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.