Why do USA Swimming? Good question! USA swimming provides opportunities to compete against swimmers that are not associated with a YMCA, and therefore will not be swimming at dual meets, championships, YMCA Districts, States, and the Y invitationals that we attend. Some of these swimmers are very, very, good and they are fun to watch. However, this is not the primary reason for doing USA swimming. The USA swimming program is all invitationals (and there is an invitational just about every weekend!), so you can decide which events to swim. This allows the kids to try new events that they might never get to swim at a dual meet.

So, is USA swimming only for the top athletes? No way! The USA swimming program is designed to encourage swimmers of all abilities. USA swimming uses 'motivational' times (see our time standards page) to place swimmers into groups with swimmers of similar abilities. Thus, even young swimmers who are just moving into a new age group can win ribbons and awards at meets. Plus, there is the added bonus of trying to 'make' the motivational times to move to the higher competition level. There are also time qualified meets (similar to our districts) that swimmers can strive for.

What else should I know? Your child must be a registered USA swimmer to sign up for USA invitational. See Coach Kathy for the form and more information. If you want to check out the invitationals before you join, they are all listed on our regions web site MidAltantic Swimming. You cannot sign up for a USA meet that conflicts with a regular YMCA meet, districts or states.