ATLANTA - The Georgia High School Association has approved a 14-year-old's prosthetic swim fin which was banned from a metro Atlanta swimming league this summer. <br>
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Hunter Scott of Roswell has a birth defect that kept his left leg from growing to full size. It ends just above the knee. <br>
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After the coach of an opposing team questioned the use of Hunter's flipper in June, the DeKalb-Atlanta Swim and Diving league ruled it violated guidelines that prohibit athletes from using artificial devices in competition. <br>
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But the GHSA, which governs high school athletics, reaffirmed an earlier decision to let Hunter compete with the specially designed fin if he makes the Woodward Academy swim team. <br>
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``Our stance has not changed,'' GHSA executive director Ralph Swearngin said. He said there was no evidence that the fin would do anything more than provide stability, not propulsion, to the swimmer. <br>
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``We stand behind Hunter 100 percent,'' Woodward athletics director Dave Chandler said. ``I was really amazed that anyone would have said he was getting any special consideration in the first place.'' <br>
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``Our stance has not changed,'' said Executive Director Ralph Swearngin. ``There was no evidence that (the flipper) would do anything more than provide stability,'' not propulsion, to the swimmer. <br>
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Hunter's attorney father, Andy Scott, had threatened to sue the DeKalb-Atlanta Swim and Diving league, which has 3,000 swimmers on neighborhood and county teams in Fulton and DeKalb counties. <br>
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The suit was not filed, but the league's 10 board members felt intimidated and resigned anyway. Volunteers stepped in to help run the league through the end of the summer, though it's unclear whether the league will regroup next season.
