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.
I don't know if it's the case anymore, but swimming used to rank up there with the best of the bargains in sports when you consider the number of training hours offered for the dues required. Not many other sports offer two-hour morning practices, 2-3 hour afternoon practices and weekend practices each week for the amount of money charged. Add the fact that you don't necessarily have to be the best on the team to get that amount of training. Has that changed? Perhaps most teams don't train that many hours a week anymore?
As for the suit issue, I can't imagine spending that much money on a suit for a twelve and under. There seem to be 100 other things they can be doing (in practice) at that age to be faster. Unless it's a fashion statement (wanting to look like the Olympians) I can't see trying to get tenths of a second via a swimsuit at that age. But I'm pretty cheap. I didn't even buy myself an expensive suit for Nationals last year since I don't feel like I train enough to justify such an expense.
I don't know if it's the case anymore, but swimming used to rank up there with the best of the bargains in sports when you consider the number of training hours offered for the dues required. Not many other sports offer two-hour morning practices, 2-3 hour afternoon practices and weekend practices each week for the amount of money charged. Add the fact that you don't necessarily have to be the best on the team to get that amount of training. Has that changed? Perhaps most teams don't train that many hours a week anymore?
As for the suit issue, I can't imagine spending that much money on a suit for a twelve and under. There seem to be 100 other things they can be doing (in practice) at that age to be faster. Unless it's a fashion statement (wanting to look like the Olympians) I can't see trying to get tenths of a second via a swimsuit at that age. But I'm pretty cheap. I didn't even buy myself an expensive suit for Nationals last year since I don't feel like I train enough to justify such an expense.
