USA Swimming Club Excellence 2020

By Reach for the Wall staff

USA Swimming, the National Governing Body for the sport of swimming, announced that Nation’s Capital Swim Club (NCAP) has earned the top position in the USA Swimming Club Excellence program for 2020.  This is the 6th consecutive title that NCAP has won under this program, which recognizes USA Swimming’s highest-performing clubs in the development of athletes 18 years and younger.   NCAP garnered 81,529 points and finished over 18,000 points clear of second-place finisher (2nd year in a row), SwimMAC Carolina (NC).

Below are the 6 PVS teams that USA Swimming recognized under the Club Excellence Program in 2020. Congratulations on this awesome achievement!

Gold Medal Level (20 Clubs)

• Nation’s Capital Swim Club ( 81,529 points)

Silver Medal Level (80 Clubs)

• Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club (16,641 points)
• Machine Aquatics (8,549 points)
• The FISH (7,713) – a 2,000 point improvement from last year and move up from Bronze
• Arlington Aquatic Club (7,531) an improvement of 2771 over last year and move up from Bronze

Bronze Medal Level (100 Clubs)

• Snow Swimming (3,009)

Podium Club

NCAP also was one of five clubs to receive the 2020 Podium Club honor, which is awarded for achieving a Gold Medal ranking for four consecutive years. In addition to earning Gold grant dollars, Podium Club members also receive a financial bonus from a pool of dollars to be divided equally among the number of teams in the Podium Club each year.

Background

USA Swimming established the Club Excellence Program to recognize up to 200 outstanding clubs for their commitment to performance excellence.   The Program is voluntary, and clubs seeking recognition under the program must submit an application to USA Swimming that meets the following criteria:

• Must have at least one 18 & Under athlete who achieves the time standard for one of the three levels: Gold, Silver or Bronze. All performances must be achieved from September 1, 2018 through August 31, 2019, LCM times only, and must be verifiable with the USA Swimming times database.

• The Bronze Time Standard is equal to the 2019 LCM Speedo Junior National Championships.
• The Silver Time Standard is equal to the 2019 LCM Phillips 66 National Championships.
• The Gold Time Standard is equal to: Women: 150th ranked swimmer in the world from the prior year Men: 200th ranked swimmer in the world from the prior year Note: The Gold standards are equal to or faster than the Silver standards and do not get slower from the previous year.
• Open Water Performance Eligibility – 18 & Under athletes who competed in the 2019 USA Swimming 5K and 10K Open Water National Championships and the 5K Open Water Junior National Championships are eligible to score points in the Club Excellence program as outlined in the following chart. Club Excellence rankings for Open Water results will not include foreign participants in the OW National Championships.

Every club that submits an application will be ranked based on the amount of points that its athletes scored under the FINA Points Table, a power point rating system that assigns point values to swimming performances. In order to be eligible to score points, athletes must achieve a Gold, Silver or Bronze standard. Points for Gold swims are multiplied by a factor of 2.0; points for Silver level swims are increased by a factor of 1.5. All performances must be long course meters; no conversions accepted.

Clubs may qualify for three levels of recognition (and podium club):

• Gold: The top 20 highest ranked (point scoring) clubs. At least one 18 & under athlete from the club must achieve a Gold time standard.
• Silver: The top 100 highest ranked clubs (excluding Gold status clubs).  At least one 18 & under athlete must achieve the Silver time standard.
• Bronze: The top 200 highest ranked clubs (excluding Gold and Silver status clubs).  At least one 18 & Under athlete must achieve the Bronze time standard.
• Podium Club: Any club achieving the Gold Medal level for 4 consecutive years qualify.

Upon recognition as a Gold, Silver or Bronze Medal Club, recipients enjoy the following benefits:

• Clubs earn recognition as a USA Swimming Gold, Silver, or Bronze Medal Club for a 1-year period. This recognition includes a vinyl 4’ x 6’ team banner and a results announcement on the USA-S website and on social media.
• Clubs may use the USA Swimming Gold, Silver, or Bronze Medal Club designation and logo through December 31 of the program year, on the club website, social media, club advertising and promotional materials, team letterhead, and team apparel.
• After the 1-year period, clubs may make ongoing use of vinyl team banner(s) and Club Excellence logo(s) on a club webpage or rotating banner specifically featuring current and past team accomplishments.
• Gold and Silver level clubs are eligible to apply for grant funding (from a total pot of $450,000)