Unfortunately, many times the alternatives are grim. None is it more grim than in the world of competitive swimming, where technology has advanced to the point making the fast lane more about what suit you have on rather than the talent and hard work you have put in. Don't get me wrong, I love the new suits, they demonstrate innovation at its best and help elite athletes reach milestones that were believed to be unreachable. But in all honesty, i think those athletes were going to reach new heights whether they had the suits or not. They are so good at maintaining proper technique, disciplined in what they eat, focused in how they train, that records were going to be broken with or without the suits.
Those are the elite, the top 5 swimmers in the world I'm talking about. I'm not talking about your average Joe, your 13 year old daughter, or your 22 year old recent alumni to the University varsity team. For those groups of people, the suits have a little bit different impact. First off, cost; the elite athletes are sponsored by companies like Speedo, TYR, Arena and others and receive the latest model for free. Everyone else though? At least 300 dollars, up to 600. Not to mention an extra suit for when yours rips after trying to put it on. Or the extra suit for the other race you have an hour later (because yours isn't dry yet). And you'll probably want another suit in case that one rips when you put it on the second time.
How many was that, 4? So you mean to tell me that i need at least 1200 dollars to spend on suits and at best they might last me 2 competitions? The last time i checked i could buy a superb tennis racket for 300 dollars, and it might last for as long as i use it (with good care). But even if the suits never rip, the still will get eaten by chlorine after 5 uses, or one competition (2 events with prelims and finals and the time i tried it on in practice) I'm sure its expensive to make these suits, after all they are using the latest in muscle compression technologies, nanotech fabrics, NASA patented fabrics, and designer quality flare, but i think I'll be broke for weeks just looking at the costs.
Well apparently some people agreed, and for a while, the suits were only available as 'rentals' at elite meets. Really it was a testing ground for the companies, and only the people who really needed them to stay competitive were getting them. But what really concerns me is the people who don't need them, but now can get them.
Recently I was able to partake in some testing being done by a manufacturer of high tech swim wear. The first day i watched as my former teammates did a particular test called the dive and glide; the athlete took their mark on the starting block, was started, then they dove in and glided about 12 yards. No one took over 6 seconds to make it, the lowest without a fast suit was 4.35. I believed that these individuals would not qualify as elite for this particular test, none of them had very good dives. But when they put the fast suits on, well suddenly they were really good at dives. the fastest now was 3.78, and none of the males were further than .2 of a second apart, where before they were almost .7 apart. That means some people dropped .5 of a second and others as much as .9 of a second for a 6 second race!
I considered myself to be elite in this particular category 2 months ago when i was on the team. I knew i was way better at a dive and glide than any of them, but i didn't know how much better. The next day i came in a little early with my speedo brief on, goggles in hand, and decided to do some independent testing. on my best start, without a fast suit, i was timed at 3.88, which if you remember is way better than the 4.35's that were posted the day before, but not as good as the 3.78 which somebody had with a fast suit.
the manufacturer's designers were intrigued, and decided to throw me a developmental suit (the fastest one so far) to see if i had the same kinds of gains as the other swimmers. 20 minutes later, i get back up on the blocks, bam! 3.77! wait, what? i only dropped .11? but everyone else dropped at least .5, so i tried again. 3.70!, 3.67, 3.65, 3.62! That's a little better, .26 dropped, but still i only got half as much as anyone else.
So to recap:
My best without a fast suit - 3.88
Everyone else without a suit - 4.35
Difference - .47
My Best with a fast suit - 3.62
Everyone Else with a suit - 3.77
Difference - .15
By now you have assuredly asked, where is all of this going, how is this related to design? Well my question to you is, what is more important in swimming, how much time you spend learning how to do proper starts, or how much money you are willing to spend to gain the ability to do proper starts? I spent 13 years of my life perfecting my ability to do great dives, and it shows in the unsuited results where i gain almost a half of a second in the first 5 seconds (or i go 10 percent faster as a result). But those years can almost be washed away, as my earned advantage is reduced by 66 percent just through the use of a 300 dollar suit!
If you are a coach, what do you do? do you by the suits and stay competitive at the cost of knowing that you may not be able to get enough suits, or you will have to make budget cuts elsewhere? Or do you design your program to teach people how to actually do the right things (since it is almost as fast) but know that you are going to be at a disadvantage to everyone else who just gets the suits?
It is a pickle, no doubt about it. whether i like it or not, its possible for an average Joe to spend the money and be competitive at a dive and glide with someone who spent years developing the ability. Are these suits ruining the sport, or is it progress as usual? I have a feeling people were saying the same thing when metal rackets came out average Joe's were hitting as harder than the pros using wood rackets. But now everyone has their carbon fiber titanium racket, and i would bet that the pros still would whoop my butt.
So you're saying the only reason I barely made finals at Big 10s and couldn't get pulled into NCs even after being almost 2 seconds faster than last year is because I have bad starts/technique?
ReplyDeleteThanks.
PS: Jimmy's preferred coaching strategy seemed to be, Let everyone suck and die at Big 10's while telling us suits don't matter, then buy into the Blue 70s in time for Last Chance meet, desperately (and unsuccessfully) attempting to send more than 1 person to NCs.
ALSO: maybe you only rocked the 6 second dive & glide because you're 2 feet taller than everyone else.
Actually, i never mentioned real races, i only talked about dive and glides, and i believe that i did not mention backstroke at all. However, what i did suggest is the fact that the suits seem to reduce the difference between elite performances and average performances by a significant amount in a dive an glide. This means that individuals who normally would be behind going into the first wall are now going to be even through the use of a high tech suit.
ReplyDeleteI also am suggesting that depending on the individual, the suits seem to give various gains. for someone like me, they give minimal gains no matter what suit i wear, but others may gain more. So in relation to jimmy's stance, he is more or less correct, because everyone will have them and get some benefit, but the question is who will get the most from them. Blu70's actually were testing the slowest in tests last week, but we all know that they are floating suits, not speed and body line suits.
And finally, while it is true that being tall certainly helps, if you had taken the time to watch me do starts and watch the freshmen and sophomores do starts, you would know that it is not just because i'm taller, i truly am superior at maintaining momentum as i enter the water in a shallow dive situation without high tech suits. you can't explain away .47 of a second to 2 inches in body length difference between myself a freshmen swimmer.
Hi Beckman, hope you're having a great spring quarter and enjoying glorious retirement.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the suits improve swimmers according to body type. In other words, the bigger, heavier, bulkier athletes are more likely to benefit from the buoyancy and streamlining effects of the suit than are thinner and less muscular athletes.
Just saying.
I'm doing fine Kassia, no swimming is glorious, how's New York?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, i would have agreed with that idea a couple of years ago, however especially after the past couple of weeks, i am convinced that the suits alter your body line in the water and aid individuals who never worked on body line technique when they were younger gain the most from the suits regardless of body type. The worse your base technique, the more your are going to gain from the suits.
This explanation is the only reasonable way to look at the drop in times for the individuals from 5th to 50th place. In years past 5th to 50th was a huge gap in time difference, as much as 8 seconds, however this year even in medium distance races the gap was no greater than 2.5 seconds. Many of those individuals dropped up to 6 seconds when they put on the fast suits compared to their times during the year (i'm looking at you Pac 10 swimmers) and i know that even the best preparation can't produce that kind of result for everyone.
What we can all agree on is that the suits make a difference, and it is measurable, the question is, will we see a change in whats acceptable for competition? I don't think we will.
i don't know much about swimming except that it's the best sport for your body. i used to be on the swin team at my country club when i was 8 and 9 but i was never a fast swimmer. i always liked the butterfly stroke. i couldn't do it, but i liked watching good swimmers do it--it looks pretty!
ReplyDelete