Skills The four competitive swimming The breaststroke requires simultaneous In the medley relay, all four strokes strokes are freestyle, backstroke, movements of the arms on the same are swum. The first swimmer swims breaststroke and butterfly. The horizontal plane. The hands are pressed backstroke, the second breaststroke, combination of all four strokes is out from in front of the breast in a heart the third butterfly, and the final called individual medley. shaped pattern and recovered under swimmer anchors the relay with or on the surface of the water. The kick freestyle. Competition is a simultaneous somewhat circular Each swim meet offers a variety of motion similar to the action of a frog. The freestyle relay events consist of events and distances, depending On turns and at the finish, the swimmer four freestylers, each swimming one on the age group and classification. must touch the wall with both hands quarter of the total distance of the Each swimmer will have a limit to simultaneously at, above or below the event. the number of events he or she water surface. may swim each day, depending on Starts: In the start, the swimmer is the meet rules. Some consider the butterfly to be the called to the starting position by the most beautiful of the strokes. It fea- starter who visually checks that all In freestyle events, the competitor tures a simultaneous recovery of the swimmers are motionless. When may swim any stroke. The stroke arms over the water combined with an all swimmers are set, the starting most commonly used is sometimes undulating dolphin kick. In the kick, the horn is sounded to start the race. called the crawl, which is character- swimmer must keep both legs together If the starter feels that one of the ized by the altemate stroking of the and may not flutter, scissors or use swimmers has moved, left early or arms over the surface of the water the breaststroke kick. Both hands must has gotten an unfair advantage, the surface and an alternating (up-and- touch the wall simultaneously on the guilty swimmer may be disqualified down) flutter kick. On turns and turns and the finish. The butterfly is the after the race for a false start. Under finishes, some part of the swimmer newest stroke and was developed in the USA Swimming rules, one false start must touch the wall. Most swim- early 1950s as a variation of the breast- disqualifies the swimmer. mers do a flip turn. stroke. It became an Olympic stroke in 1956 in Melbourne. Rules Backstroke consists of an alternat- The technical rules of swimming are ing moticonsists of an alternating The individual medley, commonly designed to provide fair and equi- motion of the arms with a flutter referred to as the 1M.,features all four table conditions of competition and kick while on the back. On turns, strokes. In the 1M,the swimmer begins to promote uniformity in the sport. swimmers may rotate to the stom- with the butterfly, then changes after Each swimming stroke has specific ach and perform a flip turn and one-fourth of the race to backstroke, rules designed to ensure that no some part of the swimmer must then breaststroke and finally freestyle. swimmer gets an unfair competitive touch the wall. The swimmer must advantage over another swimmer. finish on his back.

38 (ERAVE SWIM PARENTS GUIDE JED JACDBSOHNiGETIY 1M SES

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Freestyle

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The Course Competition pools may be short course (25 yards or 25 meters), or long course (50 meters). The international standard (as used in the Olympics) is 50 meters. Backstroke World records are accomplished in 25 and 50 meter pools. USA Swimming maintains records for 25 yard, 25 meter and 50 meter pools

Teams USA Swimming is made up of approxi- mately 2,800 teams from all over the country. Of these clubs, nearly half have 80 swimmers or less, and a handful of teams have over 500 swimmers. A team may be comprised of any number of swimmers, parents and coaches.

Participants compete in different age groups and meets depending on their achievement level and how old they are Breaststroke on the first day of the meet. Tradition- ally recognized age groups are 10 and under, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17-18. Many local meets feature 8-and-under, single age groups, or senior events. Team practice groups are usually determined by age and/or ability.

Officials Officials are present at all competitions to enforce the technical rules of swim- ming so the competition is fair and equitable. Officials attend clinics, pass a written test and work meets before being certified. All parents are encour- aged to get involved with some form of officiatinq, Butterfly

CERAVE SWIM PARENTS GUIDE_I 39