Basic Rules of Swimming
**All information is based off
the USA Swimming
website.
The conference gives
the younger kids a chance to get more familiar with the sport before they start
enforcing disqualifications. For all 8-unders DQs
will not be enforced until the fifth swim meet. The first meet enforcing DQs will be our June 25th meet against Hinswood. However,
for older kids DQs do begin immediately with the
first meet of the season.
The technical rules of swimming are designed to provide fair and
equitable conditions of competition and to promote uniformity in the sport.
Each swimming stroke has specific rules designed to ensure that no swimmer gets
an unfair competitive advantage over another swimmer.
Trained officials observe the swimmers during each event to ensure
compliance with these technical rules. If a swimmer commits an infraction of
the rules that is observed by an official, a disqualification (DQ) will result.
This means that the swimmer will not receive an official time and will not be
eligible for an award in that event. A disqualification may result from actions
such as not getting to the starting blocks on time, false starting, performing strokes in an illegal manner, or unsportsman�like conduct.
DQs are also a result of technical rules violations. They
include but are not limited to:
Freestyle: Walking on the bottom, pulling on the lane rope, not
touching the wall on a turn, or not completing the distance.
Backstroke: Pulling or kicking into the wall once a swimmer has turned
passed the vertical onto the breast. Turning onto the breast
before touching the wall with the hand at the finish of the race.
Breaststroke: An illegal kick such as flutter (freestyle), dolphin
(butterfly), or scissors (side stroke); not on the breast; alternating
movements of the arms; taking two arm strokes or two leg kicks while the head
is under water; touching with only one hand at the turns or finish.
Butterfly: Alternating movements of the arms or legs; pushing the arms
forward under instead of over the water surface (underwater recovery); a
breaststroke style of kick; touching with only one hand at the turns or finish.
False Start: A child can be disqualified in any
race of any stroke if they have a false start, which means they start the race
before the sound of go signal (whistle, beep�etc.). Also during relays if the
swimmer goes before the previous swimmer reaches the wall.