A New Swimsuit Ban Put In Place

Changes Affect Prep Swimmers

Governing high school officials decided Tuesday to ban all non-textile, long-length swimsuits from high school competition immediately, saying they were acting to preserve the "integrity, tradition and heritage of the sport."

The board of directors for the National Federation of State High School Associations deliberated for less than an hour Tuesday before approving the ban, which is subject to approval by each state association.

The suit prohibition, which also bans the wearing of more than one suit at a time, is likely to rankle swimmers and parents who already purchased high-tech suits -- the latest models can cost upward of $500 each -- after relying on a May 28 memorandum from NFHS that said the organization did not have enough information to regulate the new swimsuits.

The NFHS was forced to take action, however, after the world swimming governing body (FINA), USA Swimming and the NCAA announced plans in late July to prohibit long-length non-textile suits, NFHS assistant director Becky Oakes said.

"By the end of July, a lot of developments had taken place," Oakes said.

The Virginia High School League will update its rule book immediately, according to Tom Dolan, the VHSL assistant director for athletics who is no relation to the Olympic champion swimmer by the same name. Officials at the District of Columbia Public Schools and Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association could not be reached after business hours on Tuesday.

"We . . . will be strongly in favor of Virginia moving in this direction," Dolan said. "This matches us up with USA Swimming and puts us in line with what they are doing."

An NFHS swimming and diving rules committee that considered the issue last week recommended that the board ban all impermeable suits, but gave it the option of postponing restrictions on length until next year. The board, however, decided only neck-to-knee swimsuits would be allowed for females and waist-to-knee suits, known as "jammers," for males in 2009-2010.

"I was perfectly fine with wearing a jammer," said former Georgetown Prep star Brady Fox, who will swim at Virginia in the fall. "I think it will bring back a lot of the natural talent in the sport. All of the time jumps in the last few years have just been unreal."

Added Fox: "There's no way people won't get upset. People went out and bought all of these suits."

Oakes said the board was sensitive to the 17 or 18 states whose high school swimming seasons already are underway or about to get underway, but had even greater concerns about those with winter or spring seasons.

Manufacturers, she said, indicated that they were drastically cutting back on the supply of long-length, high-tech suits in response to the various bans, raising the possibility that athletes might have trouble obtaining them in the coming months.

"Even though we knew there was going to be some inconvenience for some fall schools, to really make this work, we felt like the best course was, 'Let's do it now, let's get it in place,' " Oakes said. "What happened with these suits . . . the advances in technology just fundamentally altered the sport of swimming. What was once a piece of wearing apparel . . . became more of a piece of equipment."