Beer leagues can be fun, but not going with FINA's rules would change USMS to something different than what it is currently.
I don't see how this would be the case. I mean, what exactly are we currently? Only a fraction of the membership compete, and those that do are not even required to show proof of qualifying times for national championships. What it would show is that we are capable of independent and progressive thinking.
In golf, tennis, biking, etc. technology has always been a major part of the sport. Not so in swimming until now. Now we are fundamentally changing the nature of the sport.
Sure its not fair at all if a kid has to play golf with a $50 set from Walmart against rich kids with $400 drivers. Swimming doesn't have to be that way unless we want to make it that way. It used to always be in swimming that with a $20 suit and a pair of goggles it was a level playing field.
The big problem I see is that full-body textile suits will likely cost a fortune, as there will be a small market for them and I fear the wetsuit manufacturers (B70, Jaked, etc.) will exit the market. Also, last time I checked those suits do not last very long. In that regard it is unfortunate to lose the B70s since mine lasted for almost two years and many races and was well worth the money.
If you look at the history of Blue Seventy there first market was triathletes. The Nero evolved from a swim skin for warm water triathlons where the wetsuits were not allowed. So they already had a market, competitive pool swimming became icing on the cake. I can only make an educated guess, however based on there history and if masters keep the suits legal, I believe B70 will still manufacture as between Tri’s and Masters it may still be enough of a market.
It is called "Masters Swimming" - meaning (real) swimming competition for masters athletes. Its not called "Masters Aqua Games", or some other name that would acknowledge that we are really a beer league.... something separate and fundamentally different than "actual" competitive swimming.
Beer league sounds good to me. :)
is fina going to allow rubber in open water? ......i'm willing to offer a compromise: wear anything you want in the pool (lzr's, b-70's, fins, water wings, what ever) but keep it clean outside "the box".
everybody happy now?
The thing to me that stands out is why is the the people who want the suits to stay are the ones that have to defend their position.
I haven't heard a whole lot of good reasons to ban the suits. Just a lot of complaining that that guy or girl is going faster than you think they should be or price. How is a $500 swim suit any different than a $500 driver for golf? Not all parents can buy $500 drivers for their kids, right?
Okay maybe the driver lasts a little longer but still.
A state of the art speed boat or car with the best aerodynamics still can't run without an engine. So even a swimmer in a NASA designed suit still needs something to make him/her go through the water!!
Isn't the argument that the suits make you go faster than you could naturally? Isn't the only real argument in favor of rubberized suits that people like going faster than they can naturally? (All other arguments can be resolved by sticking with purely a textile full-body suit, which I don't love but would prefer to the rubberized suits by far as a compromise.)
You can't play golf without a driver. You can swim without a suit. So there's a difference when talking about technology improvements. Also, golf is a game and swimming is a physical competition. Suits used to be for modesty and the racing was all about the swimmer. Rubberized suits change us from a sport about the purity of a person's physical ability to a sport about who has the best designed swimsuit. It turns us from a sport into a game. Beer league softball, with space-aged aluminum bats, indeed.
Can't play golf without a driver? Not sure about that since I don't use mine a lot but...
While I don't necessarily agree with and want rubberized suits ( I can't afford one!) You can't say that the suit and only the suit completely changes the sport. Based on that theory you could just throw the suit in the pool and it would set a world record without a swimmer in it.
