Many swimmers I have talked to over the years have said that they would like to race some nonstandard event. Frequently mentioned examples are: a 75 butterfly, a 3-stroke IM, a 25 SDK, or a distance stroke event. Suppose you could enter some nonstandard events at a SCY meet, what would you pick? Perhaps a 2x400 breaststroke family relay? (Count me out on that one, but it does sound cool.) I thought about posting a poll, but it would be difficult to list all of the possibilities and I might miss some good idea, so I'm just inviting free-form response. Second question: would you travel to Philadelphia to swim it?
I've been to 3 meets in the last year that do this. Heck, our recent LCM zone championship did it.
Of course you always have the people (cough cough Fortress cough) who complain about their lane assignments under this type of seeding system.
I believe that it is a recommendation that the 1st & 2nd fastest in any age group/gender can request not to have a wall lane.
1) plunge and glide
2)15 M of each event
I certainly don't recommend this one,but my Soph.year in HS our coach was an assistant football coach and he came up with a relay where the lane lines were removed and each team started from the opposite diagonal corner so you swam the first diagonal dodging the other swimmer then on the way back if you were a big guy you tried to grab the other swimmer and drag him back to your side,if you were small(like me) you tried to dodge this humiliating fate.
I believe that it is a recommendation that the 1st & 2nd fastest in any age group/gender can request not to have a wall lane.
But not many meet directors know this. Jeff Roddin does though. :applaud:
Any-distance kick event (with or without board...though "with board" would be kind of fun)
An "anything goes" event where any equipment (fins, paddles, etc) is allowed.
400 backstroke
300 3-stroke IM (swimmer's choice on which stroke to drop)
200 or 400 "any order" IM (swimmer's choice on stroke order)
50 backstroke, dives off blocks are allowed (must be on back by 15m)
I might be willing to travel to Philadelphia for a meet with nonstandard events. But 2 x 400 breaststroke relay sounds unspeakably boring, so let me know if you are planning on offering that one...I don't think you can pay me enough money to sit through it...!
When I was an age group swimmer, we went to a "fun" meet at the end of the summer. One of the events was an IM relay. Each person swam 100 IM. What made it more interesting was that we had to have a swimmer from each age group (10 & under, 11-12, 13-14, 15 & over). It was exciting because the lead kept changing, depending on the stroke. When I was coaching awhile ago, we went to a relay meet: backstroke relay, butterfly relay, etc. That was fun also.
Would I travel for such a meet, probably not. It would be fun locally, but I don't think I'd spend the money for travel and lodging when there are so many other meets.
I like the idea of 75's
maybe a 300 (4x75) IM
fly, back and *** relays. 4x50 and 4x100. make the rule for the backstroke dive start that you have to roll over to your back and start swimming before 15m. but the underwater stream at each start could be stomache or side (swimmers choice)
I heard of a relay where the relay team swims 100 and 200 of each stroke, the 200 and 400 IM as well as the 400, and 1500 free. I am not sure if they are 6 man teams but all swimmers had to swim atleast 2 legs of the relay.
That would be fun and long! and it wouldn't necessarily mean the team with the best freestylers would win. it could just as easliy be the team with the best butterfly swimmers since the time differences can be huge in the 200 fly.
