The Law Is A Ass

The phrase "The law is an ass" originates in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, when the character Mr. Bumble is informed that "the law supposes that your wife acts under your direction". Mr. Bumble replies "If the law supposes that… the law is a ass—a idiot. If that’s the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is that his eye may be opened by experience—by experience."

I'm currently involved in a sports dispute tribunal hearing which is considering a case of non-nomination for selection to the Olympic team.

The process goes as follows: SNZ conducts Trials, SNZ reviews the results; SNZ agrees the qualified swimmers; SNZ nominates them to the NZOC; NZOC selects them.

The opposition lawyer has put forward a case that proposes selection can precede nomination.

In which case, the law is, indeed, an ass.

Case closed?

Lawyering seems not to be doing itself any favours here and promulgating the perception that it earns money irregardless of the case, the evidence, the facts, or the morals.

Thoroughbred Stock

In 1974 George Harrison released an album called 'Dark Horse'. Harrison's compositions get overlooked because of the attention paid to the Lennon-McCartney songbook. I've never been a fan of McCartney but John Lennon has always been a hero; he was rough, he tore the edges off things and he told it truthfully as he saw it (not as he politically wanted it to be).

A couple of years ago I bought the DVD of 'A Concert for George', the concert organised and directed by Eric Clapton exactly one year after George died. It is the best DVD of a music concert I've ever heard; poignant, evocative, sensational. When you see a band of seven or eight guitarists, two or three pianists and four or five drummers, one of whom is Ringo Starr you get into the swing of things (if you think Ringo's a bozo listen to the rhythms; they're amazing and The Beatles wouldn't have been half the band without them). Jeff Lynne, Paul McCartney, Joe Brown, Tom Petty, Billy Preston, Jools Holland, Sam Browne, Jim Capaldi, Gary Brooker, Andy Fairweather Lowe, Jim Keltner ... it just goes on and on; the cast list is like a Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Buy the DVD.

What's this got to do with swimming and what's it got to do with the picture of Moss? he's identified by Swimming World magazine as a 'Dark Horse Medal Contender' in their April issue.

They got the last two words right.

Aerobic Sprinting? Yeah, right!

Last month I did a post about an article in the April edition of Swimming World magazine. This month there's another article by the same author, Dr. Daniel Carl of University of Cincinnati. He focuses on 'Maximising Aerobic Sprinting'; an interesting title and concept.

And, .. da-dah.., its reproduced here because, same as the April article, he references the book and posters.

Daniel is an clear writer, very focussed and precise, and he explains these things excellently.

swimformation

The Morning Swim Show published on swiminfo.com recently had an interview with Ernie Maglischo during which was asked what should we be considering in training research? His reply? 'We should look at how swimming training utilises the various muscle fibres.'

I'll send him a poster :)

MOMENTUM212

The MOMENTUM212 programme started in December 2006 so we're 17 months into the 67 month challenge to break every record in the country by the start of the 2012 Olympic Games - that's 11,152 records across the country! Getting information to us is obviously in the too-hard basket for the Regions but NZL is doing quite well, thank you.

We're at 273 as at the end of the World Short Course Championships. Some of the records have been broken more than once so the actual number of originally-standing records broken isn't that high. Of the 273, 179 have been age group and 94 Open. As there are seven age group categories the Open total is impressive while the age group total needs examination - not too many in the younger groupings and only 11 at this year's NAGs.

The big meets have been the most recent Nationals - 30 at last September's Spring SC, 36 at the December Summer SC, 39 at the Olym;pic trials, together with 30 at WSC.

Of the original 83 listed SC and LC Open records (one was jointly held) at the beginning of the challenge, 45 have gone including, of course, the oldest which was taken out by Kurt Bassett at the Trials. Danyon Loader's distance records look vulnerable but the women's distance records look very safe.

Quadrennial Standards

Just out of interest here are the SNZ Squad standards for 2000, 2004 and 2008. Three different systems were used to produce the times. Some interesting changes but also some interesting similarities.

When the 'old'system was changed in late 2001 for implementation January 1, 2002, there were those who said, 'No-one will qualify [at the World Class level].' There was one qualifier at the 2002 Opens and by the end of the Pan-Pacific Championships in August there were seven. So much for 'no-one' :)

Usual story; click for the full-sized version.

A Question of Balance

As the dust settles from the outstanding performances at the 2008 Absolute Insurance Olympic Trials, for most coaches it is time to take a deep breath and double the commitment to success at the next major meet. Getting the correct balance between the various, sometimes mind-boggling, intensities and modes of training categories is one of the keys to planned and predictable success.

The April edition of SwimmingWorld magazine has an article by Dr. Daniel Carl of the University of Cincinnati titled 'Balancing Aerobic with Anaerobic Swim Training.' The full version of the magazine is only available to Premium members but, as you'll see from the last paragraph, I feel OK in posting the article here.