tjrpatt
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[QUOTE=tjrpatt;182871]
I can't believe that people would fathom wearing tech suits at Summer League Meets. QUOTE]
no one wants to give up their edge.
http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com...gue%20Swimming
I can't believe that people would fathom wearing tech suits at Summer League Meets. As a product of the Delaware County Summer League system, I wouldn't put anything pass these parents. They get catty, jealous, and downright nasty. The kids would too. There are countless times that competitors called me an A***ole without even speaking one word to me. WTH!!!!
I commend my local paper for banning tech suits at their annual Elite Meet. Then again, I have worn paper suits at my Summer League Championships and I am now embarrassed to say that I did taper for a Summer League Championships one year when I was 15(and I didn't really care about JOs that year since I moved into the Senior age group). Of course, after I did, other people in my league starting shaving and tapering for my League Champs.
Delware Valley Vice Chair, Top Ten Recorder, DV LMSC Records
http://forums.usms.org/blog.php?u=2837
[QUOTE=tjrpatt;182871]
I can't believe that people would fathom wearing tech suits at Summer League Meets. QUOTE]
no one wants to give up their edge.
swimmers have now gotten to certain level of perfomance based on the suit they are wearing, which is unprecedented. why would you want voluntarily want to swim a few seconds slower than you normally do? If you race you race to win or try to hit a PB. neither of those is going to happen if you are now swimming without "the crutch".
Hey Ho
Lets Go!
As a summer league coach, i really don't mind if someone wears an fs2 jammer to champs. But if someone shows up wearing a full body jaked, im going to be up set.
The clock does not lie
why?Originally Posted by Warren
If a kid is wearing a tech suit for summer league, they are missing the point. These leagues are for fun and as an introduction to competitive swimming for novice swimmers. Summer parents need to keep this in mind.
When I grew up swimming summer league, the crazier the better, we raced in women's suits (with the modesty panel of course!)
The same can be said about USMS, no?
Hey Ho
Lets Go!
i don't understand this middle ground of "tech suits are only ok for some competitions"
some kids only swim summer league why shouldn't they have the opportunity to swim their PB's in the tightest, floatiest, piece of "not a wetsuit" fabric that their masters swimming parents wear?
At least with respect to blueseventy suits, which last for quite a few swims, there is really no reason NOT to wear it every time you're in even an even marginally significant race.
As I’ve said many times before, the whole tech suit issue may be summed up like this:
http://kcfac.kilgore.cc.tx.us/mobley...of%20worms.jpg
Dolphin 2
Yes, BUT... winning is fun, even in summer league where it doesn't matter.
Summer teams are dominated by swimmers who swim year-round. Even if any particular age group has only one or two winter-swimmers, there are still limited spots at the "A" meets. The novice swimmers are relegated to the sidelines and swim mostly "B" meets where anyone can swim.
I believe that every summer league has the intention to introduce kids to competitive swimming in a fun and relaxed environment, but the reality is often that in order for the kid to have a good time, they often have to be swimming year-round.
As a non-winter swimmer, if I earned the 3rd of our team's 3 spots in an A meet, I was fighting not to come in last place. It was like that for most of my summer league career, and my experience was not always fun nor was it always a good introduction to competitive swimming. I'm not saying I hated it (I'm still swimming, aren't I?), but my fun level was a lot lower than it could have been if I'd been swimming more than 8 weeks a year.
Perhaps I have a bit of a warped view growing up in a densely populated area with two HUGE summer leagues and two of the US's biggest and best USA-S clubs, but I'm sure some of this translates to other areas of the country as well.
man up, buttercup!
How about a speedo brief only summer program??
Let me preface this by saying that I think tech suits should be banned from summer leagues.
But it occurs to me that the attitude displayed here towards summer league is very similar to that of Craig Lord towards masters swimming, and which undoubtedly angered many forumites: it is only for fun, it isn't "serious," winning isn't important, people who want to win and buy a tech suit are somehow deranged, etc.
Just an observation, make of it what you will.
By the way: here in Richmond, although year-round swimmers generally take a very relaxed attitude towards summer meets, club rivalries can get a little intense, and the championship meet is pretty darn fast in the top heats.
I love this! And the statement can apply to masters too.
I'm wondering what the difference is between us masters wearing the tech suits and the summer league swimmers wearing them. My experience is that the coaches of the year round swimmers do not allow their swimmers to wear tech suits to summer league meets. And the summer swimmers who are not looking to have a career in swimming (it's just for fun) may get a nice boost out of feeling and being faster. . .
I was sort of shocked myself when I started masters in 2000 and saw everyone with tech suits on. I was under the impression at the time that those suits were reserved for Phelps-type people. Obviously, I've since changed my opinion.
Why? I rested a couple of days for a summer league champ once. Broke a county record that held for 20+ years. Perhaps it was a great time in our life to be rested and ready to race. . . I had a fabulously exciting race that came down to the wire. I'll always remember it! I loved summer league and I think that I love masters as well due to my feeling that the two swimming experiences are very similar. I don't see any shame in being a glorified summer leaguer. We're not all cut out to be NCAA Div I swimmers!and I am now embarrassed to say that I did taper for a Summer League Championships one year when I was 15(and I didn't really care about JOs that year since I moved into the Senior age group).
Last edited by CreamPuff; June 10th, 2009 at 09:10 AM.
The Summer League our neighborhood is part of requires teams to have team suits and these are the standard fare Speedo or TYR lycra, which aren't cheap but aren't the price of the tech suit. Styles are changed every other year, which is about right.
Chris' last paragraph is really what we see also. There are definitely two classes in Summer league - the Summer leaguers only and the year round ringers. The first heat can be some good fast swimming.
At the time I wasn't embarrassed. The funny thing is that when I won the 100 IM at my Summer League Champs(my first year in the 15-18 age group). The guy that I beat was like "Oh, I could have won if I tapered!" But, this guy did like a 2:00 in the 200 IM and at the time, I was only doing a 2:06 or something and plus, I was more of the 400 IM. I will never understand why that guy couldn't beat me in the 100 IM whether I was rested or not. Then, the next year he didn't even swim at the champs.
When I broke a 20+ year IM record in my summer league in my last year, people congratulated my teammate more who got second. Plus, he was tapered. I broke the record on just taking it easy the day before, WTH? I guess that people were ticked off that I broke the record, freaking haters!!!!
I always hated the politics of summer league. I didn't get the All-Around award my last year because I missed a summer league meet because I was in Buffalo trying to get a Junior Cut. If my team lost this dual meet(they still won), they would have blamed me instead of the lazy older girls who didn't train during the winter. They trained but with a keg!!! Also, the worst were people would get mad at you if the local newspaper interviewed you and not them.
Delware Valley Vice Chair, Top Ten Recorder, DV LMSC Records
http://forums.usms.org/blog.php?u=2837
I don't see many tech suits (aside from FS II tanks) at our summer league meets until the all star championship. Then, all the USA-S swimmers have tech suits. I think I saw a LZR in the 50 free last year.
I've been wondering about Chris' comment as well. Why is it that you should/can only be serious or compete seriously from say 15-30? Sure, that's when you're fastest perhaps, but why is that the only time winning is important? Other than that, it's "just" masters or just summer league or just rec sports or just for fun. Life, however, is not lived solely between these years. Isn't life now just as important as life was then? Shouldn't we be looking forward and not back? Why stop striving simply because you're an adult? Yeah, life is more complicated now, but that doesn't mean we are relegated to "just" status.
Tom, all around awards are given based on points scored. If you miss a meet, you likely won't get it. A lot of USA-S swimmers miss meets here because they're at a swim camp. Move on, boy! Don't be dwelling on that old stuff!
My kids are club swimmers who swim summer league. They swim with an excellent club team and a very large, competitive summer league; most of the club swimmers here swim summer league. From what I have seen, the club kids generally wear regular practice (i.e., team) suits at the weekly meets, and many of them wear technical suits at the county championships. Why not -- the county meet is USAS sanctioned so the times count (at least for the 50 and the 100 free, and for the 50 stroke events for the younger kids), and the meet is swum at one of the top pools in the country. The championship heat is generally made up of all year-round kids, and the USAS coaches actually give the kids a couple day mini-taper (basically no dryland and they get out of practice early the day before the meet). It makes sense to try to get best times.
I remember reading a Peanut's/ Snoopy comic strip in which Charlie Brown said that there's nothing worse/ more crazy than stage mothers and swimming moms.
Ditto for me. Was a great learning experience as a youth to watch the worst come out in some parents.
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