The DQ thread got me thinking about swimming rules I'd like to see repealed.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.
Parents
Former Member
This weekend our local club hosted its annual December meet. 500 kids each day in an indoor, 6 lane 25y pool. Fortunately, it's split session, with 11-14 in the am, and 10/u and 15/o in the pm.
My 7 year old swam his first competitive 200y free ever the first night (Fri). Although he shows no fear, he was worried about losing count. So I told him I would use the lap counter for him. He went 3:30(!).
The next morning, within 30 secs of arriving on the deck, I got cornered by the meet director and was told that I had violated several USAS rules, the main two being "interfering with the swimmer" and "using a counter for a race of less than 16 lengths".
I absolutely lost it (I don't care for anal retentive meet directors, and his approach tee'd me off), and told him that that had to be the stupidest of many stupid USAS rules, and if they wanted to discourage young kids from swimming more than a 50, this was the way to do it.:bitching:
So, repeal the rule about lap counters for less than 16 lengths.
This weekend our local club hosted its annual December meet. 500 kids each day in an indoor, 6 lane 25y pool. Fortunately, it's split session, with 11-14 in the am, and 10/u and 15/o in the pm.
My 7 year old swam his first competitive 200y free ever the first night (Fri). Although he shows no fear, he was worried about losing count. So I told him I would use the lap counter for him. He went 3:30(!).
The next morning, within 30 secs of arriving on the deck, I got cornered by the meet director and was told that I had violated several USAS rules, the main two being "interfering with the swimmer" and "using a counter for a race of less than 16 lengths".
I absolutely lost it (I don't care for anal retentive meet directors, and his approach tee'd me off), and told him that that had to be the stupidest of many stupid USAS rules, and if they wanted to discourage young kids from swimming more than a 50, this was the way to do it.:bitching:
So, repeal the rule about lap counters for less than 16 lengths.
