Here's a reason I hate people who hate tech suits:
www.swimwestside.com/.../
This guy calls Rowdy a "stain" and urges us all to try training. I really hate when some idiot tells me to "train."
Well yes, he is a bit obnoxious. (Of course, it is his own blog.)
I would say that 90% of the reason I dislike tech suits is personal preference, and so I like the ban because I don't have to worry about being at a competitive disadvantage. But I suppose there is a little bit of purist in me, too: when people say that (only) tech suits make swimming "exciting" and they are going to quit now that they are gone, the implication is that plain vanilla swimming is pretty damn boring.
Well, I kind of like "plain" swimming! And 99+% of all the swimming almost anybody does is in a training suit, so I would hope most masters swimmers at least find it palatable. So when someone says they will quit because they can no longer aid their swimming artificially, a small very ugly part of me says "good riddance." (The better part of me says nothing of the sort, of course.)
Sure, people who wear tech suits (mostly) train hard. But there is no denying it is an artificial aid to speed, no different conceptually from fins or wetsuits (which are the "ultimate" tech suit, of course, but have been around for quite some time).
As far as I can see, the tech-loving doomsayers arguing that age group kids would become thoroughly discouraged by their glacial slowness in the post-tech era have been thoroughly disproven, at least locally. Our AG meets are as fast or faster than ever and our AG clubs are more crowded than ever (certainly NOVA is).
So now the doomsaying is about our flabby, old bodies needing the suits, while I suppose those young studs never really did. Let's check back in a year and see what happens to that (somewhat offensive, at least to me) theory.
Here's a reason I hate people who hate tech suits:
www.swimwestside.com/.../
This guy calls Rowdy a "stain" and urges us all to try training. I really hate when some idiot tells me to "train."
Well yes, he is a bit obnoxious. (Of course, it is his own blog.)
I would say that 90% of the reason I dislike tech suits is personal preference, and so I like the ban because I don't have to worry about being at a competitive disadvantage. But I suppose there is a little bit of purist in me, too: when people say that (only) tech suits make swimming "exciting" and they are going to quit now that they are gone, the implication is that plain vanilla swimming is pretty damn boring.
Well, I kind of like "plain" swimming! And 99+% of all the swimming almost anybody does is in a training suit, so I would hope most masters swimmers at least find it palatable. So when someone says they will quit because they can no longer aid their swimming artificially, a small very ugly part of me says "good riddance." (The better part of me says nothing of the sort, of course.)
Sure, people who wear tech suits (mostly) train hard. But there is no denying it is an artificial aid to speed, no different conceptually from fins or wetsuits (which are the "ultimate" tech suit, of course, but have been around for quite some time).
As far as I can see, the tech-loving doomsayers arguing that age group kids would become thoroughly discouraged by their glacial slowness in the post-tech era have been thoroughly disproven, at least locally. Our AG meets are as fast or faster than ever and our AG clubs are more crowded than ever (certainly NOVA is).
So now the doomsaying is about our flabby, old bodies needing the suits, while I suppose those young studs never really did. Let's check back in a year and see what happens to that (somewhat offensive, at least to me) theory.
