Walking Away from Event Disqualification a Winner
You swim your heart out in an event you have not dropped time in for several meets and you get your best time by shaving 3 seconds! This great swim can instantaneously become a heartache when your name is at the bottom of the event results and marked with a DQ (disqualification).
Disappointment over a DQ is natural and walking away from the DQ with a positive attitude is difficult, but necessary, in the development of a swimmer.
A few points to ponder:
- You can still be proud of your effort in spite of a DQ. A disqualification in an event at a swim meet along with poor effort will always be a double failure; a DQ with max effort is something you can be proud of. Mistakes are inevitable…effort is a decision.
- The technical issue(s) that caused you to be DQ’d in the first place can be addressed at practice and should be put aside until after any upcoming events have been swum.
- If you take a DQ as merely a failure, you are overlooking the lesson(s) to be learned. After you address the technical issues in practice and you make the conscious decision to give maximum effort, you are more likely to succeed and have it count the next time you swim the event.
If you got DQ’d on a backstroke turn, work on it in practice until you execute the flip turn legally and consistently. Continue practicing because repetition is key.
If you get disqualified because you are fatigued and throw in a few breaststroke kicks with the butterfly, work on your stamina. Build up until you are strong enough to swim the stroke without the illegal kicks.
If your error was in the touch turn and you were over vertical, work on that. In any kind of sport, your body will learn from repetition and your race elements will become a habit.
So, the next time you get disqualified at a swim meet, allow yourself to be disappointed, but don’t let it consume you, let it motivate you. Sometimes the bitter sweet moments have the most growth potential…and not just in swimming.
