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.
It's especially unfair to us masters swimmer parents who give their tech suits to their kids. lol
The concern about LZRs on 14 & unders seems overblown. I've only seen a couple of kids that age in them. But I'll be keeping an eye out this weekend.
What if you have a kid that has put in the work and is on the razor's edge of time cuts? Why can't they suit up because a bunch of whiney parents are jealous of other parents who can afford suits? This is all bogus. I say cut the trophy budget from dues instead.
...a tale losely based on biographical events...
Well, the flu and bad knees/evilstroke part is autobiographical. The rest I have heard or observed.
Hofffam, I wouldn't necessarily call a parent buying a tech suit (not talking B70 or LZR here) a "spendy parent." Way too pejorative. I think Geek, despite his newly civil mode, would still call this remark ludicrous.
I say instead that for 12 & under tech suits are one less thing to be on that list of unfair items.
No one has been harmed by not allowing them (except perhaps the suit makers).
I weigh more heavily the advantages of growing the sport over allowing the kids with spendy parents to wear an expensive suit.
Hey Lump
I'll second that! :bouncing:
As I've (and others have) said over and over 'til we're blue in the face, this "suit technology" stuff is a bunch of nonsensical marketing gimmickry cooked up by Speedo, Nike, Arena and others. :bitching:
FINA's rules regarding suits should just go back to the plain old briefs like Mark Spitz and others wore in the 1970s.
End of discussion -period. :applaud:
Dolphin 2
Let's just repeat for the audience your credentials to speak on this. You don't compete. You have never competed. You tried on a tech suit once but didn't swim in it (I think you said this). You have no knowledge of their abilities, unlike almost everyone else on this forum. If it was marketing then how do you explain the results?
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.
...a tale loosely based on biographical events...
I just say NO SUITS period! :applaud:
Well, then someone would complain that their "parts" are bigger and slowing them down more or some crap. :bolt:
Hey Lump
I'll second that! :bouncing:
As I've (and others have) said over and over 'til we're blue in the face, this "suit technology" stuff is a bunch of nonsensical marketing gimmickry cooked up by Speedo, Nike, Arena and others. :bitching:
FINA's rules regarding suits should just go back to the plain old briefs like Mark Spitz and others wore in the 1970s.
End of discussion -period. :applaud:
Dolphin 2
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.
Of course these parents will claim that their children are participating in athletics and they are still making stellar grades -but it’s “someone else’s” kids who are flunking in school. :blah:
Dolphin 2
Must be yours. Mine are doing extremely well.
