This came up the other day at tri club practice, and being a lifelong swimmer, I assigned the set in yardage, but gave a “lap” equivalent for the beginners in the group because I’ve found that many beginners have a hard time mentally/physically processing what it means to swim a 100, or a 200. Some people confused the matter by perpetuating the notion that they acquired in their PE swimming class here at NC State that a “lap” consisted of 50yd in our 25yd pool. I am frustrated that this idea persists and introduces confusion, so here is my take:
Since the debate specifically concerns the meaning of the word “lap” as it applies to swimming, why not defer to the meaning connoted by the majority of true swimmers? For anyone that grew up swimming club/year-round or even summer league and high school programs in the United States (so far I have found zero exceptions, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any), one lap in swimming is equal to the distance between the two ends of the pool. A lap in a 25yd pool is 25yd, a lap in a 50m pool is 50m, and that is that. There are plenty of words that carry different meanings in different sports, or apply in one way to one sport, but not to another, so I propose that everyone should accept what some people believe to be a nuanced meaning to the word “lap.”
Can we say, for the sake of eliminating confusion, that the word “lap” is interchangeable with “length” for the purposes of defining swimming distances (at least here in the US)?
This is going to be really hard for me to accept… its a lot easier for me to count 30 laps (there and back 1) than it is to count 60 (there 1, back here 2?)!
I think the confusion is that a lap in everything else is one circuit so a lap in a 25m pool would be 50m and a length would be 25m since that is the length of the pool. This is my nonswimming view. Its much easier just to say a distance though since that is understood by all.
If you mean “length”, and you think that when you say “lap” that there is some chance that the listener will use the dictionary definition of lap (one circuit of a racecourse or track), then use the word length instead of defining lap as a 1/2 of a circuit.
Maybe that’s the terminology that has always been used, but that doesn’t make it right. Is it any harder to say “length”, and does it cause less confusion? If so, then ditch the confusing term lap and use the less confusing word length.
Either that, or don’t be surprised when people assume you need to get back to where you started before you can call it a lap.
The most cogent argument that I have heard on the subject is that a lap = a single completion of the course. In swimming, given that the course is a straight line, that means a single length and therefore 1 length = 1 lap. However, those of us in the US live in a Nascar world, where completing a lap means you end up where you started … this is further supported by track and field where laps result in ending where you begin … (unless you’re running the 100m or 200m but why quibble). Also, I have a good friend who has been a competitive swimmer his whole life (not primarily in the US), and to him a lap means 50yds in a 25yd pool.
As a result of the confusion potential, I have personally excised “lap” from my vocabulary when I’m talking about specific quantities of traversing the pool and only use it in the general “I’m going to the pool to swim laps and hate every minute of it” … when specificity is required it is: “I’m going to swim 80 lengths and hate every one of them”
I take a “circuit” to mean the shortest non-fractional distance offered by a particular course, that is to say that a circuit involves covering the distance between the beginning and the end.
The relation between the starting and ending point is relevant, but the running convention can’t and shouldn’t be applied because THIS ISN’T RUNNING. Pools aren’t round, and swimmers don’t necessarily swim a circular race. Like I said, in different contexts, words have different meanings. Real swimmers know a “lap” to be the distance between the beginning and the end of the pool.
Question for those of you that say a “lap” is down and back:
When my little summer league swimmers race a 25m freestyle in a 25m pool, is their race 1/2 a lap?
That said, the swimming parlance breaks down when discussing whether or not a swimmer has been “lapped.” To be lapped in swimming means that a competing swimmer has completed two more lengths than you.
Like Jack says, I think it’s a weakness/deficiency in our language–it almost seems that the word “lap” shouldn’t have even been applied to swimming at all.
Question for those of you that say a “lap” is down and back:
When my little summer league swimmers race a 25m freestyle in a 25m pool, is their race 1/2 a lap?
Sure. The same way that a 200 meter race on a 400 meter track is 1/2 a lap. It is what it is.
Like Jack says, I think it’s a weakness/deficiency in our language–it almost seems that the word “lap” shouldn’t have even been applied to swimming at all.
I’ll agree with that. Length seems to be much less confusing and very descriptive.
I know you don’t race with more than one person in a lane but for traininig if there are more than two of you in a lane then you are swimming circles? Does this mean if there are more less than 3 people a lap could be 25 and 3+ a lap is 50?
And yes I would say a 25 free would be 1/2 a lap just like the 200 on a track is 1/2 a lap.