High school swimming disqualifies advanced suits
By Thomas O'Toole, USA TODAY
High school swimmers will be banned from wearing high-tech suits under a rule announced Tuesday by the National Federation of State High School Associations.
The change, effective immediately, mirrors a recent decision by the sport's international governing body and puts more emphasis on the ability of the swimmer instead of the quality of the suit. Suits now must be of a woven/knit textile material, permeable to water and air and cannot aid buoyancy.
Boys suits can't go above the waist or below the top of the knee.
Girls suits can't go above the shoulders or below the top of the knee and can't cover the neck.
"Wow. It's a big deal," said David Marsh, coaching director and CEO at SwimMAC Carolina in Charlotte and a former coach at Auburn University. "Most purist coaches like myself are happy to hear that you are able to judge a swimmer by the performance of the athlete himself."
To emphasize his point, Marsh said all he had to do Tuesday was look around the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way, Wash., site of the Speedo Junior National Championships.
Many of the top high school swimmers are there, and the meet is scouted by hundreds of college coaches. He said he asked one coach if he was noting which suits the swimmers were wearing and was told yes.
High-tech suits generally prove more helpful to lower-level swimmers than Olympians. "Absolutely," said Marsh. He said college coaches need to know how much of a difference the suit makes when they "are looking at investing the amount they are investing in these high school swimmers.
"They are adding unnatural flotation to their bodies. The suit kind of covers technique flaws. It affects how you use your energy. You don't have to kick as hard. But the biggest thing might be the psychological impact of wearing them."
The ruling pertains to 250,000 swimmers at 13,000 schools nationwide.
"These high-tech suits had fundamentally altered the sport and become more similar to equipment, rather than a uniform," Becky Oakes, NFHS assistant director and liaison to the swimming and diving rules committee, said in a statement. "The rules of swimming have always prohibited the use or wearing of items that would aid in the swimmer's speed and/or buoyancy. The technical suits and styles had evolved to a point where there was little, if any, compliance with these basic rules."
Oakes added that the rule "will help guarantee fairness in competition."
According to Bruce Howard, spokesman for the national federation, state associations "in the strictest sense," don't have to follow the national rules, but they generally do. Howard said he believes that "because of the significance and nature of this rule" all the states will follow it.
Club teams such as Marsh's generally work with top high school athletes as well as Olympic-caliber swimmers. He said that puts him in a tricky position.
"Dialing back the rules in my purist sense is probably a good thing," he said. "In my efforts to coach elite swimmers, those guys are having fun in those suits."
from www.usatoday.com/.../2009-08-11-advanced-suits-ban_N.htm
Former Member
Where is the proof that the tech suits aid certain swimmers more than others?
Putting all the physical benefits aside. If you think you will be faster with a suit, you just might go a little faster.
"They are adding unnatural flotation to their bodies. The suit kind of covers technique flaws. It affects how you use your energy. You don't have to kick as hard. But the biggest thing might be the psychological impact of wearing them."
Problem--I just want to swim faster than I otherwise could. Solution--Jaked, Arena X-Glied, Blue Seventy, Speedo LZR, etc. Fringe Benefit--Makes swimsuit companies richer and swimmers poorer. Seems illegitimate to many.
(Emphasis added.)
You had a good thing going until the final two sentences. :blah:
Putting all the physical benefits aside. If you think you will be faster with a suit, you just might go a little faster.
So psychological boosts must be eliminated? Also soon to be outlawed: lucky pre-meet meals, teammates cheering you on, and a hug from your mom.
So psychological boosts must be eliminated? Also soon to be outlawed: lucky pre-meet meals, teammates cheering you on, and a hug from your mom.
Better check out what's on their iPods too.
Why is this argument getting old? I do not understand the difference between using the wet suits and using flippers or hand paddles. In another thread someone called the suits a 'Passive mechanical advantage' but I don't quite recall what he called paddles/fins. I would think a mechanical advantage is still a mechanical advantage. So it's ok to have a little advantage, wet suit. but it's not ok to have a little bit bigger one, fins.
This argument is so old it practically makes me ill!
There is not even a remote comparison between fins and a tech suit. How do I know this? Because, unlike most others (especially purists), I use both ALL THE TIME. If I could swim meets in my fins, I would be breaking records right and left. There is no "little bit bigger" about fins. Yeesh!
I actually think it's reasonable to impose limits on high school athletes. But, in general, to stymie technological innovation, pretend regulation is impossible, and send the sport back to the caveman era seems ridiculous. Having good suit gear is totally legit, and is in no way comparable to adding fins.
We all recognize that not all training is equal and all pools are of similar quality. However, I like the idea of returning the sport to a time when the emphasis was on the ability of the swimmer instead of the quality of the suit. When a world record was broken, it was because a swimmer had improved on another swimmer’s past performance. And as Marsh said, “…happy to hear that you are able to judge a swimmer by the performance of the athlete himself."
I'm with wookie - a $35 tech suit and this whole argument goes away pronto.
I don't think price was the main reason. FS-Pros, Tracer Lights and their immediate predecessors weren't exactly cheap either.
Once the LZR was introduced WRs started falling at a pace that was too rapid for some. New versions of suits were introduced quite rapidly that seemed significantly better. Suddenly what suit one wore became an important piece of information. When a new WR was set (often in-season) it was the first question people asked.
I simply think many were not ready for swimming to be so gear-focused.
It is a legit question whether FINA jumped the gun. It may be that the suit manufacturers' pace of innovation would slow and pretty much all the suits would be equally performance-enhancing.
there is nothing wrong with the fancy suits just as there is nothing wrong with hitting a ball with a racquet ...... but don't call it handball.
start a new league and call it suit swimming or wear anything swimming or competitive swimming for the amish (yes, long sleeves required)
