USMS final decision on tech suits for masters

...except they added the bit about nose clip and ear plugs. If they got rid of the suits and my beloved nose clip it might be more than I could take, along with the 'Heels being dismal this year.

This is a reference for you www.ansys.com/.../tm-steam-turbines.asp Steam is vaporized water. Condensation is when liquid water forms from vapor and that is what they are predicting.

To paraphrase: "Boo Hoo" Bill, I thought you were the whining police.

All this doesn't matter. FINA, USA-Swimming, the NCAA, all agree on one thing: the suits are bad. Good riddance, don't let the door hit you on the way out. It hasn't resulted in mass defection from the sport either. At the age-group level I'm still seeing tons of best times and amazing swims. And my point is too bad that there's not one swimming organization that does still allow for the suits giving us the swimmers more choice. Yeah, yeah, I train with the kiddos too and let me say this. We as adults can do amazing things but we still ain't the kids. Our recovery time, no matter how fit we are, is not comparable. Thank god I'm a younger masters swimmer so that perhaps by the time I'm 60+ the suits will be back and I can think about swimming large line ups safely with the aid of a suit. I have heard the following statement -- sometimes as a joke, sometimes not -- among quite a few swimmers about the suit ban: time to get fit and lose weight (Ahelee Sue posted this very comment on FB. Not that she needs to worry about either...). Too bad it too a ban to bring out such sentiments.What a frightening comment for those masters women who are already size 2's with 15% body fat. But I'll take that into consideration.And having seen pictures of Ahelee I hope to god that she's not talking about herself.

Here is my question for those of us that think USMS has made the wrong decision by allowing the tech suits to continue though the scy season. How many of us will use a bodysuit for USMS SCY meets and how many will start using 2010 legal suits? I think Midas said something to the effect "if everyone else is going to use one..." I seem to recall Midas saying in an earlier thread that he would henceforth only use jammers to avoid hypocrisy since he supported the tech suit ban and thinks "cheating" tech suits are ruining the sport? :bolt: I'm using my B70, naturally (which is a "2010 legal suit" in SCY). My $100 suit only has a few swims in it. Plus, I will be celebrating my second anniversary of wearing almost exclusively B70 at every meet I've swum in. :) And I'm anxious to have an "apples to apples" comparison of times.

Nonsense. I just prefer and enjoy racing in my tech suit, which I will have worn for almost every meet for two years. I'm a speed junkie; it's more fun; it's my racing gear. (Who wants to wear their practice gear on race day?) I like the only gear we swimmers got. Sorry you don't. You should be happier now. I don't plan on training any harder, as noted above. And that last statement is very ninny-ish. Leslie, at least your team has another 5 months until they have to get a new team suit! :)

Ridiculous. Swimming -- or any athletic endeavor -- SHOULD be decided by how hard & smart one trains, how efficiently one swims, and how talented s/he is. IMO it shouldn't be decided by who happened to pick the best suit or sponsor. Or whether a suit rips behind the blocks before a race. That feeling is where I differ from the suit-lovers, who are (again IMO) overly enamored with gear. No other piece of swimming equipment has such an impact on the results. Do you think the brand of goggles you use makes a difference? No, you choose it based on personal preference. That's pretty much how it used to be with suits back in the day. Is Biedermann faster than Phelps in the 200 free with equal suits? I don't know, and anyone who says they do is lying. It is too bad, because before the latest round of suit idiocy, a head-to-head race would have decided such a thing. All this doesn't matter. FINA, USA-Swimming, the NCAA, all agree on one thing: the suits are bad. Good riddance, don't let the door hit you on the way out. It hasn't resulted in mass defection from the sport either. At the age-group level I'm still seeing tons of best times and amazing swims. I have heard the following statement -- sometimes as a joke, sometimes not -- among quite a few masters swimmers about the suit ban: time to get fit and lose weight (Ahelee Sue posted this very comment on FB. Not that she needs to worry about either...). Too bad it took a ban to bring out such sentiments. It's not ridiculous either. Everything that we do that revolves around swimming does enhance our performance. I didn't say the suits don't enhance performance. But to say that the only reason a swimmer did this time or that time is because of a suit is ridiculous. My point is that if people can't give credit to other things that we do to improve in the sport, then we should stop training and just show-up at meets. Those that are naturally more athletic or more fit will still prevail over everyone. But to claim that a suit is the sole reason for someone doing a particular time, without knowing how they prepared is ridiculous. I am really looking forward to seeing how I do when I go back to jammers. I have taken a lot that I have learned about body position from the suits and been working on getting the same feelings in practice everyday for months now. So, I am excited about what I can do in a jammer based on everything else that I have been doing in and out of the pool. Swimming isn't about one piece of equipment. It's about all that goes into the pot.

With regard to the suits, though, I don't think it will matter as much as everyone thinks. As mentioned above, body position and stroke mechanics matter, as does training. If it does turn out that times are slower, consider it a new baseline from which to improve. I think it is a more even playing field overall. But I am also a speed junkie, and I'm curious to see what difference it will make. I was talking to one of the coaches at an age group meet, and he was telling me that 10 year old kids on his team were getting $300 suits and finding real improvement because their body position was so poor. Then they grow and need to buy another one. That is silly, and really goes against what swimming should (IMHO) be all about at that age -- learning good technique, getting fit and having fun. At least that is what I try to teach the kids I coach.

I used to own sevaral carpet cleaning franchises and steam droplets are and have been measured. This is a reference for you www.ansys.com/.../tm-steam-turbines.asp I don't think there's such a thing as a steam droplet. You can condense steam and get a water droplet, but the idea of a droplet of gas doesn't make sense to me. edit: I think I see the confusion here. This is from the entry on steam in Wikipedia: "In common speech, steam most often refers to the visible white mist that condenses above boiling water as the hot vapor mixes with the cooler air. This mist consists of tiny droplets of liquid water. Pure steam emerges at the base of the spout of a steaming kettle where there is no visible vapor." en.wikipedia.org/.../Steam

What are we talking about here? "Unauthorized" time trials? No. Just off the top of my head: Auburn Masters Invitational SCY 2006 100% of swims thrown out North Carolina State Games LCM 2009 100% of swims thrown out Peachtree City Pentathlon SCY 2009 100% of swims thrown out although we were notified of this a week or so after that meet St. Nicks Invitational SCM 2009 last two events unsanctioned and swimmers were notified 10 minutes prior to the events starting. Thank god I decided not to shoot for the WR at this meet as my event would have been thrown out.