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USA Swimming Zone and Local Swimming Committee Structure

Founded in 1978, USA Swimming is the National governing body for competitive swimming in the United States. It is a non-profit organization made up of volunteers. There are approximately 50 standing committees. The USA Swimming House of Delegates meets annually to determine the rules and regulations for the following year. Between yearly meetings of the House of Delegates, an elected USA Swimming Board of Directors is charged with the responsibility of making decisions for USA Swimming.

USA Swimming is made up of four separate zones in the United States - central, eastern, southern and western. Each Zone is made up of Local Swimming Committees (LSCs). There are a total of fifty-nine (59) LSCs in USA Swimming. The color coded map (courtesy of USA Swimming) below shows each of these zones.

Each LSC can be thought of as swimming "state", but some states such as New York, California and Texas are split into multiple LSCs, while some states are merged with other states to create one LSC. Within each LSC there are individual swim clubs, or teams. Each Zone has its own Board of Directors, Annual Convention, Zone Championship meets, and Sectional Championship meets. A House of Delegates with representation of coaches, athletes, members of the Board of Directors and clubs is responsible for managing the business affairs of the LSC.

The Eastern Zone has a Spring (Short Course) and a Summer (Long Course) championship meet each year. The Central Zone Championship Meet holds two meets (both Long Course) in August each year. In 1983, the Central Zone Committee split the meet into two sites to better accommodate the large number of swimmers which total as many as 1,500 each year. Both the Western Zone and Southern Zone have a single zone meet (Long Course) each year.

Each Zone is responsible for setting up its own format for the Zone Championships.

So, to summarize:
1 USA-Swimming Organization
4 Zones
59 Local Swimming Committees (LSCs)
2,850 year-round and seasonal clubs*
269,331 year-round and seasonal athletes*
*from USA Swimming 2004 membership statistics