Understanding Disqualifications

At some point on their journey your swimmer will get disqualified. What’s important is that it’s treated as a learning opportunity – something to take back to training and improve on. Naturally we always aim to teach the swimmers correct technique, but mistakes happen in the pressure of a race situation or a swimmer can get tired as the race goes on. It’s all normal, and not worth making a big deal of.

One of the best ways to minimise Disqualifications is training more often – accessing most or all of the sessions available to the squad the swimmer is in. This means all of the skills and techniques will be practiced more regularly. Our Mini Meets and Duel in the Pool galas use a basic version of these to help swimmers learn, but after that all competitions follow the World Aquatic Disqualification Rules

Each stroke has its own rule as well as some rules that could be applicable to any stroke. The code will normally be displayed on the published results, then you can match it up to the rule on the above link. If you need any help understanding what went wrong, please encourage your swimmer to speak to a coach.

Another great way to understand the rules is to get qualified as an official. Information available here. Or speak to Kathryn Tregellas, our volunteer co-ordinator – [email protected]