USA Swimming has created a new program to recognize Age Group Excellence among clubs nationwide. The program, launched at the end of the 2026 season, was designed by the Age Group Development Committee with support from USA Swimming's Data Science team.

 

Age Group Excellence evaluates clubs across five equally weighted metrics; each tied to a core goal for age-group swimmers:

• Exposure (includes FLEX): Bring new kids into the sport
• Meet Participation: Get kids to race
• Improvement Rate (Performance): Support their development
• IMX/R Participation: Get them legal in all four strokes (participation only, not score)
• Retention: Get them to come back

 

The program measures athletes age 14 and under, and clubs are scored on a 1,000-point scale, with up to 200 points available in each of the five categories.

 

The objectives of getting kids into the sport, encouraging them to compete, supporting their improvement, building their competency in all four strokes, and retaining them as members are all goals grounded in participation data, the tenets of the American Development Model, and the traits the Age Group Development Committee identified as common among successful age-group programs.

 

How Scoring Works

 

Each of the five metrics is scored using two methods:

 

Minimum/Maximum Scaler

• Measures where a club falls between the top and bottom performers, with the minimum value set at 0 points and the maximum point total for that category; every other value is distributed proportionally between them.
• If one club is truly miles ahead, it receives much more credit.

 

Percentile Score

• Measures how many other clubs a club outperformed, with first place earning the maximum points and scores scaling down evenly from there.
• Rewards the ranking alone - winning by 0.01 seconds or 30 seconds counts exactly the same.

 

Which Clubs Will be Recognized

 

Clubs will be grouped into four size categories, and the top 10% of each category, the 90th percentile among peer-sized clubs, will be recognized:

• Small: 50th percentile
• Medium: 50th-80th percentile
• Large: 80th-95th percentile
• X-Large: 95th percentile and above

 

Simulations showed that club size is not correlated with overall score. With that in mind, all recognized clubs, the top 10% from each size category, will be combined into a single pool, and the top 50 scorers overall will receive grant money.

 

Like the Club Excellence program, Age Group Excellence will be an annual award, scored automatically with no application required. After 2028, the Age Group Development Committee will consider adding a quad recognition, like the Club Excellence Podium Award. More details about the program will be shared in the coming months.

 

Data Hub

The Club Excellence Program is a program that identifies and recognizes USA Swimming member clubs for its commitment to performance excellence

 

The primary objectives of the program are to recognize and promote:

• The development of strong, well-rounded age group and senior swimming programs that produce elite 18 & under athletes;
• Resources to motivate and assist USA Swimming member clubs to achieve the highest athlete performance ideals;
• Grant funding; and
• The USA Swimming club development system as integral part in achieving excellence in the sport.

 

*THERE WILL NOT BE AN APPLICATION FOR THE 2027 CLUB EXCELLENCE PROGRAM. PLEASE REVIEW THE PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS BELOW.*

 

Benefits of Participation

 

The program annually recognizes outstanding clubs and may provide monetary grants to those who qualify. Upon recognition as a Gold, Silver or Bronze Medal Club, recipients enjoy the following benefits:

• Clubs earn recognition as a USA Swimming Gold, Silver, or Bronze Medal Club for a 1-year period. This recognition includes a vinyl 4’ x 6’ team banner and a results announcement on the USA-S website.
• Clubs may use the USA Swimming Gold, Silver, or Bronze Medal Club designation and logo through December 31 of the program year, on the club website, social media, club advertising and promotional materials, team letterhead and team apparel.
• After the 1-year period, clubs may make ongoing use of vinyl team banner(s) and Club Excellence logo(s) on a club webpage or rotating banner specifically featuring current and past team accomplishments. All use of a Club Excellence logo must reflect the correct year and recognition level (Gold, Silver or Bronze) based on these rules.
• Club Excellence funding will be awarded to Gold and Silver medal clubs.

 

2027 Timeline

 

• October 2026 - USA Swimming member club rankings announced by USA Swimming; Clubs who will be receiving grant funding to be notified.
• January 2027 - Grant funding will be distributed.
• February 2027 - Banners to be distributed to Gold, Silver and Bronze level USA Swimming member clubs.

 

Please direct any questions regarding the program to Mark Hesse at mhesse@usaswimming.org.

 

2027 Club Excellence Program

Data Hub

IM Xtreme is a program that allows USA Swimming members to track their times (or coaches to track their team's times) against swimmers all across the nation! Just by swimming a specific program of events, you can see where you rank against your teammates, your region and yes, even across the USA!

 

IM Ready (IMR)

 

To get "IM Ready," swimmers compete in a series of five events at shorter distances. Below, we've listed the line-up by age groups.

 

9 & Under, 10-year olds: 100 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Fly, 100 IM (SCY) or 200 IM (LCM)

 

11-year olds, 12-year olds: 200 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Fly, 100 IM (SCY) or 200 IM (LCM)

 

13, 14, 15, 16, 17, & 18-year olds: 200 Free, 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 IM

 

Once you've swum each event at least once at an official meet, you can log-in to your USA Swimming Account, and find out where you rank against all the other swimmers on your club team. You do not need to complete the IM Ready program to participate in the IM Xtreme. It is simply a stepping stone.

 

IM Xtreme (IMX)

 

Ready to move forward? The next step is IM Xtreme (IMX). The IMX ranking includes a series of five or six events at longer distances. Once you've completed the IMX program, you can find out where your IMX score ranks nationally, within your zone, within your LSC and on your club.

 

9 & Under, 10-year olds: 200 Free, 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 IM

 

11-year olds, 12-year olds: 400 Free (LCM) or 500 Free (SCY), 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 IM

 

13, 14, 15, 16, 17, & 18-year olds: 400 Free (LCM) or 500 Free (SCY), 200 Back, 200 Breast, 200 Fly, 200 IM, 400 IM

 

*Note: An IMR or IMX score is only established after a swimmer has swum all of the events required for their age group in a sanctioned meet since the start of the current season; both short and long course seasons start September 1 and end August 31 for IMR/IMX purposes. Additionally, a swimmer must complete all of the events in the same course (SCY or LCM) to have a score in that particular course.

 

Data Hub

The purpose of the VCC program is to recognize and highlight clubs that are developing athletes and achieving success at multiple levels in the club swimming continuum emphasizing the team element in club swimming. The program leverages machine learning optimization to maximize a team’s total points, looping through combinations of swimmers and events.

 

Period

 

The Virtual Club Championships will be tabulated nightly for both the short course and long course seasons. Both Short Course Yard (SCY) and Long Course Meter (LCM) rankings will be tabulated using results achieved between September 1 and August 31. (Prior to the SCY 2008-2009 season the yards season was from 9/1 to 5/31 of the following year.)

 

Tabulation

 

All registered USA Swimming clubs will be scored automatically. The program scores single age groups from 11-16 years old and has a combined 17-18 age group. After all eligible swims have been scored using the USA Swimming PowerPoint system, a team score for each registered USA Swimming club will be calculated. The tabulation will occur once every evening.

 

Team Event Limit

 

Each team will be limited to two entries per event by age group and gender. The program will automatically tabulate which two events in combination with other teammates produce the highest team score.

 

Individual Event Limit

 

Each swimmer will be limited to four events. A swimmer may contribute only four times per season even if they age up (i.e. may have two times selected as an 11-year old and two as a 12-year old, but not four as an 11-year old and four as a 12-year old). The program will automatically tabulate which four events in combination with other teammates produce the highest team score.

 

Eligibility

 

For a swimmer’s point total on a specific swim to count toward the overall team total, the athlete and/or their swim must meet the following eligibility criteria:

 

• Times must have been achieved while representing a registered USA Swimming club (no unattached times may be used) at a Sanctioned Competition or Block Party competition.
• Unattached times from YMCA and High School meets are also included.

 

Age Group and Events

 

The following event results will be tabulated for both men and women:

 

• 11 & 12 year olds – 50 Fr, 100s of each stroke, 200 Free, 4/500 Free, 200 IM (8 events).
• 13, 14, 15, 16, 17-18 year olds – All recognized Olympic events, not including 50s of stroke (14 events).
• No relays will be scored.

 

The Virtual Club Championship rankings are updated nightly with any new times loaded into the USA Swimming Times database.

 

Reports

 

To view more detailed information about VCC, club admins and coaches can login to SWIMS to generate the VccDetail report, which includes raw details about your score.

 

Data Hub