Should I buy my kid a tech suit?

You sure you want to start this fun debate again? :afraid:No. :worms: But I thought I would allow those who wanted to respond to Shawn’s question do so on the other thread and those who want to discuss the topic at large to do so here without hijacking another thread.

I personally don't think it's worth spending the money for a young kid in a tech suit. These kids can be so hit and miss already as it is, and most of the time they're improving times based solely on growing and gaining strength/body mass alone. On the USA-S team that I train with, there are a couple of younger girls (age 12) who tend to wear "techy" suits at meets, and these are at all meets, not just the "A Champs" or "Regionals", etc. Kids at this age are so emotional as it is anyway, and are more concerned with "she beat me, I beat her" vs. "did I make the National cut?"

On the USA-S team that I train with, there are a couple of younger girls (age 12) who tend to wear "techy" suits at meets, and these are at all meets Yeah, that's what I'd be worried about. Once you let that genie out of the bottle a kid isn't going to want to put it back in! I see plenty of young kids with their own iPads these days, so I'd assume they expect their parents to buy them several hundred dollar suits, too, as a matter of course.

Should I buy my kid a tech suit? Depends. Is your kid a sandbagger?

Come on Rob, 50% of the fun on this forum is thread hijacking. 45% of the fun is insulting Geek, and 5% of the fun is the intellectual discussion of swimming.What can I say… On this the feast day of Pope Saint Gregory III, I thought I’d try broker peace in the iconoclastic controversy between the Byzantines and the Lombards. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been taking my kids to age group meets, but I helped run one this past weekend and there were the assortment of swimwear from low to hi-tech. Between entry fees, travel, hotel and food I would guess a lot of folks from out of town at the meet were spending $300-$500. With this outlay of cash, why wouldn’t you want to maximize performance of little Suzy? On the flip side, when I go to our Masters State meet I see a lot of folks in tech suits. And most of the folks wearing these are no closer to making it to the Olympics than little Suzy. So if it isn’t worth spending money on your kids is it worth spending the money on yourself?

Dpends on a few factors. If you're rich and spending that kind of coin on a swimsuit for a kid doesn't bother you then there's no real downside that I can see besides maybe the envy or ridicule of others. There are plenty of downsides. First, especially with girls, we know they drop time like it is free until about 13 or so. Then, things happen and time drops can be few and far between. Suiting your under 12 up is double pointless since they are going to drop time anyway and they will equate that to the suit. When they hit 13/14 and they don the suit and nothing happens, what will they think? Probably the biggest benefit of the suits is compression and 12 year olds don't need that generally. By 13/14 I do think suits are important, combined with the right championship meet prep.

Should I buy my kid a tech suit? NO, I would not buy either child a tech suit, neither swims. Though if I had a child who's swimming talent, work ethic, goals, and ability deemed it obvious & necessary, I definitely would. To me the child should be at least 13, 14 or older & striving to make JRs or SRs or about to participate in an important championship meet. I'd probably have them pay for part of it so they have some skin in the game and would hopefully take better care of it, not damage it or lose it at a meet.

Also most masters swimmers are competing much less frequently than kids are. They want every race to 'count.'

Nope he buys his own or the team buys it for him, if he's good enough

Also most masters swimmers are competing much less frequently than kids are. They want every race to 'count.' Yes. I absolutely wear a tech suit at every meet I compete in, even if just for fun. I want to learn to race in the suit; it changes how you feel in the water, kick counts, breakouts, etc. I notice absolutely zero diminution in mental motivation from this practice. To the contrary, I always look forward to racing in my kneeskin. For adults, I've never thought the appropriateness of wearing a tech suit should be tied to how fast their times are.