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.
And there it is, the fear of being left behind. Life isn't fair and sports have never been fair. Tech suits are here to stay despite the fear of success by the losers.
I agree with Rick that no 12 & U kid needs a $500 suit. I don't really view that as a teaching opportunity, as much as having minimal common sense. (Besides, pretty soon, Speedo will be giving away FSIIs and maybe Pros ...)
As to fairness, this carries little weight with me. Geek is absolutely correct. There are already many inequities built into swimming and sport: kid gets the flu before a big meet, parents can't afford to send kid to travel meet, parents can't afford a particular team, kid lives in x town instead of y town and thus can't have y coach, single parent (or other) can't get kid to x practice(s), parent doesn't have the time, energy or money for umpteen private lessons or EP training or personal trainers, kid breaks an ankle before meet, kid is in PT and has bad knees and can't swim their beloved evilstroke, kid rips suit before race and must wear dreaded polyester suit. The list could go one forever. Tech suits are just one more thing on the list.
And there it is, the fear of being left behind. Life isn't fair and sports have never been fair. Tech suits are here to stay despite the fear of success by the losers.
I agree with Rick that no 12 & U kid needs a $500 suit. I don't really view that as a teaching opportunity, as much as having minimal common sense. (Besides, pretty soon, Speedo will be giving away FSIIs and maybe Pros ...)
As to fairness, this carries little weight with me. Geek is absolutely correct. There are already many inequities built into swimming and sport: kid gets the flu before a big meet, parents can't afford to send kid to travel meet, parents can't afford a particular team, kid lives in x town instead of y town and thus can't have y coach, single parent (or other) can't get kid to x practice(s), parent doesn't have the time, energy or money for umpteen private lessons or EP training or personal trainers, kid breaks an ankle before meet, kid is in PT and has bad knees and can't swim their beloved evilstroke, kid rips suit before race and must wear dreaded polyester suit. The list could go one forever. Tech suits are just one more thing on the list.
