Swimming Races Article

The USA Swimming Team

USA Swimming is the name for the National governing body in the United States of competitive swimming. USA Swimming is in charge of selecting the Olympic Swimming team for the United States, as well as any other teams which will go on to officially represent the United States.

The first president of USA Swimming was Bill Lippman, who was the Head of Swimming Committee at the AAU, Amateur Athletic Union which was the organization that USA Swimming stemmed from. After Lippman, there have been seven Presidents of the association; Ross Wales from 1979 until 1984, Sandy Baldwin between 1984 and 1986, Carol Zaleski between both 1986 and 1990 and 1994 until 1998, Bill Maxson between 1990 and 1994, Dale Neuburger between 1998 and 2002, Ron Van Pool between 2002 and 2006, and finally Jim Wood who is currently the President of the association.

USA Swimming was originally located in Indianapolis, Indiana when it was an extension of the Amateur Athletic Union, but it moved to its current located at the Olympic Training Center at Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1981. Work was finally completed for the United States Swimming Headquarters at the Olympic Training Center in 1997, so this now it is the official home for USA Swimming.

USA Swimming is made up of several parts and levels; the National Governing Body, the Zone and a Local Swimming Committee. The National Governing Body is an extension of a US Olympic Committee which functions at a National level. The National Governing Body is comprised of US Swimming staff members and volunteer board members. The chief executive is responsible for general day to day operations on a National level. The Zone which handles operations at a regional level, is a relatively small part of the entire operation. It does not make many decisions for policies or procedures that actually affect members of USA Swimming. The primary task of the Zone is to organize Zone and Sectional meets in addition to facilitating communication between Local Swimming Committees in the same region. Local Swimming Committees operate on a purely local level. There are many LSCs, each one working as a separate entity entirely, and a member of USA Swimming but all do act on behalf of USA Swimming.

There are a few different levels and types of meets and more are directed by individual clubs and the LSC. The very top level meets are directed by the Zone and the Governing Body. Dual Meets, Invitational Meets, and Local Swimming Committee Championships are all under the scope of the Local Swimming Committee. The Zone is in charge of both Zone and Sectional Championships, and the Governing Body oversees National Championships as well as the United States Olympic Trials.