What should USMS do about the suits?

I don't understand the rationale for proposing shoulder to knee coverage, which breaks from the FINA/USA Swimming regulations, but not leg skins or full body suits. The rationale is "compromise." Last update on suits from Convention. As someone else posted, USA-S has given Oct 1 as their deadline to ban the suits. I asked a friend on the Rules Committee if that means USMS had to consider that, too -- there is, I think, language to the effect that USMS adopts USA-S rules unless we specifically vote otherwise. But he responded that we have already deviated from USA-S on our suit rules, so we didn't need to consider it. (At least, that's what I *think* he said. Sigh...) As I mentioned before, USMS had submitted a proposal (thru USAS) to FINA about the suits. Any decision FINA makes -- which would have to be approved (or not, or modified) by USMS -- would obviously only apply to SCM and LCM. The Rules Committee is not sure exactly what to do for SCY. They presented 3 possible options to the House of Delegates (HOD) and wanted a vote to get a sense of what to do. No action was being proposed. For SCY competitions: Option 1: adopt FINA Masters swimwear rules as soon as FINA adopts them, but no earlier than Oct 1. Option 2: adopt FINA Masters swimwear rules, effective on the same date as FINA decides for SCM. Option 3: adopt FINA Masters swimwear rules on June 1, 2010, or later if FINA Masters adopts no standard (ie, tech suits legal for entire 2009-2010 SCY season no matter what FINA decides). Spirited debate ensued. People argued both sides but my sense (which may be wrong) is that more anti-tech people spoke than pro-tech. The vote was: 101 for option 1, 5 for option 2, and 90 for option 3. I voted for option 3 (despite my personal preference for option 1 or 2, and the earliest ban possible) b/c I think people in my LMSC -- on both sides of the issue -- long for as much certainty as possible. The dates on options 1 & 2 are more fluid than on option 3 and depend too much on FINA. (I would have preferred a date of Jan 1 on option 3, personally). So there you have it. No change in rules at convention, as I suspected: tech suits are still legal for now. A compromise position submitted to FINA thru USAS. Waiting for word from FINA about the suits, and it may come as early as in a couple weeks or a few months (the process is apparently convoluted) and may come in any form. No firm rule about SCY yet either (again, the vote was for polling purposes only; it was non-binding). It is within the right of the Rules Committee and the Executive Board to pass a swimsuit rule between meetings of the HOD (as they have already done this year). I suspect that will happen at some point once they hear back from FINA, and it may happen wrt SCY even before then. Though the members of the Rules Committee certainly have opinions about the suits, they have gone to lengths to measure member sentiments on the suits, including browsing thru forum posts. I am pretty confident that they will come up with something that is equitable. I have little confidence in FINA's decision-making process, but hopefully I'm wrong.

I don't understand the rationale for proposing shoulder to knee coverage, which breaks from the FINA/USA Swimming regulations, but not leg skins or full body suits. The rationale is "compromise." Last update on suits from Convention. As someone else posted, USA-S has given Oct 1 as their deadline to ban the suits. I asked a friend on the Rules Committee if that means USMS had to consider that, too -- there is, I think, language to the effect that USMS adopts USA-S rules unless we specifically vote otherwise. But he responded that we have already deviated from USA-S on our suit rules, so we didn't need to consider it. (At least, that's what I *think* he said. Sigh...) As I mentioned before, USMS had submitted a proposal (thru USAS) to FINA about the suits. Any decision FINA makes -- which would have to be approved (or not, or modified) by USMS -- would obviously only apply to SCM and LCM. The Rules Committee is not sure exactly what to do for SCY. They presented 3 possible options to the House of Delegates (HOD) and wanted a vote to get a sense of what to do. No action was being proposed. For SCY competitions: Option 1: adopt FINA Masters swimwear rules as soon as FINA adopts them, but no earlier than Oct 1. Option 2: adopt FINA Masters swimwear rules, effective on the same date as FINA decides for SCM. Option 3: adopt FINA Masters swimwear rules on June 1, 2010, or later if FINA Masters adopts no standard (ie, tech suits legal for entire 2009-2010 SCY season no matter what FINA decides). Spirited debate ensued. People argued both sides but my sense (which may be wrong) is that more anti-tech people spoke than pro-tech. The vote was: 101 for option 1, 5 for option 2, and 90 for option 3. I voted for option 3 (despite my personal preference for option 1 or 2, and the earliest ban possible) b/c I think people in my LMSC -- on both sides of the issue -- long for as much certainty as possible. The dates on options 1 & 2 are more fluid than on option 3 and depend too much on FINA. (I would have preferred a date of Jan 1 on option 3, personally). So there you have it. No change in rules at convention, as I suspected: tech suits are still legal for now. A compromise position submitted to FINA thru USAS. Waiting for word from FINA about the suits, and it may come as early as in a couple weeks or a few months (the process is apparently convoluted) and may come in any form. No firm rule about SCY yet either (again, the vote was for polling purposes only; it was non-binding). It is within the right of the Rules Committee and the Executive Board to pass a swimsuit rule between meetings of the HOD (as they have already done this year). I suspect that will happen at some point once they hear back from FINA, and it may happen wrt SCY even before then. Though the members of the Rules Committee certainly have opinions about the suits, they have gone to lengths to measure member sentiments on the suits, including browsing thru forum posts. I am pretty confident that they will come up with something that is equitable. I have little confidence in FINA's decision-making process, but hopefully I'm wrong.