I just bought my 14 year old a 300 dollar swim suit!

[emma'smom]

My daughter is on the high school swim team (and is one of the stronger swimmers...in the top 8). Championships are next week and the coach told them to have their technical swim suits ordered and ready by then. We knew it was coming and sat down to order them....the CHEAP one was $300.

We could have easily paid in the 400 dollar range---but I figured we'd start with the more basic one we got for this year. AND...the clincher is they are only guaranteed for 10 races!! That's 30 dollars a race (and with an average of 4 races a meet)....it's only going to get her through 2 1/2 meets (which I'm hoping we can stretch to a full three meets).

Wow...just wow! We knew this going in....but now that it is here.....well reality is crazy!

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

Wow! My girls needs new ones for swim team this year too (13 and 10) and theirs are about 70 each. I'm getting off light.

But, their soccer uniforms are about 300 each. Never ends! I feel your pain.

 

[havaneselover]

Yep. My dd is 13. She doesn't want a knee skin yet. But her lzr pro was $210. Luckily swim outlet had it on sale for $125 or so. Swimming is crazy expensive between suits, goggles and gear. Dues for DD are $3,000/year. Plus fundraising, travel meets, gifts for the coaches, summer league. Secretly hoping dd quits when she starts high school.

ETA and dd wore hers to a meet in December and made finals in all events so she swam 13 events and the suit is still in great shape.

 

[emma'smom]

Wow! My girls needs new ones for swim team this year too (13 and 10) and theirs are about 70 each. I'm getting off light.

But, their soccer uniforms are about 300 each. Never ends! I feel your pain.

My 11 year old is on the YMCA team and her suit was about 70 (and the Y Swim Boosters covered about 20 of it for each swimmer making it only abuot 50 total). I think we paid about the same for my HS swimmer's regular team suit.....it's the "discount" suit at 300 that blows my mind!

 

[mbgrace]

Wow. Could you imagine if someone who was in charge of the league had some common sense, and mandated that in order to participate, all swimmers had to wear the same $70 speedo, and any swimmer wearing an "advanced" suit would be disqualified?

It is amazing what adults have done to youth sports. OP, I'm not insinuating that you are doing anything wrong. You are not. You are following the rules of the game. But, somewhere along the way, the people who make the rules lost touch with reality.

 

[havaneselover]

Wow. Could you imagine if someone who was in charge of the league had some common sense, and mandated that in order to participate, all swimmers had to wear the same $70 speedo, and any swimmer wearing an "advanced" suit would be disqualified?

It is amazing what adults have done to youth sports. OP, I'm not insinuating that you are doing anything wrong. You are not. You are following the rules of the game. But, somewhere along the way, the people who make the rules lost touch with reality.

So true. I live in an upper middle class area and people put fast suits on 8 year olds. I gave in at 13 mainly because I didn't want my DD being the only one not in one. They help, but not that much!

 

[robinb]

My daughter is on the high school swim team (and is one of the stronger swimmers...in the top 8). Championships are next week and the coach told them to have their technical swim suits ordered and ready by then. We knew it was coming and sat down to order them....the CHEAP one was $300.

We could have easily paid in the 400 dollar range---but I figured we'd start with the more basic one we got for this year. AND...the clincher is they are only guaranteed for 10 races!! That's 30 dollars a race (and with an average of 4 races a meet)....it's only going to get her through 2 1/2 meets (which I'm hoping we can stretch to a full three meets).

Wow...just wow! We knew this going in....but now that it is here.....well reality is crazy!

Welcome to the world of overpriced tech suits! I once paid over $500 for a Speedo LZR Elite Comfort Strap in pink and black:

My DD now swims in an A3 Stealth which is only $99: http://www.a3performance.com/stealth . She is a backstroker and has the closed back model. It's really a nice suit but you may or may not be able to use that suit for your team because many teams have company sponsors and require you to swim in their gear. A3 happens to be the sponsor of my DD's team so we're all good.

FWIW, the suits usually are not "guaranteed" for any number of races. They are usually "good" for about 3-4 meets before they stretch out. Save the suit for championship meets, Sectionals (and or Zones) and maybe regional/qualifying meets if she needs more cuts.

Be VERY careful when she puts on the suit for the first time. It should be VERY tight since it is meant to compress and make her more hydrodynamic and it will be easy to rip. We ripped an $350 A3 Legend in the fitting room just last year and we are very experienced at putting on suits (FWIW, my DD prefers the Stealth to the Legend). She should also have a friend there who already knows how to put on a kneesuit to help her wiggle into it when it gets stuck. If the suit goes on in less than 10 minutes it's too big.

 

[robinb]

We used to swim with a team full of upper middle class parents (think doctors and lawyers) and we got caught up "needing" to keep up with the Jones' who not only bought tech suits for their 10 year olds but also had them wear the suits to most meets. I think my DD was 11 or 12 when she had her first one that I bought off eBay. It was a size 20. She did need one when she was 12 as she qualified for the Central Zones meet that summer.

We changed teams a few years ago and my DD's coach does not allow anyone to wear tech suits without her permission. NO ONE under the age of 12 may wear them and older kids are only allowed to wear them at championship meets and above. If they are going for a state cut they can wear them at the regionals meet too. She did loosen the rules for the senior kids this year and they were allowed to wear tech suits to the big prelim/finals meet we went to in the fall (my DD made finals in 3 events ). The coach feels that a tech suit is earned and not just purchased.

FWIW, the old team my DD was with has morphed into a new team in the area and their swimmers are still showing up to most meets in tech suits. It's pretty ridiculous.

 

[pjlla]

Been there, done that, feel your pain! And of course we had to drive nearly 2 hours into Massachusetts to get DD "fitted" because we didn't dare buy one online! ................P

 

[luv2sewtjr]

My 14 year old knows that she will get one when she gets close to Y Nationals cuts. It's one of her goals so it may happen...

Our area is more middle class so they are not common among her teammates, thank goodness!

 

[robinb]

My 14 year old knows that she will get one when she gets close to Y Nationals cuts. It's one of her goals so it may happen...

Our area is more middle class so they are not common among her teammates, thank goodness!

The state high school swimmers also wear them at the high school "sectionals" meet that qualifies for the high school state meet. The club girls lend out their old suits to the other girls on the team. One girl ripped my DD's Legend and was all witchy when my DD got upset about it. My DD came to me to complain and I had to calm her down because her big event was coming up and she had a very good chance of making it to state (she did!). After she left I told the lady next to me I deserved an academy award since the girl ruined a $350 suit and then had the audacity to yell at my DD when she got upset about it.

 

[zoemurr]

Wow.. that is crazy. My son needs a $50 t-shirt for soccer.. just for PRACTICE. (Oh sorry.. it's a "jersey") Not ever to be worn outside of our building. He practices 4x a week so he has to save them after a sweaty work-out because I am not washing it every day or buying two.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

Ouch! I think I finally found an activity that is as draining on the budget as dance team was when I was in school!

 

[alohamom]

I hear you! My daughter did synchro for years and not only did we have to buy the team suit, we had to have black suits for figures plus team jackets and pants. THEN the actual routine suits had to be purchased and embellished with sequins! I cannot begin to think about how much money is hanging in her closet.

 

[WDWNY]

Jeez. Thankfully I was not athletic when I was in school!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Yep. My dd is 13. She doesn't want a knee skin yet. But her lzr pro was $210. Luckily swim outlet had it on sale for $125 or so. Swimming is crazy expensive between suits, goggles and gear. Dues for DD are $3,000/year. Plus fundraising, travel meets, gifts for the coaches, summer league. Secretly hoping dd quits when she starts high school.

ETA and dd wore hers to a meet in December and made finals in all events so she swam 13 events and the suit is still in great shape.

Be careful what you wish for. I thought the same thing when our kids were in Tae Kwon Do. They stopped at ages 10 & 13.
Financially, it was killing us, especially x2 kids, but it was good for them. One kid, now 20, is very into gaming so it got him off his rear and kept him fit. After he got his black belt he didn't want to do it anymore and has gotten a tad rounder since. We're not very athletic people or into even watching sports so this was so good for him.

Without having this to keep ds16 (then 12,) occupied a few nights per week, he entered HS and started hanging out with the wrong crowd. It's been a long road since then and he admits he was foolish back then, but still I'd love to go back to taking them to karate and even paying through the nose for it. Having SOMETHING to do keeps them out of trouble. Kids are often insecure at that age and will do ridiculous things to fit in & look cool.

 

[havaneselover]

Be careful what you wish for. I thought the same thing when our kids were in Tae Kwon Do. They stopped at ages 10 & 13.
Financially, it was killing us, especially x2 kids, but it was good for them. One kid, now 20, is very into gaming so it got him off his rear and kept him fit. After he got his black belt he didn't want to do it anymore and has gotten a tad rounder since. We're not very athletic people or into even watching sports so this was so good for him.

Without having this to keep ds16 (then 12,) occupied a few nights per week, he entered HS and started hanging out with the wrong crowd. It's been a long road since then and he admits he was foolish back then, but still I'd love to go back to taking them to karate and even paying through the nose for it. Having SOMETHING to do keeps them out of trouble. Kids are often insecure at that age and will do ridiculous things to fit in & look cool.

I hear you. Our county has specialty centers in high school so if DD goes to one (which is likely) she gets on the bus at 7:15 and home around 5. So with homework she should be busy. She's not really the one I stay up nights worrying about! But it would save me about $4,000/year which would go into her 529.

ETA: it is funny though that I'm constantly telling my ex what you are telling me--she needs something to do (just one of those types who likes to be busy).

 

[kymom99]

Thank god for cross country! We go through a couple pairs of trainers each season and you need spikes, but that's all about $250-$300 total. Our school athletic fee is $100 flat whether you do one sport or 10. It costs some gas plus admission fees for us to watch him but its our entertainment too. Our coaches never require us to buy tshirts or hoodies, etc. All that stuff is optional. I'm thankful he chose to be a runner.

 

[mjkacmom]

Thank god for cross country! We go through a couple pairs of trainers each season and you need spikes, but that's all about $250-$300 total. Our school athletic fee is $100 flat whether you do one sport or 10. It costs some gas plus admission fees for us to watch him but its our entertainment too. Our coaches never require us to buy tshirts or hoodies, etc. All that stuff is optional. I'm thankful he chose to be a runner.

Lol dd15 does an expensive activity (I spent almost $4000 this year in costumes alone) and xc/track. What a difference in cost and stress! She excels at both, and loves both. She borrowed spikes last year, I might actually buy her a pair this year.

 

[quandrea]

Wow. Could you imagine if someone who was in charge of the league had some common sense, and mandated that in order to participate, all swimmers had to wear the same $70 speedo, and any swimmer wearing an "advanced" suit would be disqualified?

It is amazing what adults have done to youth sports. OP, I'm not insinuating that you are doing anything wrong. You are not. You are following the rules of the game. But, somewhere along the way, the people who make the rules lost touch with reality.

The thing is these times are used for qualifying at regional, provincial (Canadadian here) and national level. All those swimmers are in the racing suits. These meets don't operate in a vacuum so the swimmers do have to wear what the higher level swimmers are wearing. My dd is in her first pricey suit this year. Swimming for us runs about the equivalent of a private school education. About ten to twelve thousand a year. Parents can elect to place their swimmers in lower level competition at lower costs. We choose not to because dd competes well at this high level and we think we have a responsibility to see how far she can go. We make it work.