I am just back from the SPMA meet where all the top finisher were wearing the latest generation tech suits,mostly B-70s(or were named Jeff Commings.)I have here to for been in favor of the suits,but now I am not so sure.First,they eliminate the old bench marks.I went my fastest 100m BR in 5 yr in my LZR,but it was only .3 sec faster than I did untapered 5 wk earlier in my first swim in the LZR.So was my swim good or not,I'm not sure.Also,instead of focusing on technique or pace I found myself ruminating over aspects of the suits,how many more swims did the suit have,is it the right size,was the reason I didn't get better results from my B-70 because it was too big?etc.The B-70 has somewhat mitigated the "too expensive,not durable" problem,but for how long.
Lets say a company comes up with a suit that is much faster,say 4 sec/100.Further that it is very expensive(say $1000) lasts 4 swims and is very hard to make so that quantities are always limited and the fastest way to get one is to bid up to $3000 on ebay. Now lets say your nemesis has one,or that getting one is your best chance to get TT or AA or a ZR or WR,or that your child is close to making JO cuts,or finally beating his/her nemesis etc. Is it worth it and where does it stop?
Parents
Former Member
This past week I was able to attend both our local College Conference meet as well as the HS district meets.
At the college meet it was 80%+ tech suits, overwhelmingly LZR's. Seeing the level of performance from these swimmers I felt their use was justified in particular sice the schools tend to pay for them. Also, the swimmers seemed to respect the fact that these suits only last so long and were only wearing them for their races.
At the HS meet it was maybe 5%, 2-3 teams and only a couple of swimmers each. But the kids that wore them overwhelmingly came in 1st, 2nd or 3rd and breaking records as well. To drop over 1 second in the 50 free is huge and don't tell me the suit did not help! What bothered me more than anything else thought was the fact that these kids wore their LZR's during warm up, their race and medal ceremonies-so about 4-5 hours. I thought it is not the frequency of use but the extent of the use that deteriorates the suit, so why do that to a $500 suit?
Anyhow, I felt really bad for those kids whose mom and dad could "only" cough up enough for a fast skin or the team suit. When a suit is so out of reach for the average HS swimmer then maybe it should not be permitted at a district or even state meet.
This past week I was able to attend both our local College Conference meet as well as the HS district meets.
At the college meet it was 80%+ tech suits, overwhelmingly LZR's. Seeing the level of performance from these swimmers I felt their use was justified in particular sice the schools tend to pay for them. Also, the swimmers seemed to respect the fact that these suits only last so long and were only wearing them for their races.
At the HS meet it was maybe 5%, 2-3 teams and only a couple of swimmers each. But the kids that wore them overwhelmingly came in 1st, 2nd or 3rd and breaking records as well. To drop over 1 second in the 50 free is huge and don't tell me the suit did not help! What bothered me more than anything else thought was the fact that these kids wore their LZR's during warm up, their race and medal ceremonies-so about 4-5 hours. I thought it is not the frequency of use but the extent of the use that deteriorates the suit, so why do that to a $500 suit?
Anyhow, I felt really bad for those kids whose mom and dad could "only" cough up enough for a fast skin or the team suit. When a suit is so out of reach for the average HS swimmer then maybe it should not be permitted at a district or even state meet.
