www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../19679.asp
The most substantial change, of course, is that suits would no longer be allowed to extend past the knee.
My personal opinion is this is sort of an arbitrary change. What really should be changed--if anything--is what types of materials are allowed and maybe testing protocol to approve a suit. I don't really think requiring suits to end at the knees would affect much.
The decision on how I spend my money for my kids really isn't your decision Rick, or anyone else's. I don't see the point of legislating how I chose to spend my fitness dollars. Any sane person realizes it is silly to buy one of these suits for a young kid but that doesn't mean we need bans or regulations regarding it.
I'm not saying I agree with the decision. Though I am not a voting member of the New England LSC board, I argued against such action. I will say that the input from the coaches was strong. They are very much hearing about this from their parents of younger swimmers.
One perspective... there is a fear that if too much disparity between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' gets into the younger swimming ages, then there will be a growing number of younger swimmers who are turned off by swimming. The long-term result is that you might have the next Michael Phelps not materialize, because he got discouraged as a 10-year-old because his parents didn't buy him a $500 suit for every meet.
-Rick
The decision on how I spend my money for my kids really isn't your decision Rick, or anyone else's. I don't see the point of legislating how I chose to spend my fitness dollars. Any sane person realizes it is silly to buy one of these suits for a young kid but that doesn't mean we need bans or regulations regarding it.
I'm not saying I agree with the decision. Though I am not a voting member of the New England LSC board, I argued against such action. I will say that the input from the coaches was strong. They are very much hearing about this from their parents of younger swimmers.
One perspective... there is a fear that if too much disparity between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' gets into the younger swimming ages, then there will be a growing number of younger swimmers who are turned off by swimming. The long-term result is that you might have the next Michael Phelps not materialize, because he got discouraged as a 10-year-old because his parents didn't buy him a $500 suit for every meet.
-Rick
