HowTo-Start a Club for Open Water

Dear George, 

How to start a Masters Program: 

In order to start a Masters program, you first need to register a club for your group and then your Masters swimmers can register for an individual  USMS membership and attach themselves to your club. To register a new USMS club or workout group, go to the Club/Workout Group Registration page. The club registration fee is $60 and is good through December of the given year. October 1st is when club registration/renewals open for the next calendar year. 

Coach certification is not a requirement to be a Masters coach or start a Masters club, however, coach certification comes with many benefits, including one-on-one support from our Program Services division and substantial discounts from our partners. USMS offers an online/distance learning Level 1 Masters coach certification. The cost is $125. 

One of the great benefits of USMS club membership is that your swimmers, the facility and you will be covered with additional USMS liability insurance as long as your swimmers’ memberships with USMS are current and a USMS member is on deck with line-of-sight of the participants. If you need to obtain a certificate of insurance, please follow the  Instructions for requesting a certificate.

There are valuable resources on the USMS website that can help you with your Masters program including online drills and workouts. I am including a copy of Building a Successful Swim Program guide for your convenience. The Adult Swim Program Resources guide is another great resource for aquatic directors, facility administrators, program coordinators, swim instructors and coaches.

Questions from Coaches monthly blog on the USMS Community forums is another great resource for coaches.  The blog covers a variety of topics which you may find very helpful, some popular topics include increasing membership,  program management, certification,  program revenue and more.

All registered USMS clubs and workout groups can take advantage of our USMS Program Resources  where you will find marketing resources for your program, including caps, stickers, bag tags and more, you can also order a free USMS co-branded banner with your club logo. 

Please feel free to reach out to membership@usmastersswimming.org with any additional questions.

Do you necessarily want/need this open water swim group to be a USMS group? Or do you just want to form a swim group? I belong to a couple of Facebook groups that are at least a couple hundred members each (some, like me, belong to both since they’re not far apart geographically). In the early 2000s they started out as a single email group of just a handful of swimmers. The ‘leader’ moved to a nearby town and started swimming there so the original group kinda split into two. Then both groups transitioned to Facebook. It seems to be a good way for announcing swims, meet-ups, etc. 

Dan

There is a liability issue that being in USMS alleviates, due to insurance.