Column by John Lohn
CRANBURY, New Jersey, June 8. IN this age of technological warfare – exactly what the suit companies have engaged in for the past year – much of the discussion has surrounded the integrity of the sport. And, for good reason, considering the plethora of ridiculous records which have been established at various levels – collegiate, national and, of course, international.
The sport, as has been declared before in corners far and wide, is dealing with an unfortunate period in its history. The flip of the calendar can't come soon enough, a point in which the whole suit debacle will be vanquished, except for the lingering memories of an era where we never knew how much of a great swim was the athlete, and how much was the non-garment covering his or her body.
During this whole suit saga, there have been additional issues raised, one being the cost of the high-tech swimwear and the pressure it has placed on some families who feel obligated to purchase one. God forbid mom and dad cost little Timmy an age-group victory because he wasn't clad in a $500 product. What horrible parenting that they chose to put the money toward the mortgage payment instead.
Admittedly, I thought minimally about the age-group impact of this whole situation until receiving a phone call last week during my drive to work. Prior to that call, the focus had been on the worldwide impact and the record-book assault. But that phone call opened the eyes to another angle, one that is head-shaking.
We'll first start with a little background information. Each summer, the newspaper for which I work holds a late July or early August event known as the Delaware County Daily Times Summer Elite Meet. It's been held for a decade now, and brings together the top finishers from the championship competitions of the three summer leagues in Delaware County. Among the former participants was a guy named Brendan Hansen, he of four Olympic medals and the former world-record holder in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events.
Well, with the meet a couple of months away, the phone call I received came from Erik Nelson, the head coach at the Ridley Area YMCA, and a man who has done a stellar job building a program and coaching several top athletes. Basically, Nelson asked me if there was any thought of the newspaper banning high-tech suits for the meet. My first thought: It's the summer. How sad that we've reached a juncture where we need to worry about a good-time summer meet being tainted by technology.
Yes, the suit crisis extends well down the totem pole of the sport. No one is going to argue that hard work is still required for a swimmer to be highly competitive. But the fact that wearing a speed suit will help an athlete reach greater heights is not lost on anyone paying attention to the happenings in the sport. Some of those people happen to be the parents of 10-year-olds, adults whose vision is clouded by scholarship money and stardom and are willing wedge their little kid into a high-tech suit, the check for the cost easily written, even if it won't be able to be used again in six months.
The message these suits have sent to the public is that corners can be cut, that the stopwatch will produce faster times if we reach a little deeper into the pocket. Because the suits were widely used in state-championship competition at the high school level, you can't blame the athletes for picking one up, less they fall behind the competition. The blame there goes to the officials of the sport for allowing the gear in the first place.
But when one starts talking about the suits being used in summer competition and being worn by athletes who haven't yet reached the scholastic ranks, that is a major problem, and a sad state of affairs. It truly shows how far-reaching this mess has become and is another example, coupled with the production of insanely fast records, of why the outlawing of these suits is paramount. Is it January yet?
Nelson is in the process of reaching out to the local leagues to determine whether their rules for the summer will prohibit a youngster from wearing a high-tech suit during Saturday morning competition. Let's hope common sense prevails, and that is the case. If not, guarantee that the Elite Meet, previously mentioned, will institute a rule banning anything of the high-tech variety. With some luck, summer leagues around the country will not let them be used, either.
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June 8, 2009 Thank you for writing this article John.
This is exactly the type of thing some of us have been worried about for quite some time now. Tech suits to make sure little Johnny wins the 25 yard Fly.
One thing...funny how the swim suit companies keep protesting that "these suits are not being made for this level" yet oddly enough parents are being able to find suits in these sizes for their kids.
How strange that these sizes exist.
Again, great article....thank you!! Submitted by: rcoach
June 8, 2009 This whole suit fiasco is just awful Submitted by: steveschmuhl
June 8, 2009 Excuse me... could you nice young men help me? Where can I get a girls LZR in a 2T... you know, toddler size? My summer League just started a 2 Submitted by: The Screaming Viking!
June 8, 2009 and under age group and I think she can make it to the Olympics. Submitted by: The Screaming Viking!
June 8, 2009 We had a girl in the 9-10 division of a country club swim league championship show up with a tech suit last summer. It caused quite a stir with parents and swimmers. I hope that tech suit use doesn't escalate this summer, but it probably will. Submitted by: Raider
June 8, 2009 I laughed at Screaming Viking's post(s). I assume the situation Raider wrote about cannot happen again with the new rule, effective last month, that "Swimsuits worn for all 12 & under age group defined competition shall not cover the neck, extend past the shoulder, nor past the knee."
While I was glad USA Swimming's House of Delegates adopted that rule, the one thing that disappointed me was the HOD's only stated reason -- to keep costs down. While cost is vitally important at the age group level to bring new families and kids to the sport, surely even when the new rule was passed the delegates saw there were other reasons full body suits were harming swimming.
I'm not familiar with the Delaware County meet, but I assume it is open to teenagers who would not be subject to the new rule. No, for those kids and at summer championships elsewhere, meet officials need merely cope with FINA's recent, wonderful long list of "approved suits." Lucky them! Submitted by: Charlie
June 8, 2009 Charlie,
What I think the meet's John is refering to are summer league meets and not USA-S meets which would don't follow any formal USA-S or FINA rules in much of anything. Maybe I am wrong, but I think the article is referencing the fun, 90 day, suburb vs. suburb or country club vs. country club type leagues.
The truly grass roots portion of our sport from which most of our future swimmers arrive from, and a truly developmental part of the sport in which a tech suit at any age should really play no part. Inserting these suits in at this level is tremendously detrimental to our long term development of any upper level of swimmer down the road if they are not learning the basics first and just going to a suit to be faster.
Submitted by: rcoach
June 9, 2009 I checked our summer league rules and since they are not related to FINA or USA-S they don't have any rules regarding tech suits. They did recently add a rule that competitors can only wear one swim suit, but nothing else. I am sure there will be a few summer league swimmers who will wear tech suits, but it will be a small minority. Submitted by: Raider
June 9, 2009 I heard Speedo is coming out with a LZR diaper. Think I'll pick one up for my kids diper dip at the County Rec. Center. He'll be the fastest bobber and glider in the class. Wonder if they will make poop liners to go with it. shold only add about $100 to the cost. But it'll be worth it when we beat all the other dads in our timed 10 dunks.
Can you say "Class Record Baby!! Submitted by: coach_bill
June 9, 2009 Thanks for the clarifications (and more humor from Coach Bill). Gosh, in my summer league back in the dark ages of the late 60s-early 70s all we had to cope with was whether our nylon suit was solid or striped! Submitted by: Charlie
June 9, 2009 To comment on Charlie's post:
I was at HOD when USA Swimming adopted this rule. It was written to pass (which it did). All these issues of cost, and having no place in the sport, it's now the suit and not the training, etc... all came into the discussion. After much debate and re-writes the way it came out for approval was as a cost issue. But believe me, every issue was brought up and discussed on the floor before the vote took place. A vast majority of the HOD body was not in favor of allowing high-tech suites to take over age group swimming. USA Swimming did the right thing and is allowing their LSC's to further add to the rules if they wish. Southern California did this as have a few others since September. Summer leagues can do the same if they wish. I hope they all do. Submitted by: coach_bill
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