The DQ thread got me thinking about swimming rules I'd like to see repealed.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.
And while I really, truly, whole-heartedly admire the volunteer officials and their dedication -- and think that 99% of them are regular folk who roll their eyes at that sort of thing -- USA-S officiating can sometimes seems to be full of nit-picky practices like this. I saw an official pull a 11-yo girl off the blocks for a delay-of-meet DQ. She was maybe 5 sec late getting on the blocks -- TOPS -- and the DQ and resulting melodrama probably took 5 min.
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.
What I like about swimming versus other sports for kids is that the rules you learn are the same at age six as they are at age 18, and beyond. This is compared to the wildly varied rules and nuances of Pop Warner, Little League/Cal Ripken, etc.
Our LSC mandates that the 12/unders can't have a session longer than 4 hours or a financial penalty is imposed (maybe this is universal, I don't know beyond our LSC). I think this is a fantastic rule. If you start allowing counters for all free events and calling heats you will lose events or add sessions. You'd be surprised how important 10 minutes here or 15 minutes there is at a meet where you are trying to cram 400 swimmers in 4 hours.
Oh.
Apologies then. That isn't what I think of when I hear "losing it."
None required. I was VERY animated, when I am usually quite reserved and polite. It was the (what I considered to be the pedantic) way he informed me of the violations that got me going...
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.
