A bus carrying 18 members of the Rockwall Heath High School swim team, their coach and a driver ended up in the shallow edge of a pond after going off a road in the Dallas area. (source)

Found via Nuoto.it, six swimmers and the driver were taken to the hospital for observation but no one seems to be seriously injured. Watch the Associated Press coverage on YouTube.

According to an article on Cincinnati.com found via Springboards and More Diving Blog, high school sports participation has increased for the 20th consecutive year, reaching new record highs for both males and females this past year.

In the 2008-2009 school year, 7,536,753 students participated in high school sports. That’s more than half of every high school student in the country!!

What was the sport with the biggest participation increase in the past year? You guessed it: Swimming and Diving. In 2008-2009, swimming and diving showed an increase of 29,967 new students compared to last year.

Could Swimming Pass Football?
This swimming boom represents an increase of 11.5% from the previous year’s total! If swimming kept increasing at this same rate, it would be more popular than football* in the year 2028! But for now swimming is still ranked #10 for boys and #8 for girls by participation numbers.

It is unlikely we will see an increase in participation like this in the next few years. My guess is the Phelps Effect had a lot to do with 2008 fall sign-up numbers.

*if swimming continued to increase by 11.5%/yr while football increases by 3.7%/yr in participation numbers

Earlier this month, the NFHS decided to ban all body-length non-textile suits immediately – despite the fact that several states had already begun their 2009-2010 season.

As Reach For The Wall continues their excellent coverage of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) swimsuit regulations, we’ve learned that an official list of banned or approves suits will not be issued by the high school governing body. The reason? According to Becky Oakes, NFHS assistant director and liaison to the Swimming and Diving Rules Committee, the NFHS “has neither the means, nor the time, to evaluate suits and compile a complete list of allowable ones” (source). High school students, coaches, and parents must use common sense when deciding what suit fits within the new rules.

The NCAA, on the other hand, is planning to release a list of approved suits in a matter of weeks – and they’re taking a much different approach than FINA did when evaluating suits for approval. As reported in the Reach For The Wall article, the NFHS and NCAA will not attempt their own scientific study of suit technology. These organizations will place the burden of proof on the manufacturers, who must provide appropriate documentation of their suit composition and construction.

> Related: High-tech Swimsuits Banned in High School Swimming
> Related: High Schools Ban Non-Textile Long-Length Suits

As Reach For The Wall covered a pending swimsuit rule for high schools across the country, Amy Shipley wrote that the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has decided to ban non-textile long-length suits immediately.

The ban is subject to approval by each state association, which might become an issue with the nearly 20 states with high school swimming seasons that have either already started or are about to start.

“The suit prohibition,” Amy writes, “…is likely to rankle swimmers and parents who already purchased high-tech suits