Common Swimming Mistakes: False Start
It happens to everyone, sometimes at a big meet, sometimes at a small inconsequential competition. Maybe it happened on a relay, or perhaps in your individual event. Whatever the scenario, the feelings after range from disappointment, to anger, and embarrassment, and that is completely normal.
Much like a general swimming disqualification, things like this happen to all swimmers. This is right up there with missing an event when you were standing right by your lane.
Why does this happen? Anxiety, excitement, nerves, yes! We are trained to compete, we are trained to anticipate that sound of the buzzer (LINK TO SPEED TIPS: STARTS), sometimes we just anticipate a little too much.
Pressure is another reason, especially in a relay situation where every nano-second counts. No one wants to be the kids with the slowest relay take-off, but sometimes it is better to be safe than sorry.
Practice and repetition on relay start is the best defense against an early jump. This needs to be done pre-competition. Practicing relay starts at a meet is not only difficult but generally frowned upon. Most meets do not have the warmup space or time to give swimmers to practice relay starts. Some exceptions being meets that have a designated relay break before they are contested or smaller, highly competitive events like NCAAs. Being able to work with the person swimming into you will help you see their stroke and have a better idea at gauging when they will hit the wall. You don’t want to be left waiting i.e. they touched I can go. You want to try to have your feet leave the block exactly when their hand(s) touches. In a perfect world of course.
Individual races are much the same. Rely on constant practice and race scenarios to combat against bad anxiety and bad nerves. A little bit of both is good for you, but too much could make you jumpy or fidgety. Both are bad when you are supposed to be holding still. Once the announcement to “take your mark” has been made, movement must stop. During regularly scheduled practice is the best place to gain experience.
Besides doing dive or start work at practice, games can be implemented as well. Fun relays at the end of a workout, or a listening game to see who can react and get off the block quickest are all good places to start.
Get out there, practice, and have fun doing fast, safe starts!
