USA Swimming Club Development Programs

USA Swimming provides programming to aid clubs in developing strong, stable, financially sound and athletically productive organizations. Two of these are the Club Excellence and Club Recognition programs:

Club Excellence Program

The Club Excellence Program is a voluntary program that identifies and recognizes USA Swimming clubs for their commitment to performance excellence. This program strives to promote the development of strong, well-rounded age group and senior swimming programs that produce elite 18 & under athletes, and provide recognition and resources to motivate and assist member clubs to strive for the highest ideals of athlete performance.

USAS announced 2022 Club Excellence results in October 2021. The following MNSI teams earned recognition:

Silver Medal

Bronze Medal

Aquajets Swim Team

Riptide Swim Team

Edina Swim Club

St. Croix Swim Club

Great Wolf Swim Team

Full nationwide results are here. Program information can be found here.


Club Recognition Program

The Club Recognition Program (CRP) provides club members a working blueprint for developing a strong, stable, financially sound and athletically productive organization. It is a voluntary program with four levels of achievement across four component areas deemed critical to long-term club success (Level 4 being the highest level). It encourages clubs to establish organizational goals and to benchmark their progress toward those goals. There are different CRP programs based on the type of organization: parent-governed club, coach owned club, or institutionally owned club. The ultimate objective is to strengthen the club system by guiding club leaders through a development process that positions the program and its coaches to better serve athletes.

The MNSI Technical Planning Committee (charged with responsibility for advancing the Competitive Excellence initiative) has set a goal for all clubs to be at least Level 1 recognized in this quad (ending August 2020). Why? Strong, stable, financially sound clubs have a positive affect on athlete performance.

The following clubs have achieved CRP status:

Club*

CRP Level

Alexandria Swim Club (ALEX) Level 1
Aquajets Swim Team (AQJT) Level 1
Edina Swim Club (EDI) Level 4
Foxjets Swim Team (FOXJ) Level 3
Granite City Aquatics (GCA) Level 1
Great Wolf Swim Team (WOLF) Level 3
Hastings Area Swim Team (HAST) Level 1
High Tides Swim Club (HTSC) Level 2
Hurricanes Swim Team (HURR) Level 2
Life Time Swim Team (LIFE) Level 3
Mako Aquatics (MAKO) Level 3
Minnesota Flyers (MFLY) Level 1
Minneapolis YWCA Otters (MYWO) Level 2
Minnetonka Swim Club (MTKA) Level 4
New Hope Crystal Plymouth Swim Club (TUNA) Level 1
Riptide Swim Team (RIPT) Level 4
Rochester Swim Club (RSC) Level 1
Sea Devils (SDVL) Level 1
South East Metro Sharks (SEMS) Level 1
South Metro Storm (STRM) Level 3
St. Cloud YMCA Swim Team (STC) Level 2
St. Croix Swim Club (SCSC) Level 1
WEST Express Swim Team (WEST) Level 2

* If your club has earned new Club Recognition status please forward the email from USA Swimming notifying your club to dwentzel@mnswim.org.

To learn more how to get started or to earn an advanced CRP level see more information here from USA Swimming. Or contact MN Swimming's Executive Director, Danielle Wentzel, by email at dwentzel@mnswim.org.