High school swimmers will have to use common sense when choosing swimsuits for this season (John McDonnell, The Washington Post)
If high school swimmers and their parents are waiting for the National Federation of State High School Associations to release a list of approved swimsuits for the 2009-2010 school year, they could be waiting a good long time.
With the swimming season already underway in 18 states and the NFHS’s decision to ban high-tech, long-length suits just over two weeks old, the organization is trying to help its member states navigate the new dress code without a formal list.
The NFHS has neither the means, nor the time, to evaluate suits and compile a complete list of allowable ones, according to Becky Oakes, NFHS assistant director and liaison to the Swimming and Diving Rules Committee.
Instead, it is urging its members to study the new rules, contact their state associations for advice in choosing new swimwear and use common sense.
“It would have been premature for us to try to throw together a list,” Oakes said. “We would have run the risk of saying certain models were banned [by inadvertently excluding them] when they weren’t.
“As questions come in, we’re trying to be a good resource.”
Oakes said the NFHS hadn’t ruled out adopting lists that might eventually be compiled by the sport’s world governing body (FINA) or the NCAA, but it wasn’t depending on such action.
“We’re moving ahead,” Oakes said. “We can’t wait for somebody else.”
The NCAA, meantime, hopes to release a list of allowable suits in a few weeks, NCAA swimming and diving rules committee chair Tracy Huth said. A swimsuit sub-committee will in the coming days undertake an informal analysis of suits to try to assemble a list of those that meet the new standards – waist-to-knee for men and neck-to-knee for women, all-textile materials, permeability and no zippers or fasteners.
Suits that appear to violate the new code will be sent back to manufacturers. The manufacturers will have the burden of providing scientific proof that the suits should be approved, Huth said.
Like the NFHS, the NCAA will not commence its own scientific study of the suits. Once the back-and-forth with manufacturers is complete, the NCAA intends to release its recommendations.
“We’ll get a list out as soon as we can provide it to our membership,” Huth said. “I can see people are a little nervous about purchasing their suits … We feel fairly good that within the next couple of weeks [we will have a list] everybody can use as a basis for purchasing their suits.”
With no high school list and no expectation of one, Oakes urged swimmers looking for new suits to “go back into your written description of the suit” provided by the company and use common sense to determine whether it fits into the new guidelines.
“We are working through this little bit by little bit,” Oakes said. “The feedback we’ve gotten is, ‘This is a good move.’ Yes, there are rough edges now, but we’d rather work through those than go through another school year with the advanced suits.”
The District of Columbia Public Schools is reviewing the NFHS rule changes but has not yet implemented them; Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association has for two years had restrictions on high-tech suits that it will consider aligning with the new NFHS rules when its swimming committee meets in early October; and the Virginia High School League will adopt the NFHS regulations, according to officials from the three organizations.
They passed the rule, now they must provide the needed guidance to interpret the rule. They could at least provide a list of approved suits, and say that leaving a suit off the list does not make it “banned” but that it is at the athlete’s own risk to use it. That at least gives a safe harbor for coaches and parents to aim for.
The other thing is that they better figure out how to handle protests from the coaches. If I’m a coach, and I see a competitor in what I believe to be an illegal suit, I’m not going to sit idle and watch my swimmer go off the blocks at a disadvantage. I’m going to go up to the head ref and lodge a formal protest on the spot. Given the lack of clarity right now, I can’t see any way a ref can resolve that dispute right there on deck, yet that is what the rule requires. If they just deny all the protests because they “don’t have the resources”, they’ve just pasted a big KICK ME sign on the backside of all their rules.
I’ll add one other comment: I defy any coach, parent or official to go into the local swim shop, pull a selection of random women’s suits off the rack and tell me with certainty which ones are legal under this rule, and which ones are not. You might get a group of five or ten folks to reach consensus on some models, but I guarantee you couldn’t get ten people to agree 100% for all suits that are in the stores now. Different officials within the same state, heck even within the same conference will disagree on what it means to “cover the neck”; over what is a “textile fabric” and most importantly over what is 100% permeable.
I just want to know if the FS-Pro is still legal… and the FS-II. It was left off the approved list in May because of the coating. Who do we even ask?
You have summed up the problem quite nicely. Is a particular suit legal? Who knows? The rule says the official on deck is required to disaqualify a swimmer who steps on the blocks with an illegal suit. What criteria an official uses to make that ruling, is not specified. The NFHS appears to be saying that if you ask about a particular suit ahead of time, they refuse to answer. Our state association has taken the same approach. They in fact will not even acknowledge that such a question has been asked.
If they issue a rule like this, they owe us enough clarity to allow us to at least have a chance of complying with the rule. I can’t belive I’m even suggesting this, but perhaps it will take a class action lawsuit to get them to focus and do their jobs.
This is what happens when very little forethought and coordination goes in to a sport. Right now we will very likely have three different answers (possibly 4 depending on YMCA competition) from meet officials, coaches and referees regarding suits that can be used in competition in the USA. If you thought the past few years have been a mess, just wait.
Having an open ended situation like this for High School is particularly bad due to the fact that High School officiating for swimming and diving is open to human nature more than the rest. I was just told by one of our customers that their son and almost everybody at their district meet was pulled off the blocks last year by a meet referee because of the “two logo rule.” The referee said that having a team logo AND a manufacturers logo (even if it was within size requirements) was not allowed. And it was done regardless of the manufacturer. Clearly the logo rule pertains the number of manufacturer logo’s on the suit….not the team logo + the manufacturer. Either this referee did not understand the rules, or decided to have a field day with coaches and swimmers, which any one who has coached HS understands can happen at any meet.
Now expand that to what type of suit is legal. Are you going to buy 3-4 suit models to take with you for your conference, state qualifying or state meets just in case the meet referee is having a bad day or decides that because a certain logo is not familiar that it must not be approved?
I know that the NCAA and NFHS do not feel the need to have conforming rules with USA Swimming in many instances, but on this issue it would seem almost necessary to have a single set of rules to work by for competition on USA soil. Since athletes go between the organizations for competition in ways that affect meet qualifying and national records, it would make sense to have a single set of suit rules to work from. Otherwise athletes will need to buy 3-4 models of suits to use at championship levels each season to use based on the meet they are attending. That would certainly help the bottom line of the manufacturers, but not exactly a recipe for growing the sport.
Props get what you
If you are unsure go with a standard suit. swimmers should rely on their talent and ability not Hi-tec.
I see a future of cotton suits
Peter & Kevin: You bring up some excellent points. I can see a coach protesting several swimmers suits during a district, regional or state meet and creating a lot of confusion to where the meet will either shut down or all the races being contested with a state court having to come in with an “injunction”. The whole season could end up being a joke.
its time to go back to the trust old speedo…
FINA just released their list of approved suits. Can this be used as guidance for NFHS & USA swimming?
There needs to be consistency between: high school, USA Swimming and FINA.
Adopting Fina’s list would make the decision making for judges, officials, and coaches clear and concise. Making a rule with out giving us the proper information to enforce it is ridiculous. We need more infomation prior to state competition so we can “preserve the integrity, tradition and heritage of the sport and promote FAIR play. ” Without this list we can not “guarantee fairness in competition throughout the high school swimming season,” and officials can not be fair and consistent when the rule is so vage.