USA SWIMMING
Download of the Path to the Olympics diagram
How USA Swimming is Organized
ZONES & LSC's
USA Swimming is divided into 4 Zones. Western, Eastern, Central, Southern.
Each of these zones is divided into governing bodies called Local Swimming Committees (LSC). There are 59 LSC of which the Southern California Swimming LSC is one.
There are over 250,000 swimmers registered with USA Swimming.
Southern California Swimming LSC
The Southern California Swimming (SCS) LSC is so large it is divided into sections (called geographical committees). There are 6 geo committees within the SCS LSC. SCS is one of only a few LSC's that are divided into geo committees. Each of our 6 geo committees is LARGER than most of the other LSCs in the country.
SCS has over 22,000 registered swimmers.
Chino Hills Aquatic Swim Team belongs to the Eastern Geo Committee, within Southern California Swimming, within the Western Zone, and is a member club of USA Swimming.
How Competitions are Organized
See the diagram below.
AGE GROUP COMPETITIONS
Age Group swim meets are divided into groups based on a swimmer's age (and gender) and ability (time) so that kids are competing against kids of their own relative age and ability. All of our ‘C’/B/BB/A meets are competitions between the teams of the Eastern Geographical Committee. There are roughly 33 teams in the Eastern Geo Committee alone. The Eastern Geo Committee hosts an Eastern Committee Championship meet open to the 33 Geo teams twice a year...once for Short Course Yards (SCY) and once for Long Course Meters (LCM). These meets have B/BB/A qualifying times.
The WAG/JAG & SCS Spring & Summer Championship swim meets are open to all the teams within Southern California Swimming (SCS). Qualifying times (time standards) are determined by SCS and posted on their web page. There are so many swimmers qualifying these meets are held concurrently at 3 different venues. Each team within SCS is assigned to one of the venues.
The FAR WESTERN swim meet is hosted by Pacific Swimming and is open to ALL qualifying swimmers within the WESTERN ZONE. Qualifying times (time standards) are determined by Pacific Swimming. This is the fastest age group competition open to everyone with qualifying times.
AGE GROUP INVITES
Swimmers with Western Zone qualifying times (these are much faster than the FAR WESTERN cuts, may apply to swim in the North American Challenge Cup (NACC) competition and the Western Zone competition. Swimmers are selected first for the NACC meet and then for the Western Zone meet. These meets are held after the long course JO meet, usually in August. To compete swimmers must be fast and must be invited to be on the SCS team representing our LSC against other LSC's in the Western Zone.
The same applies for the Pacific All Stars Swim Meet and the SCS All Stars Festival. Swimmers may apply. The fastest swimmers are invited to be part of the SCS team competing against teams from other LSC's in the Western Zone. The SCS All Stars Festival selects the fastest swimmers not selected for the Pacific All Star team. This is a competition within SCS. Swimmers invited are assigned to a Blue team, or a Green team, or a Red team, or a Yellow team. Each of these teams compete against each other for bragging rights and a really fun time.
ALL AGES COMPETITIONS
As kids get more mature and faster the need for age groups is no longer necessary. This means that each event has only ONE qualifying time per gender no matter the age of the swimmer. Basically, any swimmer who meets the time standard may enter the meet. The qualifying times for Senior meets are geared towards 15 & Overs, however, any swimmer of any age that can make the cut can enter the event.
