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USA Swimming’s House of Delegates has voted to approve an amended proposal to increase annual club dues, ending a contentious weekend over the proposed change at this weekend’s Annual Business Meeting in Denver.
The House of Delegates, the voting body representing clubs and LSCs around the country, approved the proposal with a couple of changes. The proposal to increase club dues for existing clubs from $75 to $225 annually was approved.
After an intense debate on Friday, Board of Directors Vice-Chair for Fiscal Oversight Kenneth Chung proposed an amendment to the original proposal. The amendment stated that new clubs will have to pay $750 in their first year instead of previously having to pay $750 per year for their first three years. After year one, these clubs will revert to the standard $225 annual fee.
USA Swimming says that the higher rate for new clubs will allow USA Swimming to offer more support for these programs as they get off the ground. Joel Shinofield told SwimSwam earlier this year that when a new club folds, 70% of the athlete members are lost.
In addition to this decrease, the amendment requires the sport development department to release a quarterly report on the USA Swimming website showing how the funds are being used.
The amended proposal was passed by a ‘yes’ vote from 83% of the voting members of the House of Delegates.
This marks the first change in club dues since 1990.
Club dues were a hot topic coming into this weekend after a vote was set for USA Swimming’s proposed 221% increase in club dues. The annual rate has sat at $70 since 1990.
Most coaches that SwimSwam spoke to said that they were ok with dues increases but had some concerns including knowing where the money was being spent as well as the burden that a higher dues would place on new clubs as part of initiatives to grow the sport.
USA Swimming has committed to use the funds on the following list of programs, though one coach told SwimSwam that even during the presentation, a malfunctioning computer led to a presenter commenting that some of the money would be spent on new computers and phones for staff members, which is not part of the list below.
- More visits from USA Swimming to LSCs
- Alignment with LSCs on serving clubs
- More club visits to variety of club sizes
- More listening to coaches at local level
- More recognition of clubs (especially those producing at an age group level)
- Regular meetings in LSC with coaches and LSC Boards
- In-person coach education
- Include coaches in decision-making process, both in-person and broad grassroots participation
- Help when clubs are facing significant challenges around facilities, board changes, etc.
