Goldfins Snowflake Sprints - Results Are In
This past weekend, Goldfins swimmers in the White 1, 2 & 3 Harry Bailey Aquatic Centre and Shaw Centre groups competed in the Snowflake Sprints racing challenge. Events included: 100M/200M Backstroke, 25M/50M Fly and in the 50M Freestyle. In addition to the swimming events, the Goldfins Coaching Staff used this event to facilitate the T 50M Freestyle Kick test.
This in-house swim meet serves as an opportunity for swimmers to practice their competitive strokes, skills, and racing tactics. Although this competition is an unsanctioned swim meet, the Club’s coaching staff use this experience as a teaching opportunity to review stroke technique and the technical rules that govern the sport of swimming. Unofficial times are recorded and posted to assist in the tracking of our Goldfins swimmers’ progress. There was 107 personal best times posted at the Snowflake Sprints racing challenge.
Congratulations to swimmers who posted 100% Personal Best times: Gabby Asselin, Hassan Awadalla, Theodore Baerwald, Briana Boyko, Eva Chapman, Aahna Chaudhury, Emmett Findlay, Carolanna Haight, Mateo Jarcan, Cerys More, Gracie Munshaw, Will Sothilingam, Jessie Sun, Wilson Sun and Nathan Wei.
Goldfins White Group Swimmers Top 3 Most Female Improved Events:
Briana Boyko 200 Backstroke -43.75
Gabby Asselin 50 Freestyle -13.03
Sienna Weber 50 Freestyle -10.74
Goldfins White Group Swimmers Top 3 Most Male Improved Events:
Emmett Findlay 200 Backstroke -42.97
Daniel Tran 200 Backstroke -40.29
Hassan Awadalla 200 Backstroke -24.06
T 50M Kick Test Results:
White 1 & 2 Groups Top Kick Result:
Gracie Munshaw 49.24
White 1 & 2 Groups Most Improved Kick Result:
Sienna Weber 1:00.98 8.55% Improvement
White 3 Group Top Kick & Most Improved Result:
Hassan Awadalla 51.28 11.97% Improvement
For swimmers and families who are new to the sport of swimming, swim meets are governed by FINA rules and regulations. These rules are applied to all swimmers, coaches, meet organizers to ensure equality through fair play principles, proper swimming stroke/skill execution, and preservation of the integrity of the sport of swimming. Disqualifications are charged to swimmers who commit stroke/skill rule infractions. Disqualifications are a large part of the learning process for new swimmers, and are a major focus for each season.
The communication for each disqualification is very important, since breaking a rule of a stroke only teaches a swimmer what not to do, and it is more important for a swimmer to learn what action to take to avoid breaking the rule. Some rules are simple to interpret and convey in an active manner: DO NOT touch with one hand in Breaststroke or Fly -- can translate to -- DO touch with two hands in Breaststroke and Fly. Swimming rules can be more complicated to translate: DO NOT pull hands past hips in Breaststroke or DO NOT perform flutter kick in Fly – can both translate to – DO hold the streamline Breaststroke position by breathing early and by quickly “shooting your hands forward as you put your head down in the glide recovery phase” (this way you won’t need to pull or kick yourself to the surface to breathe). In short, it is the coach’s job to determine the cause of the disqualification, and communicate an active solution to be implemented in practice. This is why a post-race talk with a coach may not mention their disqualification, as it allows more emphasis to be put on the active solution. If your swimmer is aware of their disqualification, it is good to remind them of their active solution(s) before each practice and race, and celebrate other technical improvements they make along the way.
Common Disqualifications:
BACKSTROKE:
Similar to rules for freestyle, except swimmers have to stay on their backs (with the exception of turns in multi-lap races.) Younger swimmers who are DQ’d in backstroke is typically a focus issue, while older swimmers who are learning the turn have a highly technical undertaking, and it can take some time to master.
1. Turning shoulders past vertical towards the stomach before completing a one lap race, or on the finish of a multi-lap race, is cause for disqualification. (This is defined as turning past the vertical-if you are flat on your back, you can’t roll more than 90 degrees, or you are more on your stomach than on your back.)
2. The Turn: This is tricky, but the rule is that swimmers may roll to their stomachs, take one arm stroke and, IN ONE CONTINUOUS MOTION, do a freestyle flip turn and then push off the wall on their back. The “one continuous motion” part of the rule is fairly subjective. A guideline: If a swimmer rolls over, takes their one allotted arm stroke and then has to kick into the wall before they turn, they will probably be DQ’d. More than one continuous pull to initiate turn is also an infraction.
FLY:
The Butterfly features a simultaneous recovery of the arms over the water combined with an undulating dolphin kick. In the kick, the swimmer must keep both legs together and may not flutter, scissors or use the breaststroke kick. Both hands must touch the wall simultaneously on the turns and the finish.
BREASTSTROKE:
This is the most challenging stroke to swim legally, and literally has the most pages of text in the official rulebook. Many of the infractions are caused indirectly by late or long breath timing, sinking body position (caused by head being up) or some combination. In addition, the Breaststroke kick is vastly different from the other strokes, and can be counter-intuitive for some swimmers who are learning to find the power and propulsion in the water.
1. Both feet must be turned OUT during the propulsive part of the kick. Some swimmers tend to turn out one foot, but not the other. This ends up being a scissors kick. If both feet are turned in this is considered a Fly kick. The scissors and dolphin kicks are illegal.
2. Both hands must touch the wall simultaneously, at the finish and at the turn, although, like Fly, they do NOT have to be on the same level.
3. Cannot take more than one stroke and kick underwater. Only one pull-down stroke and one kick are allowed at the start and after a turn. The head must break the calm surface level of the water BEFORE the hands turn inward at the widest part of the second arm pull. Multiple underwater strokes will result in a DQ, because the swimmer’s head must be above the surface of the water at some point during each stroke cycle. (In other words, swimmers can’t go underwater for two or more strokes at a time, during the start, turn, or during the race).
4. Hands may NOT pull beyond the HIP line except once on the start and once after a turn.
5. Incorrect stroke cycle, the stroke cycle must be one arm pull followed by one leg kick. You cannot pull twice then kick or vice versa. At the start or after a turn the swimmer must start with an arm pull followed by a leg kick. This cycle must be continued throughout the race. Double pulls and/or double kicks are not allowed. Breaststroke is the only stroke where a stroke cycle is specified.
6. Dolphin kick at start or turn BEFORE arm pull has started. A swimmer is permitted to take ONE dolphin kick DURING or at the end of the first pull down stoke at the start or after a turn. “During” occurs once the hands have moved outward from the streamline. If the dolphin kick is taken before the hands move a DQ results. This skill is typically introduced at a later stage in their swimming development.
Thank you to the Goldfins parent volunteers who assisted with timing, starting, and refereeing this special racing event.
Goldfins swimmers will be racing in the upcoming Al Anderson’s Winter Classic Swim Meet – February 4-6, 2022 – Shaw Centre, Saskatoon, SK.
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