I’ve been lurking this forum for close to a year now, and I’ve got to chime in on some of the misinformation in the first post.

I swam competitively for a little over 12 years. Stating that everyone who swims in a meet has to be a member of United States Swimming (USS) is a bit of a stretch. Anyone who swims in a USS sanctioned meet has to be a member of USS. There are TONS of other smaller organizations to swim under. There are plenty of local leagues for smaller scale meets. You don’t have to be a member of USS to swim in a country club league, a local city league, high school/state leagues, or even to swim for the NCAA. In the 4 years I swam NCAA I didn’t have a USS membership. I didn’t bother with going to USS national events because I was competing in NCAA national events, therefore I didn’t need a membership.

The big difference is that to swim in USS sanctioned meets then you need to be a member of USS. They run Jr. nationals, Sr. nationals, and Olympic trials. So if you’re going to be competing on a national level you have to be a member.

What US Sailing was proposing was that even those beer can races (read local leagues) would require membership. That was part of the big gripe wasn’t it? Even the guy who raced one time in a Hobie regatta would be required to be a member of US sailing.