staceyobu Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 (edited) My kids are doing a summer swim team for the first time ever. And loving it. I helped on the "ready bench" this past weekend because they require parents to do volunteer hours. (It's like the blind leading the blind, I tell ya.) So, my questions: I know the little ones swim 25 medley relays, and I believe it is the following order: back, breast, fly, free. I was told the big ones who swim 50m are in a different order. However, I think the person telling me that was confused because we line up the little ones 1, 3, 2, 4 because they are then split to opposite sides of the pool. The big kids are lined up 1, 2, 3, 4 since they all go to the same side of the pool. Then, individual medleys are a different order?? Fly, breast, back, free? Is that right?? Why do they do medleys in different orders? Edited May 31, 2016 by staceyobu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 (edited) Medley relays are back, breast, fly, free--ABC order. IMs are fly, back, breast, free. The orders are the same regardless of the total distance, but 100 relays would have the littles starting at opposite ends of the pool. MRs start with back because the first swimmer has to start in the water. IMs are different because, I don't know--hardest to easiest, maybe? Edited May 31, 2016 by plansrme 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsWeasley Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 Team medleys are always in the same order of back, breast, fly, free for all ages. Individual medleys are always fly, back, breast, free. I don't know why both don't start with backstroke, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 (edited) Medley relays are back, breast, fly, free--ABC order. IMs are fly, back, breast, free. The orders are the same regardless of the total distance, but 100 relays would have the littles starting at opposite ends of the pool. MRs start with back because the first swimmer has to start in the water. IMs are different because, I don't know--hardest to easiest, maybe? I heard the order of the IM is fly then back because it is easy to make the transition between those strokes. It's hard to change from fly to another stroke because of the double touch rule. That might be bunk, though. The adults at our old pool always claimed more knowledge than I thought they really had. Edited June 1, 2016 by Caroline 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 I *think* it is because most little kids don't go off the blocks, which makes it easier for them to start in the water if they start on a particular stroke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 I heard the order of the IM is fly then back because it is easy to make the transition between those strokes. It's hard to change from fly to another stroke because of the double touch rule. That might be bunk, though. The adults at our old pool always claimed more knowledge than I thought they really had. Granted, it's been twenty-some years since I swam on swim team, but that's what we did as well; IMs were fly, back, breast, free. Fly (we always called it butter) is a hard stroke for most swimmers, so it makes sense that it would be the first thing because it's harder to breathe in butterfly and preferable not to have to breathe every single stroke (whereas at least when I was swimming, your face was supposed to come up out of the water every stroke in breaststroke, thus making it easier to breathe). But it was indeed easier to transition from fly to back to breast because there's no complicated turn involved. I can see why fly to breast would be tricky. For the medley relay, we also always did back, breast, fly, free because the backstrokers have to start in the water. Google says the other three are in order of speed, slowest to fastest. (However, that's not necessarily universally true; I had a friend on swim team whose crawl was slower than her breaststroke, so she qualified for lifeguard training with her breaststroke with her head up.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 Oh, and use a Sharpie to write on their arm what stroke they are swimming. I have seen more sad little faces when they forgot and swam the wrong stroke. Have the coaches at the ends tell the kid right before they take off what stroke they are swimming. :0) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staceyobu Posted June 1, 2016 Author Share Posted June 1, 2016 Oh, and use a Sharpie to write on their arm what stroke they are swimming. I have seen more sad little faces when they forgot and swam the wrong stroke. Have the coaches at the ends tell the kid right before they take off what stroke they are swimming. :0) Yeah... I had a ton of kids asking me what stroke they were doing. I was like, "Uhhh... ask your coach!" Hopefully I can tell them next time! I've learned a lot about swimming this summer. I'm excited to watch the Olympics after watching these kiddos swim for hours. And, it totally makes sense the first relay swimmer starts in the water. I never thought about that. (My kids also hate butterfly... and almost all the kids at the meet said they hated butterfly. I guess that is pretty universal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 (edited) (My kids also hate butterfly... and almost all the kids at the meet said they hated butterfly. I guess that is pretty universal. But when fly turns out to be your best stroke, you get to act like a martyr, and apparently that has its rewards. Edited June 1, 2016 by plansrme 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zimom Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 Yep, when I swam.... 30 years ago, gulp! We always called it: Butter, Back, Breast, Free for the IM so it really threw me when my daughter started saying: Fly, Back, Breast and Free. Might be the same thing but it just doesn't have the little catch to it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 Individual Medley (IM--a solo event) stroke order: butterfly, back, breast, free Medley Relay (four people each swimming a different stroke) stroke order: Back, breast, butterfly, free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 Medley relay starts with back crawl as all the swimmers can start in the water, and all the other strokes can start with a dive entry. I don't know the history behind why the IM doesn't have an in the water start with back crawl - perhaps it's because a dive entry is faster. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 But when fly turns out to be your best stroke, you get to act like a martyr, and apparently that has its rewards. And it is pretty funny to watch as the kids go through puberty, how the "best stroke" swaps around because of the changes in the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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