Summer swim absurd age rules

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07/24/2023 07:41

Subject: Re:Summer swim absurd age rules

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Anonymous wrote:As an outsider looking in, I have to say it’s no wonder you have parents obsessing over this- the swim league creates this monster with three timers a lane and the hype around divisional and all stars. You can’t say it’s a relaxed summer rec sport on one hand and then omg we need three timers a lane and this, that, or the other.

The multiple timers is to ensure an accurate time, which is really the only thing most swimmers should care about because you are always swimming against your own best time (which is why worrying about age cut offs is silly -- every swimmer can swim for their personal best and that is ultimately what matters). Three timers per lane allows them to take the middle time, so swimmers feel more confident about the accuracy of their time and can know how they are doing week to week. If you didn't have three timers, it would never be clear if a kid swam a bit slower this week or just got a timer with slower reflexes. It takes it from "relaxed" to "meaningless" and no one wants to do something totally meaningless.

And divisional and all-stars are the same thing. Most leagues have teams select their two fastest swimmers from each division to send to these events. Not the two swimmers who have won the most, but just the fastest. This is just what swimming is -- competing against the clock. Having "hype" around these events is part of the fun and allows the kids to cheer each other on and support teammates who are swimming well. This is one of the main points of swim team.

Having 3 watch times vs 2 doesn’t lead to accuracy. It leads to precision, but not accuracy. The true time is the time from the start to the time the swimmer makes contact with the wall. A time with a stopwatch who sees the starting box light has a 0.15 s delay due to reaction time. Likely higher and with wider variance if they are using their thumb to start the watch instead of their index finger, and most people use their thumbs. And definitely higher if timers are reacting to a sound instead of a light. You can reliably add 0.15-.022 sec to every time if you want the “true” time.

If there is a delay due to seeing the light, wouldn't times be faster? This seems correct too as most kids are swimming comparable LCM times to their SCM times - though maybe that is due to no blocks

Yes, I think we are saying the same thing. A 30.00 sec timed 50 scm is probably really 30.15 sec because the timer started the watch 0.15 sec or so after the start. It is possible it is more like a 30.25 sec race because many timers anticipate the touch and hit their watches or buttons too soon. When I work the computer for meets, I can see that often the button time is often a little faster than the pad time. The pad and button start together and the button is triggered by the timer whereas the pad is triggered by the swimmer.

But it’s very hard to equate scm and lcm and having blocks/no blocks just adds more uncertainty. The scy-lcm conversion is not great and most kids can’t achieve their best scy time in lcm conversion in age group swimming. At least that had been my own experience having 2 club swim kids, being a timing computer operator, and what their coaches have told us.

Most of the exceptions to your last statement are kids who are not yet comfortable getting in and out of turns but can consistently repeat their stroke over the longer distance leg of each length of the pool.

The issue isn't age, its skill and training. You cannot compare club or year round swim to summer swimmers and just summer alone aren't going to learn those techniques in only 6 weeks. I have a slower club swimmer. They are up three days a week at 4:30 to swim. If they cannot do turns you need to teach them or stop complaining.

I wasn't complaining in the least. I was simply pointing out why some, mostly inexperienced, kids tend to outswim their scy to lcm conversions.

Age by a year is not so much an issue as it is natural ability, how much they practice, etc. you are using age as an excuse. The kids who out swim work hard and have a lot of natural talent. They are swimming 7-9+ days a week.

I know it’s a typo but claiming you need to be swimming 9+ days a week is such a classic intense sports parent thing to say

In any case, for younger swimmers in particular, skills like turning aren’t just a function of their dedication to the sport. It’s also an opportunity issue, as some swim instructors simply will not focus on turns until kids are ar a certain level with their strokes. And of course, kids are subject to their parents’ priorities as well— not all parents are willing to get their kids to the pool at 4am every day.

Which is why summer swim is actually a nice respite for a lot of kids. It tends to be more about bonding with teammates, enjoying the sport itself. Obviously some kids are still better than others and that becomes apparent over the course of the season. But it’s not as intense as winter swim. And that’s great for all the kids, regardless of skill level or speed.