The DQ thread got me thinking about swimming rules I'd like to see repealed.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.
How is that any different from any other sport where parents serve as VOLUNTEER officials? I've seen paid officials in other sports act much worse about nit picking than I've ever seen in USA-S meets.
The #1 rule of USA-S is that the swimmer gets the benefit of the doubt and that is reinforced at every briefing. The rules are the rules. If I start paying attention to some and not others, what is the point of having rules? What is nit picky to one is not to the other. I just call what I see and don't make distinctions in the rules.
I am not familiar enough with other sports to compare, nor am I interested. Of course rules are rules, but there is often a gray area of interpretation, and I don't know if everyone is as zealous as you seem to be at giving the swimmer the benefit of the doubt.
I could cite any number of examples, but really what's the point? I freely acknowledge they are the exception and not the rule. Generally I am very happy with swimming officiating; it is human nature to remember those exceptions that leave one less-than-thrilled.
Volunteers have my respect, especially those whose kids have long since gone off to college but they still donate their time/energy to the sport because their skills are in-demand and haven't been replaced yet. And I certainly understand -- I have felt it myself from time to time -- that one can resent what can seem to be constant griping from people who nevertheless contribute nothing to help things out.
How is that any different from any other sport where parents serve as VOLUNTEER officials? I've seen paid officials in other sports act much worse about nit picking than I've ever seen in USA-S meets.
The #1 rule of USA-S is that the swimmer gets the benefit of the doubt and that is reinforced at every briefing. The rules are the rules. If I start paying attention to some and not others, what is the point of having rules? What is nit picky to one is not to the other. I just call what I see and don't make distinctions in the rules.
I am not familiar enough with other sports to compare, nor am I interested. Of course rules are rules, but there is often a gray area of interpretation, and I don't know if everyone is as zealous as you seem to be at giving the swimmer the benefit of the doubt.
I could cite any number of examples, but really what's the point? I freely acknowledge they are the exception and not the rule. Generally I am very happy with swimming officiating; it is human nature to remember those exceptions that leave one less-than-thrilled.
Volunteers have my respect, especially those whose kids have long since gone off to college but they still donate their time/energy to the sport because their skills are in-demand and haven't been replaced yet. And I certainly understand -- I have felt it myself from time to time -- that one can resent what can seem to be constant griping from people who nevertheless contribute nothing to help things out.
