UNITED STATES MASTERS SWIMMING (USMS)

United States Masters Swimming (USMS) is a national, membership-operated, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides membership benefits to over 56,000 members across the country. These benefits include insurance, SWIMMER magazine, sanctioned events and many others. USMS and its 51 Local Masters Swimming Committees (LMSCs) provide direct support to more than 1,300 regional clubs, local clubs, and workout groups.

USMS is one of five organizations that comprise United States Aquatic Sports, which is a member of World Aquatics, the international governing body for aquatic sports.

USMS has an chief executive officer and small paid staff but is otherwise governed and run by volunteers, including the USMS president, board of directors, national committees, zones, and LMSCs.  USMS bylaws and rules are subject to the approval of the USMS membership via the House of Delegates at the annual USMS Annual Meeting.

When organized adult swimming started to become popular in the 1960s and 70s -- the early years of USMS -- the intent was for adults to stay in shape through swimming. Today about 30 percent of the USMS membership enters pool or open-water competitions. Contrary to popular belief, most USMS members do not compete.

NEW ENGLAND LOCAL MASTERS SWIMMING COMMITTEE (NELMSC)

The New England LMSC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit subordinate of USMS that serves as USMS's regional governing and administrative body, meaning it handles registration, sanctioning, officiating and other such matters in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The NELMSC had ~2,000 registered USMS members in 2023.

Masters Swimming clubs and workout groups come in all shapes and sizes -- big, small, incorporated, not incorporated, for-profit, not-for-profit, associated with a facility or organization (gym, university, YMCA, etc.) or not. These clubs and workout groups are not owned or operated by USMS, but many register with USMS, offer USMS programs, and follow USMS policies and procedures.

The structure and organization of USMS programs vary and are driven by factors such as pool availability, instructor or coach availability, community support, finances, and insurance considerations. Many locations offering USMS programs have on-deck coaches who write workouts and provide feedback and instruction.

To find USMS-registered clubs and workout groups use the Club Finder tool and enter the team name and geographic location and radius you want to search. You can view real-time LMSC, club, and workout-group rosters via the New England LMSC Membership Directory. USMS members can also access a user-generated list of pools by logging into your My USMS account and selecting Places To Swim.

Club affiliations are encouraged but not required. USMS members who choose not to affiliate with a club are considered "unattached" and assigned a club designation consisting of the letters "UC" followed by their LMSC number (the first two digits of their USMS #). For example, unattached USMS members in the New England LMSC have a club designation of UC02. The purpose of this designation is to keep USMS in compliance with World Aquatics’ rules concerning world records and rankings. Unattached (UC) swimmers are ineligible to score points for a team or participate in relays at sanctioned meets. A swimmer who wants to score team points or swim in relays must be formally affiliated with a USMS-registered club as indicated on that member's USMS card.

NEW ENGLAND MASTERS SWIM CLUB (NEM)

New England Masters Swim Club (NEM) is one of the largest USMS clubs in the country, with ~38 USMS-registered workout groups constituting over 1,000 USMS members. While many clubs across the country and throughout New England have multiple practice venues, NEM is the sole “regional club” within the NELMSC. NEM allows its constituent members and Masters programs to formally register "workout groups" with USMS and compete as local teams (under their workout group team name) within the NELMSC and receive certain USMS Program Resources.

NEM workout groups are structured various ways. Some have very few members, others are as large or larger than most clubs but remain as workout groups because doing go allows their swimmers to compete as part of NEM's club team at USMS-sanctioned meets and open-water events outside of the NELMSC — e.g., national and international championships — and in other USMS-sanctioned events such as the USMS Virtual Championships.

Some workout groups (local teams), such as Charles River Aquatics Masters (NEM-CRM) or Boston University Masters Swimming (NEM-BOSMS), are associated with one pool, program, organization, or geographic area; others, such as SwimRI (NEM-SWMR) and Granite State Penguins (NEM-GSP), consist of multiple facilities/programs. Regardless of their structure, workout-group teams maintain a unified team identify.

COMPETITION ELIGIBILITY

REGIONAL Club, LOCAL Club & Workout Group Affiliations

A USMS-registered regional club consists of USMS-registered workout groups whose swimmers compete under their workout-group team name at pool meets or open-water events that are sanctioned by their home LMSC, but they compete under the parent club team name at national or international events or any events sanctioned by other LMSCs. New England Masters Swim Club (NEM) has ~1,000 members and is one of the largest regional clubs in the country.

A USMS-registered local club is one whose swimmers compete at all sanctioned events (within and outside of their home LMSC) under the club team name whether or not that club has USMS-registered workout groups. Great Bay Masters Swimming (GBM) and Maine Masters Swim Club (MESC) are the largest local clubs in the NELMSC. MESC is a local club that allows MESC-affiliated workout groups to register with USMS.

A USMS-registered workout group is a local team that, for USMS purposes, is an affiliate of a parent club. Charles River Masters (NEM-CRM) and SwimRI (NEM-SWMR) are two of the largest registered workout groups in New England. However, they differ in that CRM members practice at one venue (the Boston Sports Institute pool in Wellesley, Mass.) and always have coaches on deck, whereas SwimRI members practice at various venues, with varying levels of organization, some of which have on-deck coaches and some of which are swimmer-led practices, and some swimmers practice at multiple venues.

When a member of a USMS-registered club competes at a sanctioned national or international meet -- where workout groups are not recognized -- they must represent the club team with which they affiliated on their current USMS card (e.g., NEM). Unattached (UCxx) swimmers register official times but are ineligible to score team points or participate in relays.

When a swimmer submits an application to transfer from one club to another, the transfer cannot take effect until 60 days have elapsed since the swimmer last represented the former club in competition -- the only exception is when the transfer takes place at the time of annual registration.

A swimmer may declare unattached status at any time without written application. Once a swimmer has swum in the first event at a meet the swimmer's club and workout group affiliation, if any, cannot change for the remainder of the meet.

At the annual NELMSC Short Course Meters Championships in December and the NELMSC Short Course Yards Championships in March, registered NEM workout groups compete in the team-points competition as separate workout-group teams rather than as one parent-club team. Any swimmer who competes as a member of an NEM workout-group team in a sanctioned meet must be affiliated with that workout group on his USMS membership card.

NEM members who are from different workout groups or not affiliated with a workout group may form an “NEM unattached” relay team, the time for which will be considered official for USMS purposes. However, any points scored by that relay team will be attributed to the NEM parent team's point total, not toward a workout group's point total. In order for a relay team's points to count toward a workout group's team total, all members of the relay team must be affiliated with the same NEM workout group.

For more information about how club and workout-group affiliations affect competition eligibility, see USMS Rules 201.3 and 102.9.1 and NEM Swim Club’s workout-group policy.

INDIVIDUAL, CLUB & WORKOUT GROUP REGISTRATION

For information on how to join USMS, register a club or workout group, print your membership card or other registration-related issues, see the USMS Individual Membership page, the USMS Club Central page, the NELMSC Registration page, or contact the New England LMSC membership coordinator at NEmembership@usms.org.