Some people tend to congragate (sic) at
the end of the lane.

When you are in a public pool, sharing a
lane with several other swimmers, and
everyone is circle swimming, and you
and your buddy decide to hang out at the
end of the lane for awhile, do you:

1.) Grab a corner and ensure the center
is clear, or
2.) Stand anywhere you want, and leave
it up to the incoming swimmers to try
and find a patch of end to turn off of?

My opinion is number one, for reasons
which seem obvious to me.

What is your opinion, and your
observation of this phenomenon?

How about:

3.) Get out of the pool and wait on the deck until you are ready to
resume swimming as a common courtesy to other swimmers still using the
lane?

Some people tend to congragate at the end of the lane.

When you are in a public pool, sharing a lane with several other swimmers, and everyone is circle swimming, and you and your buddy decide to hang out at the end of the lane for awhile, do you:

1.) Grab a corner and ensure the center is clear, or
2.) Stand anywhere you want, and leave it up to the incoming swimmers to try and find a patch of end to turn off of?
3.) Get out of the pool and wait on the deck until you are ready to resume swimming as a common courtesy to other swimmers still using the lane?

Jon Danniken wrote:
Some people tend to congragate at the end of the lane.

When you are in a public pool, sharing a lane with several other
swimmers, and everyone is circle swimming, and you and your buddy
decide to hang out at the end of the lane for awhile, do you: 1.) Grab a
corner and ensure the center is clear, or
2.) Stand anywhere you want, and leave it up to the incoming
swimmers to try and find a patch of end to turn off of? 3.) Get out of
the pool and wait on the deck until you are ready to
resume swimming as a common courtesy to other swimmers still using
the lane?

At most pools where I swim, there is a cross or T at the end of each
lane, and it's there for a reason: to mark the spot a swimmer should
aim for and kick off from when turning. Keep in mind that in a circle
swim, each swimmer is going to be switching from one side of the lane
to the other at the turn, and therefore the natural point to kick off
from the wall is the center of the lane.

If the lane is at all busy, it can create a serious safety risk if
swimmers are aiming for or kicking off from someplace other than the
center of the lane, since this will mean that each swimmer will have
to either switch sides before reaching the wall or switch sides
afterward, which could cause a collision if one swimmer is following
close behind another.

The markings on the bottom of the pool and at the end of each lane are
really designed so that a swimmer who is circle swimming shouldn't
need to know what other swimmers are in the lane in order to avoid
hitting another swimmer.

So the one answer that is clearly wrong is #2. Whether swimmers
should pick #1 or #3 depends on a number of things, such as how long
they are stopping for, how many people are stopped at the same end,
the temperature of the pool deck, how easy it is to climb out (this is
usually not easy at the deep end, and some people can't do it safely
even at the shallow end without using the ladder), etc.

Jon Danniken wrote:
Some people tend to congragate at the end of the lane.

When you are in a public pool, sharing a lane with several other
swimmers, and everyone is circle swimming, and you and your buddy decide
to hang out at the end of the lane for awhile, do you:

1.) Grab a corner and ensure the center is clear, or
2.) Stand anywhere you want, and leave it up to the incoming swimmers to
try and find a patch of end to turn off of?
3.) Get out of the pool and wait on the deck until you are ready to
resume swimming as a common courtesy to other swimmers still using the
lane?

In public lane swimming, it is very bad manners to stop, other than
momentarily to adjust goggles etc., at all. If you want to stop, you
should get out. It is mostly women who want to stop, to hold
conversations which they could well do elsewhere, but of course women
start getting withdrawal symptoms if they don't gossip for more than
1 minute. In sessions where you are doing intervals which require rests,
lanes
should be segregated to accommodate this for people doing similar
sets, this is the coaches responsibility, and if he/she isn't doing
it they should be told. There is no excuse for general lane blocking,
and sinners should be told off severely. Would you allow people to
stand and chat on a running track, a velodrome, or a race circuit?

The problem seems to be with one or two of the general lap swimmers who
don't seem to be concerned for keeping the end of the lane clear.  One of
these gentlemen actually took offense at my request, and retaliated against
me by yanking back hard on my ankle on my subsequent lap.

Jon

Jon Danniken wrote:
Some people tend to congragate at the end of the lane.

When you are in a public pool, sharing a lane with several other
swimmers, and everyone is circle swimming, and you and your buddy
decide to hang out at the end of the lane for awhile, do you:

1.) Grab a corner and ensure the center is clear, or
2.) Stand anywhere you want, and leave it up to the incoming swimmers
to try and find a patch of end to turn off of?
3.) Get out of the pool and wait on the deck until you are ready to
resume swimming as a common courtesy to other swimmers still using
the lane?

At most pools where I swim, there is a cross or T at the end of each
lane, and it's there for a reason: to mark the spot a swimmer should
aim for and kick off from when turning. Keep in mind that in a circle
swim, each swimmer is going to be switching from one side of the lane
to the other at the turn, and therefore the natural point to kick off
from the wall is the center of the lane.

If the lane is at all busy, it can create a serious safety risk if
swimmers are aiming for or kicking off from someplace other than the
center of the lane, since this will mean that each swimmer will have
to either switch sides before reaching the wall or switch sides
afterward, which could cause a collision if one swimmer is following
close behind another.

The markings on the bottom of the pool and at the end of each lane are
really designed so that a swimmer who is circle swimming shouldn't
need to know what other swimmers are in the lane in order to avoid
hitting another swimmer.

So the one answer that is clearly wrong is #2. Whether swimmers
should pick #1 or #3 depends on a number of things, such as how long
they are stopping for, how many people are stopped at the same end,
the temperature of the pool deck, how easy it is to climb out (this is
usually not easy at the deep end, and some people can't do it safely
even at the shallow end without using the ladder), etc.


Bob

In most countries, lap swimmers circle to the right. In the UK and
Australia, they circle to the left. If your lane is circling to the
right, it is a standard practice to swim to the right corner of the
lane if you intend to stop, and then stay in that corner or jump
across to the left corner, if you need to rest or wait for your clock
interval. If you mean to continue swimming as you approach the wall,
swim in to the black line in the center and push off again. The center
of the lane should never be blocked, and anyone who harangued you for
objecting to them blocking it is just wrong.

Being a "green" flip turner, you probably don't have enough control to
place your feet right next to the blocker's head (softly), but that's
what I do. They get the message that way, but this method is for the
advanced flip turn specialist.

I think people get angry when you ask them not to block the lane
because they are ashamed to admit they were stupid not to see the
obvious problem they are causing. Plus when you try to talk to someone
while you are breathing hard, it always sounds like you are angry, and
it puts them off. If I really need to talk to someone about this. I
usually do it when I run into the offender in the shower room, or on
the deck, or when we are both resting at the end of the pool, but
never when I mean to immediately continue swimming.

It's not necessary to get out of the lane to rest, but if there are
many swimmers in the lane, and several stop to rest, you must be
willing to stop along the lane line before you get to the end and hang
out there, if the end corners are occupied.

Agreed completely.

One thing I am not above doing - do your flip turn and make some
physical contact with the by-standers who are in your way. You have
to be careful about this, but it serves as a not-so-gentle notice
that you are doing what one is supposed to do in a swimming lane and,
if they stay there, they do so at their own risk. I have, at times,
done this two or three times only to find myself "hailed" by the
by-standers, asking me not to continue to contact them, and I have
just given a short response to the effect of, "the center of the end
of the lane is supposed to be clear, please stay to the sides if
you're not swimming" and then I swim off again. IOW, engaging people
in conversation on this can be very unproductive and confrontational
if you're not careful, so I find it's best avoided.

Steve Freides wrote:

Agreed completely.

One thing I am not above doing - do your flip turn and make some
physical contact with the by-standers who are in your way. You have
to be careful about this, but it serves as a not-so-gentle notice
that you are doing what one is supposed to do in a swimming lane and,
if they stay there, they do so at their own risk. I have, at times,
done this two or three times only to find myself "hailed" by the
by-standers, asking me not to continue to contact them, and I have
just given a short response to the effect of, "the center of the end
of the lane is supposed to be clear, please stay to the sides if
you're not swimming" and then I swim off again. IOW, engaging people
in conversation on this can be very unproductive and confrontational
if you're not careful, so I find it's best avoided.


Thanks Steve, it makes me feel a lot better knowing everyone here is on the
same page as myself. You're right about the communication thing as well; I
think sometimes (for me anyway) it takes a little bit for it to sink in that
I was in the wrong, but so much harder when it is pointed out!

Jon

"Robert W. McAdams" <rwm at (no spam) fambright.com> wrote in message
news:4A76AD70.7080500 at (no spam) fambright.com...
Jon Danniken wrote:
Some people tend to congragate at the end of the lane.

When you are in a public pool, sharing a lane with several other
swimmers, and everyone is circle swimming, and you and your buddy decide
to hang out at the end of the lane for awhile, do you:

1.) Grab a corner and ensure the center is clear, or
2.) Stand anywhere you want, and leave it up to the incoming swimmers to
try and find a patch of end to turn off of?
3.) Get out of the pool and wait on the deck until you are ready to
resume swimming as a common courtesy to other swimmers still using the
lane?

At most pools where I swim, there is a cross or T at the end of each
lane, and it's there for a reason: to mark the spot a swimmer should aim
for and kick off from when turning. Keep in mind that in a circle swim,
each swimmer is going to be switching from one side of the lane to the
other at the turn, and therefore the natural point to kick off from the
wall is the center of the lane.

If the lane is at all busy, it can create a serious safety risk if
swimmers are aiming for or kicking off from someplace other than the
center of the lane, since this will mean that each swimmer will have to
either switch sides before reaching the wall or switch sides afterward,
which could cause a collision if one swimmer is following close behind
another.

The markings on the bottom of the pool and at the end of each lane are
really designed so that a swimmer who is circle swimming shouldn't need
to know what other swimmers are in the lane in order to avoid hitting
another swimmer.

So the one answer that is clearly wrong is #2. Whether swimmers should
pick #1 or #3 depends on a number of things, such as how long they are
stopping for, how many people are stopped at the same end, the
temperature of the pool deck, how easy it is to climb out (this is
usually not easy at the deep end, and some people can't do it safely even
at the shallow end without using the ladder), etc.


Bob

Agreed completely.

One thing I am not above doing - do your flip turn and make some physical
contact with the by-standers who are in your way. You have to be careful
about this, but it serves as a not-so-gentle notice that you are doing
what one is supposed to do in a swimming lane and, if they stay there,
they do so at their own risk. I have, at times, done this two or three
times only to find myself "hailed" by the by-standers, asking me not to
continue to contact them, and I have just given a short response to the
effect of, "the center of the end of the lane is supposed to be clear,
please stay to the sides if you're not swimming" and then I swim off
again. IOW, engaging people in conversation on this can be very
unproductive and confrontational if you're not careful, so I find it's
best avoided.

-S-
Another thing I've done which usually gets the message across is, to look

MW Smith wrote:

In most countries, lap swimmers circle to the right. In the UK and
Australia, they circle to the left. If your lane is circling to the
right, it is a standard practice to swim to the right corner of the
lane if you intend to stop, and then stay in that corner or jump
across to the left corner, if you need to rest or wait for your clock
interval. If you mean to continue swimming as you approach the wall,
swim in to the black line in the center and push off again. The center
of the lane should never be blocked, and anyone who harangued you for
objecting to them blocking it is just wrong.

Being a "green" flip turner, you probably don't have enough control to
place your feet right next to the blocker's head (softly), but that's
what I do. They get the message that way, but this method is for the
advanced flip turn specialist.

I think people get angry when you ask them not to block the lane
because they are ashamed to admit they were stupid not to see the
obvious problem they are causing. Plus when you try to talk to someone
while you are breathing hard, it always sounds like you are angry, and
it puts them off. If I really need to talk to someone about this. I
usually do it when I run into the offender in the shower room, or on
the deck, or when we are both resting at the end of the pool, but
never when I mean to immediately continue swimming.

It's not necessary to get out of the lane to rest, but if there are
many swimmers in the lane, and several stop to rest, you must be
willing to stop along the lane line before you get to the end and hang
out there, if the end corners are occupied.

Thank you MW, I really appreciate your feedback on this issue.

And you're right about my not being able to flip nearby as a form of
communication; I do pretty well to just hit the big black spot!

Jon- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -