Woodland’s girls’ swim team received new suits this year, only to have them taken away. The lettering, which said “Lady Hawks” on the lower back, was deemed inappropriate for a school team.

Lettering on suits has not been a problem in the past, as the words were always on the hip or higher up. But, the new suits were cut so low in the back that the words were too low on the backside to be appropriate.

All requests to order team uniforms must be placed along with an apparel approval form that states that all the uniforms must be black and gold, cannot contain “inappropriate or derogatory slogans” and “No words, sayings, or lettering are to adorn the back side of pants, sweat pants, or shorts.”

The suits in question have been included under this rule.

Swimmer Anna Boris said that she expected the lettering to be on the side of the suit like it had been with past suits, but that it didn’t really merit replacing the suits.

“At first the lettering bothered me, but once you’re swimming you forget it’s even there,” she stated.

Team Captain Katie-Jean Hinckley also said that she forgot the words were there once she was swimming.

“It didn’t make me uncomfortable; the suit still covered the same amount of skin.”

Regardless, the suits had to be replaced with ones without lettering. Athletic director Brian Fell said,

“It’s a longstanding school policy that we’ve had for many years, and we don’t want any of our lady athletes to be embarrassed to wear the uniform.”

Fell said that when the suits were ordered, it was hard to know from the picture exactly how low cut they were, and how low the lettering would be.

Swim coach Mike Magas said he didn’t know that the suits would conflict with the school policy. Luckily, new suits without lettering were promptly ordered and came in before the team’s next meet.

Although the suits are plainer than the old ones, they are within the school’s rules and everyone feels comfortable wearing them.

The team used the new suits right away; they swam without a hitch and won their meet. Coach Magas said “We’re going to move forward, as I’m always telling them, let’s think about the future; we can’t change the past.”