Photo courtesy of Inland Empire Swimming

USA Swimming’s Swimposium program provides Local Swimming Committee’s (LSCs) with an educational opportunity for members of its LSC. As part of USA Swimming’s annual budget, resources are allocated to fund a limited number of Swimposiums each year. Once approved, USA Swimming works with the LSC to provide speakers with full or partial funding for each presenter. Presentations are available for athletes, coaches, clubs, parents and volunteers.  

In April, Inland Empire Swimming (IES) and Snake River Swimming (SRS) worked together to host a combined Swimposium for its athletes, parents, coaches and officials.  

The event planning started long before the weekend of April 9, 2022, between both LSCs and USA Swimming Senior Advisor, Team Services Jane Grosser.  

“We had representatives from both LSCs on all of our calls,” IES Office Administrator Jody Broyles said. “We included General Chairs, Safe Sport Chairs, Admin Chairs, Athlete Representatives and Office Staff on all of our calls.”  

All planning was done over Zoom due to being from different LSCs. This year, the Swimposium was in Boise, Idaho with the goal of switching locations to somewhere within IES for the next dual hosted event.  

“Even though it was tricky sometimes to get people together, we just kept pushing at it,” Broyles said. “Sometimes meetings were only three people, but we stuck to them on a very regular basis, even if we were short or not a lot of people could go.”  

Both LSCs worked closely with Jane Grosser, who helped with funding from USA Swimming as well as athlete representation.  

“We were able to secure two great athletes for the IES and SRS Swimposium,” Grosser said. “Two incredible athletes – Nathan Adrian and Josh Davis – were able to attend and do an in-water clinic. It was an incredible partnership between both LSCs and USA Swimming.” 

In addition to in-water clinics for both 12-and-under as well as 13-and-older athletes, swimmers were able to attend an athlete/parent workshop and an athlete centered talk session. Speaker Kevin Zacher, current head coach and CEO of the Santa Clara Swim Club, spoke to 12-and-under athletes and parents about how to successfully transition from age group to senior level swimming. Kristen Hill, head coach of Boise State University’s Swimming and Diving program from 2005-2015, mentored the 13-and-older swimmers and parents about the college swimming experience and the application process.  

Coaches and officials also had schedules centered on topics to improve their professional journey. Both Zacher and Hill spoke to coaches about building programs in challenging times - Zacher from the perspective of a club coach and Hill as a collegiate coach. Officials heard from Ron Van Pool and Robert Broyles; officials who have been involved with USA Swimming for a combined total of over 40 years.  

On Sunday, all athletes were randomly divided into two teams to compete in a sanctioned long course dual meet.  

“The idea was to run a dual meet between Inland Empire (Swimming) and Snake River (Swimming), but the numbers were too lopsided,” SRS Technical Planning Chair Linda Conger said. “We decided to just split them all up into two teams. We had Jody Broyles (IES) and Todd Marsh (SRS) as head coaches and split the other attending coaches up. They put relays together and just had fun getting to know swimmers they don’t see very often.” 

Feedback on the Swimposium from participants has been great.  

“We will definitely do it again,” Broyles said. “We received feedback to have openings earlier so next time we will try to have it on the calendar in September when people come back from break.” 

Both LSCs made a financial commitment with USA Swimming to cover the cost of the facility and speakers. In addition, to reduce barriers of transportation, they budgeted for a charter bus to transport attendees. Due to the great turnout, both LSCs won’t have to provide as much funding as initially planned.  

Swimposiums are a great way to help educate members and provide a meaningful experience in your LSC. To learn more about these events, including determining if your LSC meets eligibility criteria, visit the website here.