The National Federations of High School Association, or NFHS, has announced the rules changes that will apply to the overwhelming and vast majority of United States high school swim teams beginning in the 2009-2010 school year.

The biggest changes that were adapted were those regarding backstroke starts and suits. For a further discussion on the suits rule changes, see our full article on the new regulations.

The backstroke starts are an issue that has caused a lot of confusion and angst since it was amended. Previously, swimmers had been allowed to curl their toes over the edge of the wall, and some swimmers took advantage of this by actually starting in what was essentially a standing position; grasping the sides of the starting platform for support. Then, several years ago, the rule was amended with the intent of eliminating these standing starts. Unfortunately, the wording was ambiguous and created issues with different pool designs.

Last year, the rule stated that swimmers must have their entire foot below the water at the start of the race. This meant that swimmers had to adjust their starting position depending on the water level at different pools

The NFHS has finally clarified the rule to where they believe all issues will be settled. The new rules state that the feet may be placed anywhere on the end wall, as long as the feet (including the toes) do not come over the edge of the wall/touchpad or the lip of the gutter. This will allow for a more uniform, consistent, and ultimately fair application of the rule.

Other rules changes include:

• The rule allowing lead-off legs of relays to be counted as records when using FAT (fully automated timing) has been tweaked. The rule was essentially changed to state that, assuming the first swimmer in a relay meets all requirements for an individual event, including the start, stroke, and finish, that swim could count towards a record in an individual event. For example, if the lead-off leg of the 400 free relay was swum legally in 44.22 seconds, with a FAT system that takes the split for each leg, this swim could be established as a new record for the individual 100 freestyle. The change comes in that a technical violation by the second, third, or fourth swimmer in the relay, such as an early start or an illegal butterfly kick, does not affect the fact that the first swimmer set an individual record. If the relay commits a conduct violation, however, the first swimmer’s record would be nullified.
  
  
• The language has been revised as to how a swimmer is required to finish when a touchpad becomes dislodged from the end of the pool (Rule 8-1-7)
  
  
• A legal relay start has been defined for when the second. third, and/or forth swimmer is to start in the water, whereas it was previously only defined for out-of-the-water starts. (Rule 8-3-5)
  
  
• It is now RECOMMENDED that the meet score be announced or posted throughout the meet, rather than REQUIRED. (Rule 2-7-9)
  
  
• Swimmers are now required to wear one-piece suits, as the committee decided that two-piece competition suits were no longer manufactured and as such the old rule allowing them was outdated. An unintended side-effect of this rule is outlawing swimmers from wearing multiple suits in an attempt to gain an advantage. (Rule 3-3-1)
  
  
• An updated rule on officials’ dress allows individual State Associations to approve the color of officials’ uniforms, so long as the officials are uniformly dressed. (Rule 4-1-5)
  
  
• A new note was added that a starting pistol that is capable of discharging live ammunition is no longer permitted, even if it is loaded with blanks. This rule aims to prevent any accidents in the event that live ammunition was unintentionally loaded into the starter’s pistol, no matter how unlikely that is. (Rule 4-3-1b)