Have you ever seen it raced in a 50 meter pool? A few moments of pondering the logistics and you realize the racers would have to change strokes in the middle of the pool. Absolutely preposterous!
Well, we are in Italy...
This was part of Florence's regional meet in Naples last weekend.
The made-up-on-the-spot rules state that you have to change strokes within a 5-meter span in the middle of the pool. Clearly everyone needs to know where those 5 meters are. I've captured the process in a story I call "Summer League meets Italy". Yes, the pinnacle of make-do amateurism!
Start by stretching a line across the pool at the appropriate point and sending teenage male swimmers (i.e., humans whose brains have not started functioning) to tie balloons to the lane lines along this guide. What you do not see is the 20 swimmers who attempted to start warming up with the guideline stretched across the pool.
Now move the guideline to the other end of the 5-meter stretch. Oh. We were supposed to tie those balloons to the lane lines?
Send swimmers to replace those balloons while another swimmer treads water while attempting to untie the knots attaching the balloons to the guideline.
Not all balloons were knotted so successfully.
Give up on untying balloons in the water. Haul the guideline to the side and remove the balloons there. Send them out for the swimmers to tie on while someone on the side shouts, "Further left! No! Your other left!"
Just about ready.
Wow. That is a lot of swimmers waiting to warm up.
And there are just as many at the other end!
The pool is ready for warm-ups! Go!
Ah, the chaos of four teams warming up per lane.
Clearly those were not Boy Scout knots.
Hmmm
Repairs underway.
The pool was eventually ready for the race. The funny thing is that Florence reported that the swimmers could not actually see those balloons. But there was a permanent mark on the bottom that worked just fine.
Michael
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