USA Swimming’s Board of Directors was expected to vote last Saturday on a proposal that would ban the use of tech suits for 12-and-unders, except at high-level meets.
However, after hearing a progress report on the proposal, the board agreed to move the measure forward in the approval process without a vote. According to USA Swimming’s Chief Marketing Officer Matt Farrell, the organization’s rules of procedure do not require a board ballot on the issue.
The Age Group Committee will instead submit the proposal directly to USA Swimming’s house of delegates, which will conduct the final vote when it convenes in September.
In late 2017, USA Swimming commissioned the Isaac Sports Group to review various policies on tech suit use in age group swimming. The results of the review were informally made public through Board of Directors meeting minutes in March 2018, and revealed that the Age Group Committee favored some form of restriction, though the exact logistics have yet to be released.
The Isaac report concluded: “based on our research, we find that the tech suit cost issue is an important issue, but not one that is driving people out of the sport or as significant an issue as initially assumed. The major concern of tech suit use is the impact on the development of young swimmers, potentially drawing focus, attention and resources away from the development priorities swimmers, coaches, and parents should be focusing on.”
As the report suggested, those favoring the ban often cite preferring to focus on technique rather than technology for swimmers at a young age, which they suspect will lead to improved long-term development. Others have also cited monetarily ‘leveling the playing field’ and making the sport more accessible to all.
Opponents of the ban feel that it is an overreach by USA Swimming, jumping into matters of how parents should best spend money on their children, and violating the athletes’ rights to use a suit that is approved everywhere else in the world.
Based on these concerns, the report also raised a number of questions for the Age Group Development Committee to consider, including whether it is in USA Swimming’s best interest to “micro-manage,” whether restrictions can be enforced fairly and consistently without overburdening officials, and whether new rules can “significantly influence” the current culture of tech suit use.
Any news? Can they wear them or not?
I think that they should at least let 12 and unders wear kneeskins to all championship meets because those are big deals to these kids especially when they are 11 or 12 and they are going to meets like tags and stags and you could tell 12 and unders that theyy have to get suits that are like the areana powerskin and powerskin 2.0 because those are on the cheaper side only costing 140.00 dollers for the 2.0
They can wear kneeskins. Knitted kneeskins can be worn.
All for the ban. A $200+ crutch for a 12u swimmer is absurd
It is more costly on hotels than a tech suit. For JOs and Far western meets, which are over one hour from home without traffic (2 hours with traffic), you got to book a hotel bcz of finals and relays end as late as 7-8pm. 3 days JO and 4 days far western average hotel cost is $450-$600. My daughter using entry level blue70 with discount only $150 per year. Yes! One tech suit per year.
As a coach, I feel this overreaching on USA Swimmings part. This should be left to the LSC level or even the club level. Our club currently has a tech-suit policy in place. We have certain meets where tech suits are allowed, outside of those meets tech suits are not allowed to be worn.
First post ever. I agree with the sentiment that to many kids are wearing expensive tech suites. But there are cases where I think they make sense in lower level meets, going for a cut that is important to the child/family/coach. I prefer that order, but I’m not a coach 🙂 Some of my favorite memories in swimming are seeing a kid make a cut and the expression when they realize it. doesn’t matter if it is the first state level champ cut or a nat cut. I do think that for some kids suits can make a difference and can provide the confidence/incentive/mental edge to make the cut. I’ve been watching kids swim for many years and really believe… Read more »
i swam in the old days when we had speedos that came in a ton of different cool colors. Does anyone have any quantitive, solid information on how much the modern 2018 tech suits really help a swimmer? Sometimes I think it’s not much more than a lot of marketing baloney and the swimming community fell for it hook, line and sinker.
As a Master’s swimmer, I swim in the old school “Speedo” type brief suits. I think paying $250.00+ for a tech suit is just plain silly but that’s JMHO.
Let me know what you folks think!
I’ll bet that if you had a good chance to set a Masters Age Group National Record, you’d probably shave and spring for the tech suit.
I won’t be setting any MastersNAGR’s anytime soon so if I could I might buy one or maybe not. Who knows?
I’m looking for any scientifically proven information or facts that the 2018 tech suits actually help you swim faster and by how much. So far, no one seems to have any solid answers…..
if they didn’t I don’t think you’d see them on every swimmer at Trials and the Olympics!
I know that the one time I used my TYR swimskin that I use for triathlon in a pool, it was good for at least a couple secs per hundred. But that was one that covered my hairy torso.
That wasn’t exactly the scientific proof that I was looking for, but thanks anyway. Maybe when you wore your TYR swim skin, you were in a lane with moving water, hence the 3 second drop per 100. 🙂
There could be the slight chance that the world of competitive swimming has been suckered or hoodwinked into believing that the suits make a difference. I’m just trying to separate fact from fiction.
Let’s use Caleb Dressel as an example for conversations sake. He swam the 50 yard free in 17.6 at the recently held NCAA’s. If he wore a 2018 brief style suit, what do you think he would have swam the same 50 in?
One of the things that I’m… Read more »
18.50
I don’t think it’s possible to get scientific facts like that. The suit compresses your muscles and everyone has different amounts of muscle mass and different builds (it’s to my knowledge that the compression makes you more “springy”). I believe that the suit is great for personal confidence over anything else. Since you are someone that has seemingly never worn one, they are incredibly water resistant – you’ll see the water literally wick off when you climb out. In addition, it gives you a lot more buoyancy that makes it a lot easier to keep your hips up when you swim.
This said though, age group swimming should be all about the mechanics. Only high school/collegiate/professional swimmers should be wearing these. Parents shouldn’t be wasting buy bucks on stuff like this on their young kids for two reasons. 1) The kids will grow out of it sooner than it will get shipped to their house. 2) They will not appreciate the suit fully at such a young age.
False. Just using my son as an example, at 12 he’s already swimming faster times than most of the varsity swimmers at his older sister’s high school. So they should be able to wear tech suits at a district, region, or state meet, but he shouldn’t be able to wear one at the Age Group State Champs meet when trying to swim a Sectionals time? Nonsense.
He isn’t into video games and doesn’t have a car to spend his money on yet. He practices 8x per week in a group with kids that are 11-14 yrs old. So the 13 and 14 year old kids in his practice group “deserve” to wear a tech suit more than he does simply… Read more »
STEVE NOLAN–I love the irony of this post. The swimming commissars should figure out how to keep pervs off the pool deck before worrying about what kinds of suits the kids are wearing. Seems to me there’s a whole lotta people looking at suits a little too closely, if you know what I mean.
USA swimming
should be broke after this lawsuit if true! https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/629948002