Swimsuits Not Lawsuits: U.S. Masters Swimming Wants to Focus on Our Mission and Members
By Ed Coates and Dawson Hughes, U.S. Masters Swimming
In recent weeks, U.S. Masters Swimming has come under scrutiny from politicians, state officials, and other outside organizations for reasons that have little to do with swimming.
Let us be clear about who we are: We’re a private nonprofit recreational swimming organization. We empower adults ages 18 to 100+ to improve their lives through swimming, including three members over 100 years old and adults just learning to swim.
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We help tens of thousands of adults enjoy the health and fitness benefits of a sport they love. We support around 1,100 clubs and coaches across the country, helping our members find a community in which they can enjoy swimming.
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We offer friendly competitions that also serve as a social engagement for our members. We have nearly 400 events every year, most of which are local recreational swim meets of less than 100 swimmers. Most of our members do not participate in these competitions although we hope they’ll consider it in the future.
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We help adults learn the lifesaving skill of swimming. Since 2011, we’ve given more than $1 million in grants to support adult learn-to-swim programs.
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We support aquatics facilities in local communities around the country. Our clubs and member activities provide financial support for local pools and the aquatic activities they provide in their communities.
This situation began with rumors about one member’s performance at our Spring Nationals in April in San Antonio. An external organization fueled online speculation about this swimmer’s eligibility, which led to protests from fellow members and an investigation by the Attorney General in Texas.
After hearing from members, discussions with the Texas Office of the Attorney General, and other external stakeholders, we adopted an interim eligibility policy. The policy clarifies participation and recognition criteria, reflecting our mission, our values, and operational considerations specific to Masters Swimming. (You can find FAQs about the policy here). Even after announcing the changes, the Florida Attorney General is asking us to further restrict eligibility. And despite everything we did, we still got sued by the Texas Attorney General.
The Basics of USMS:
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Our organization is only for adults – not kids. Every single one of our roughly 60,000 members is 18 or older, and our interim eligibility policy doesn’t affect youth or scholastic competitions.
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Men and women swim together every day – it’s safe. Across the country every day, men and women complete workouts in the same lanes as each other, and Masters events are often held with heats that mix men and women, with their results tabulated by categories and age groups after the event is completed. This is like local 5K runs, cycling races, triathlons, and other adult recreational events. Men and women swimming together is commonplace and safe.
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Our policy addresses concerns about fair competition. Under our interim eligibility policy, trans women are not eligible to receive competitive recognition in the female category but are allowed to participate. Everyone gets to swim. (Anyone who chooses to swim in the male competition category is eligible for recognition regardless of their sex assigned at birth or gender identity.)
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Locker room access is not part of our policy – we obey the law and facility policies. Our interim eligibility policy has absolutely nothing to do with locker room or bathroom access. We expect all facility rules and applicable local, state, and federal laws regarding access to locker rooms and bathrooms to be followed.
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We have no political or social agenda – we are mission focused. We are a private nonprofit membership association with a focus on adult fitness and welcome all adults to take advantage of the mental and physical health benefits of swimming.
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Self-certification of sex assigned at birth is the most accurate and cost-effective method for our organization. We use the same standard for verification of age and gender as local running races and pickleball matches. We also don’t want to require our members to submit to invasive medical testing just to be able to swim.
We understand that the topic of transgender competition in sports evokes strong emotions and differing opinions. We’ve heard from members with heartfelt views on both sides. No policy on transgender eligibility will satisfy everyone. Ours was created to allow us to continue to pursue our mission, satisfy rapidly changing state and federal guidelines, and limit the impact to as few members as possible. We also want to conserve our organization’s financial resources to support our members’ swimming needs, not deplete them on sustained legal action or political theater.
We didn’t pick this fight, but we will address it head on and continue to strive to be a welcoming organization. While we do that, we’re asking the entire swimming community, including our 60,000 members, volunteers, coaches, and event directors to stay focused on our mission of empowering adults to swim, as part of our #SwimsuitsNotLawsuits campaign.
If you aren’t already a Masters swimmer, we encourage you to check out our club finder and calendar of events and consider joining the fun and healthy community we’ve developed over the past 55 years. See you at the pool!
#SwimsuitsNotLawsuits
Ed Coates is the President of U.S. Masters Swimming. He has been a USMS volunteer and member for over two decades, primarily for the enjoyment of fun and fitness, but he still enjoys getting up on the starting block and seeing what he can do.
Dawson Hughes is the CEO of U.S. Masters Swimming. Since 2016, he has led the National Office staff in providing support for the organization’s members, clubs, events, coaches, instructors, partners, volunteers, and Local Masters Swimming Committees.
