USA Swimming proposes rule limiting suits

I can just see it now: "Here's your meet program and here's your barf bag" Yeah, seriously, it's hard enough to get enough timers now! :bolt:

I guess that's where you get your stellar parenting ideas, then? You like to present yourself the expert and criticize people who actually have experience at things you've never even tried. Sounds pretty cowardly to me... Hey Gobears I subscribe to the idea that people can "Learn from the mistakes of others" and I don't have to actually try anything to be an "expert" (as you sacastically use the word) to see that parents are making way too many mistakes raising their children. :bitching: Especially those who have had children who fail out of school or worse wind up in jail, prison, or living on the streets. :2cents: Dolphin 2

Fortunately the entire rest of the world disagrees with you. Pretty much universally known that to be an expert in something means you do it, and do it a significant proficiency level, some might even say an expert level. You don't swim AT ALL yet pass judgment on swimming matters. You don't have kids yet tell those of us who do we are failures. I would prefer if you'd provide expert opinions on matters you are qualified to speak on and, thus, might give you more credit, or some credit anyway. Hey Aquageek & All Of My Other Vociferous Critics I don't have to be an "expert" on the subject of parenting to know that way too many parents are royally messing up in their responsibility of raising children. As an example, the U.S. is an under-achieving nation in the math and science fields and parents must share a large part of the blame. This is an emergency situation and parents need to have their children hitting the books and doing their homework -not spending time in after school sports. Here are a few links to back up what I am saying: www.sciencedaily.com/.../980825075401.htm www.apa.org/.../scores.html www.sfgate.com/.../article.cgi www.sfgate.com/.../article.cgi This list could go on and on and it's no wonder the U.S. is becoming a 2Nd and 3Rd rate nation in the industrialized world. Dolphin 2

If it hadn't of been for after school sports, I would have done nothing in school. If I didn't have swimming after school, I certainly wouldn't have been studying. After school sports made me more disciplined to do well in school, because without doing well in school, I wouldn't have been able to compete in swimming. Kid's doing after school sports doesn't hurt their grades.

Hey Aquageek & All Of My Other Vociferous Critics I don't have to be an "expert" on the subject of parenting to know that way too many parents are royally messing up in their responsibility of raising children. As an example, the U.S. is an under-achieving nation in the math and science fields and parents must share a large part of the blame. This is an emergency situation and parents need to have their children hitting the books and doing their homework -not spending time in after school sports. Here are a few links to back up what I am saying: www.sciencedaily.com/.../980825075401.htm www.apa.org/.../scores.html www.sfgate.com/.../article.cgi www.sfgate.com/.../article.cgi This list could go on and on and it's no wonder the U.S. is becoming a 2Nd and 3Rd rate nation in the industrialized world. Dolphin 2 Dolphin 2 - this is a thread about swimming and swim suits. If you want to discuss math and science education in the USA - please find a different board. If you can correlate math and science education to swim suits then please do so. Your assertions on the swim suit issue are completely groundless. You claim the benefits of the new suits are a work of marketing fiction. You cannot cite any articles to defend your point. And since you have no personal experience to speak from - you have no credibility whatsoever on this topic.

1. Going back to briefs would keep everyone on a level playing field. 2. As a parent who does not make much money it is going to be cost prohibitive for me to buy these suits for my kids. 3. I can't afford tech suits for myself. I appreciate your honesty. But, it pretty much comes down to an objection based on means, not on their value to swimming. I suspect this is really the truth for most opponents.

There has been some talk about how the cost of these suits might be detrimental to kids getting into the sport, but I wonder if this is really true. Yes, there's the concern that kids could be "priced out," but on the other hand lots of people are also drawn to the cool gizmo factor. After all, there are plenty of people who aren't rich that have no issue shelling out lots of money on things like basketball shoes. Let's face it, Speedo briefs in most cases are an source of derision. On the other hand, someone bedecked in a LZR is not. It's seen as cool. Whether this is justified or not is immaterial. With kids today I think sports need that cool factor to be popular.

1. Going back to briefs would keep everyone on a level playing field. 2. As a parent who does not make much money it is going to be cost prohibitive for me to buy these suits for my kids. 3. I can't afford tech suits for myself. . I agree with Geek. Your honesty is nice and appreciated. Personally, I don't want to go back to briefs. For some reason, I like the suits covering the upper body. As for your kids, depending on the ages, you probably won't need to buy them for awhile, considering that USA swimming has proposed a ban on them for 12 and unders. They might even raise the age limit. As for your self, there are more affordable tech suits out there. The older models are a lot cheaper now. Heck, some places are discounting the older versions of tech suits, which are still better than just the briefs. As I have said before, there are going to be those of us that like them and those that don't. If I want to spend my money on one, then that should be my choice. Just because some people don't like them, don't want to pay for them or can't pay for them, doesn't mean those that do like them, that can pay for them or are willing to pay for them, should have to pushed back to yester year of swimming. Other sports evolve in terms of material design. Better running shoes, better running outfits, so why is it such a big deal for swimming to evolve? It is time to come out of the dark ages and appreciate what technology and good science will do for the sport. Because, regardless of the suit, the ATHLETE still has to put it on and race. If they haven't prepared for their races, then the suits will not make up for missed practices or other lack of preparation. Yea, maybe the effects won't be as bad but they still won't be as good if the training hasn't take place. No suit can make up the for lack of training.

I agree with Dolphin. I wish they would ban all of these tech suits. 1. Going back to briefs would keep everyone on a level playing field. 2. As a parent who does not make much money it is going to be cost prohibitive for me to buy these suits for my kids. 3. I can't afford tech suits for myself. I really have no say in what happens but that is what I wish. I don't have a whole lot of swimming experience and am definately not very fast compared to most. I swam a year when I was 8 for an age group team. I swam 3 years in High School and during that time I swam with an age group team when my parents could afford the monthly dues. I swam for one semester at a Community College. I am just starting to swim again to lose 40 lbs and trying to live a healthier lifestyle. I may join the local masters team if I can afford it next year.

Why can't swimmers swim against each other instead of swimmers swimming against the suits of other competitors? As Wookie pointed out, the suits don't swim themselves.