The DQ thread got me thinking about swimming rules I'd like to see repealed. Here's my list:
15M rule on freestyle -- You're allowed to do virtually anything you want in a freestyle race provided you touch the walls, don't push off the bottom and don't pull on the lane lines. Why is going beyond 15 meters doing SDK not "freestyle?"
15M rule on backstroke -- Again, the rule seems arbitrary as I could go 15M underwater SDK, pop up and then kick the rest of the way still doing SDK on my back and be perfectly legal. What's so magical about 15M?
Dolphin kick off the wall on a breaststroke pullout -- just have the guts to DQ Kitajima back when he should've been DQd and this whole :worms:wouldn't have been opened.
Rollover backstroke turns -- go back to the bucket turn (touch on your back, turn, push off on your back) and you save a whole bunch of DQ hassles for swimmers & judges. Yeah, times will be way slower, but we banned tech suits, so clearly the swimming purists should be lined up behind this one.
Standup backstroke starts -- what's so magical about starting with your toes / feet in the water when we get to start with our feet out of the water on all other races? Let's stop the discrimination against backstrokers!
For the record, with the exception of #5, I would derive no speed benefit from any of the above rule changes as a competitor (I can't hold my breath in a race for 15M and my doplhin kick on the *** pullout is weak at best). As an S&T judge, though, all of these would make my life easier and, I believe (#5 possibly excepted), be more consistent with the overall rules for the strokes.
But, but, but ... 15 meters is 66% of a SCY pool or 60% of a SCM pool. In LCM it's only 30% of the pool. So, in SCM or SCY you swim no more than half as much backstroke as in LCM and the race is much more like an SDK race instead of a backstroke race. I'm no expert. How close to 15m to good swimmers get at the end of a 200yd race? I assume not as close as at the beginning.
And counting kicks makes it easy (and proves my point I think). You don't need a visual cue. Just kick the desired number of times and pop out. What am I missing?
Skip
I think I'm in the minority here, but 15 m of SDK in a SCM or SCY seems like too much kicking and too little of the stroke at hand. SDKing is a great skill and I admire it, but it is a different skill. I'd rather us make a separate SDK event and leave the strokes as strokes.
But, but, but ... 15 meters is 66% of a SCY pool or 60% of a SCM pool. In LCM it's only 30% of the pool. So, in SCM or SCY you swim no more than half as much backstroke as in LCM and the race is much more like an SDK race instead of a backstroke race. I'm no expert. How close to 15m to good swimmers get at the end of a 200yd race? I assume not as close as at the beginning.
And counting kicks makes it easy (and proves my point I think). You don't need a visual cue. Just kick the desired number of times and pop out. What am I missing?
Skip
I think I'm in the minority here, but 15 m of SDK in a SCM or SCY seems like too much kicking and too little of the stroke at hand. SDKing is a great skill and I admire it, but it is a different skill. I'd rather us make a separate SDK event and leave the strokes as strokes.
