Open Letter to Rob Butcher, Chairman of the United States Masters Swimming.

Congratulations on a great year.

You have done such a wonderful job growing our sport and your successes have been numerous: The Southern Pacific Masters Association now has 4,000-plus members. Rowdy Gaines is back in the water as a sponsored swimmer for blueseventy, electronic entries via Club Assistant have made meet sign-up both painless and simple, USMS regional meets and championship meets have seen some incredible and electrifying world record swims and all of the above has happened under your watch.

It has been a terrific time to be a member of the USMS; have we ever seen such a stellar year?

It’s now September and soon you have to walk into the Lion’s den and make a recommendation to FINA Masters Swimming regarding the acceptance or the rejection of tech-suits.

From those bloggers and coaches I have talked with, the general consensus is that half of the masters swimmers are pro tech-suits, and the other misguided, ill informed, and cranky half are purists. (I had to put that joke in to let you know where I stand.)

My recommendation is that you ignore all the emotional arguments from both sides and some how produce a recommendation that will augment all that has been accomplished in 2009. That you produce a recommendation that acknowledges both the needs-and-wants of the purist and still satisfy the pro-technology swimmers and thereby keep our sport growing.

There are many variations for compromise – They could include SCY meets, mixed relays and other swims FINA refuses to acknowledge but I must stress, what really matters is that the USMS remain fun and exciting and whatever recommendation the USMS renders, it will be the membership numbers that determined whether the USMS rendered a good decision or a bad one.

In closing, I think it is time for a selective membership survey. A survey that interviews those USMS members that compete and asked thorough questions so as to get a grasp of the consequences of denying tech-suits or full acceptance. The consequences of guessing could have a devastating effect on our membership rolls.

For instance, some sample questions could be: "Would you as a competitor continue to swim in USMS swim meets if tech-suits were allowed? "Would you as a competitor avoid USMS swim meets all together if tech-suits were allowed?

These sort of questions need to be asked.