I think it was Ande that said "it's not how fast you swim, it's how fast you slow down." I read that a few years ago and keep on coming back to it as I have watched my kids grow in their USA Swimming careers. When kids are around 8-10, many of the races are 50s. Lots of kids can swim relatively fast 50s compared to other kids even when their stroke technique is truly awful. But then once the clock strikes 11 (years old), all of the 50s go away (less one) - and magically many of the kids with bad technique who seemed fast start losing to kids in the 100s and 200s with superior strokes. My question is at what age are we masters swimmers when we start thinking 50 backstroke, 50 butterfly and 50 breaststroke are OK to race again? It is not OK. It brings our sport down to a level where people who train only 100s or less and focus on 25s are taking over our pools. No more I say!!! I think USMS rules should only allow these races for people in their 70s and older. Who is with me?!!!
:worms: :bolt:
Parents
Former Member
Whoa. My favorite races are 100 free and 100 fly, followed closely by 50 free. I was merely pointing out that there is a cycle. Little kids do 50 back, fly and *** at 10 years old because they can still have a certain amount of success swimming 50s, even with bad strokes. And with success comes some self esteem. Then the cycle progresses to where the shortest races are 100s (other than free of course) for 13-18 yo's - at which point stroke technique and ability to focus for a little longer begins to be more important to success. Then the cycle returns to the starting point later when many swimmers in their 40s and 50s return to their roots and enter predominately the 50 free, or 50s stroke. No doubt. 50s are fun to race. And they make people feel good about themselves because they can swim fast for those short races. ...but as Ande says "it's not how fast you swim, it's how fast you slow down." There is nothing wrong with swimming races that make you feel good about yourself at 50 just as there was nothing wrong about kids swimming 50 fly when they are 10 and feeling good about it.
Whoa. My favorite races are 100 free and 100 fly, followed closely by 50 free. I was merely pointing out that there is a cycle. Little kids do 50 back, fly and *** at 10 years old because they can still have a certain amount of success swimming 50s, even with bad strokes. And with success comes some self esteem. Then the cycle progresses to where the shortest races are 100s (other than free of course) for 13-18 yo's - at which point stroke technique and ability to focus for a little longer begins to be more important to success. Then the cycle returns to the starting point later when many swimmers in their 40s and 50s return to their roots and enter predominately the 50 free, or 50s stroke. No doubt. 50s are fun to race. And they make people feel good about themselves because they can swim fast for those short races. ...but as Ande says "it's not how fast you swim, it's how fast you slow down." There is nothing wrong with swimming races that make you feel good about yourself at 50 just as there was nothing wrong about kids swimming 50 fly when they are 10 and feeling good about it.
