thread: Over the top? You are not permitted to climb out at the starting block?

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

Former Member — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:41:19 GMT

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.

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

Former Member — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:31:24 GMT

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.

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

beluga — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:55:13 GMT

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)

RE: Waiting until heat is completed to exit pool?

That Guy — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:19:59 GMT

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.