USA Swimming last month launched a new ad campaign "showing young swimmers doing other sports" in a move to "position itself as a home for multisport athletes and gain back some of the kids it has been losing," according to Hilary Potkewitz of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. From '13-16, the number of competitive swimmers in the 10-year-old age group "dropped by almost 10%." While sports leagues nationwide are "facing overall declines in youth participation, nearly half of the swimmers who quit said they left swimming to play other sports." More than 40% said that swim team was "too much of a time commitment." The NGB also is "rolling out a new, entry-level membership program called FlexSwim for young swimmers aged 5-18 who want to try competitive swimming but can commit to only a few days of training a week and two swim meets a year." Traditional training for competitive swimmers usually means "practice every day," plus "swim meets many weekends." USA Swimming CMO Matt Farrell said, "We're telling people it's OK to do other sports. We know that even within our sport, not everyone is going to agree with that. But it's a real philosophical shift, and we think it's the best long-term view." About 2,900 swim clubs nationwide "belong to USA Swimming." Individuals "pay an annual membership fee of $60 and teams pay a separate club fee of about $150 to $200." Benefits of membership include "liability insurance coverage, subscriptions to swimming publications and access to competitions." FlexSwim has a "lower membership fee of $20 a swimmer, including the insurance and other offerings" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/3).
