Potomac Valley Swimming increased its membership after Michael Phelps's eight-gold-medal performance in Beijing, but its growth was the least among the top 10 swimming regions in the nation. (Mark J. Terrill, Associated Press)
The large number of swimmers in the relatively small Greater Washington region has long been considered something of a phenomenon in USA Swimming circles. Geographically, Potomac Valley Swimming is one of the tiniest so-called local swimming committees (LSCs), yet it is fifth nationwide in total athlete membership.
Like many LSCs in the aftermath of Beijing Summer Games, Potomac Valley Swimming grew. It went from 9,045 athlete members in 2008 to 9,396 this year, an increase of 3.6 percent.
That would be fabulous news, especially given the economic downturn, if it weren’t the region’s smallest uptick in the last four years and didn’t pale so significantly when compared to growth around the nation.
Potomac Valley Swimming’s membership increase stands dead last among the 10 largest LSCs in the nation. The increase was well off the 11.2 percent growth shown by USA Swimming overall.
Florida, eighth nationally in membership, grew by 21.3 percent. Southern California, which surpassed Illinois as the largest region in members, grew by 12.5 percent. Every other LSC in the top 10 grew by at least 6.4 percent.
A look at the top 10 regions, courtesy of USA Swimming:
| Rank | LSC | 2008 | 2009 | Increase |
| 1 | S. California | 15,668 | 17,630 | 12.5% |
| 2 | Illinois | 16,144 | 17,530 | 8.6% |
| 3 | Pacific | 13,522 | 15,066 | 11.4% |
| 4 | Indiana | 10,198 | 11,598 | 13.7% |
| 5 | PVS | 9,045 | 9,396 | 3.6% |
| 6 | Middle Atlantic | 8,419 | 9,369 | 11.3% |
| 7 | Metropolitan | 8,410 | 9,341 | 10.9% |
| 8 | Florida | 7,467 | 9,055 | 21.3% |
| 9 | New Jersey | 7,764 | 8,265 | 6.4% |
| 10 | Michigan | 6,972 | 7,519 | 7.8% |
Note that the Middle Atlantic (parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey) and Metropolitan (the portion of New York state south of Albany) regions are threatening to push PVS out of the top five; Potomac Valley (the District of Columbia, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Fairfax and Arlington counties and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church) is just 27 swimmers ahead of Middle Atlantic and 55 ahead of Metropolitan.
Potomac Valley increased its membership by 318 athletes last year after growing by 901, 397 and 382 in the previous three years. (The totals provided by PVS vary slightly from those from USA Swimming, presumably because they were not counted at precisely the same time.)
| Year | PVS Total | Change |
| 2008-09 | 9,425 | 3.5% |
| 2007-08 | 9,107 | 11.0% |
| 2006-07 | 8,206 | 5.1% |
| 2005-06 | 7,809 | 5.1% |
| 2004-05 | 7,427 | n/a |
Pat Hogan, USA Swimming’s Managing Director for Club Development, pointed out that Potomac Valley and New Jersey are two of the most densely populated LSCs, which means both might simply be reaching a ceiling on available pools. Indeed, PVS Executive Director John Ertter called the lack of “premium water” — open lanes after school — the region’s biggest problem.
“It’s putting the brakes, a little bit, on our ability to grow,” Ertter said. “We’ve identified that as one of the biggest threats to our ability to grow.”
Ertter said PVS hopes eventually to take advantage of additional lane space at the District’s new Wilson Aquatic Center as well as a planned facility at Tenley Circle.
Ertter, however, pointed out that PVS increased its membership in years many other LSCs struggled to do so. PVS’s growth, in other words, has been constant and consistent. The Olympic year, he said, will produce a natural influx of new swimmers, but will they come back the following year?
“We’ve been experiencing steady growth and, for a couple of years, I think we were the only LSC that saw any growth at all,” Ertter said. In the year after an Olympics, “I think a lot of those real excited kids don’t come back.”
Tags: Michael Phelps
Lack of pool space is clearly a problem in the PVS LSC as a whole. If you look at Loudoun County where most of the population growth in the DC Metro Area has been over the last five years you will see that the growth in PVS swimmers does not match up with the level of growth that Loudoun has experienced. There are several reasons that swimming has not become as popular a sport in Loudoun as in other areas of PVS but one of the main reasons is Loudoun County Public Schools complete lack of respect for Club Swimming and their “football” mentality when it comes to the unique training and practice requirements to produce a championship level swimmer. It is hard for high school age kids to recruit kids to a sport that they know will force them to choose between academics and swimming on a yearly basis. The only time that Loudoun County Schoos does support swimming in when one of their extremely dedicated club swimmers signs to swim for a Division I College.
A lack of pool lanes is obviously one area that limits growth – but it is hard to imagine that local governments in Florida and California are spending large amounts of funds on building new 50 meter pools in today’s economic climate, yet their growth is off the charts.
Although at some level, our LSC appears to be trying, I believe that we require a significant and demonstrated commitment to building diversity in our swim programs. Demongraphics in Northern Virginia are changing in many ways(Maryland as well), yet our sport in this area is dominated by our traditional (declining as a total percentage) populations. We will continue to face stagnant growth until we learn how to properly address the need for more diversity as an important issue.
lane 4, thank you for the insite. i believe that is the single most reasonable explanation. (if in fact.. just one..)
“a sport that they know will force them to choose between academics and swimming on a yearly basis”
Way off base. The majority of the High School age swimmers in our club EXCEL academically, my children included. Even spending 25+ hours p/w in the pool.
Maybe Loudoun County kids are just lazy.
I think the problem with swimming on the east coast as a whole (Not just PVS) is cost. Let’s face it if you are an average family and have two kids that swim its going to set you back $4500 to $7000 a year with most teams in PVS. In So Cal Swimming nearly all the teams are non profit and charge $800 to $1500. Most of the cost in PVS is pool rental and this will only change when more water is available (build more pools) In So California most high schools have a pool and all cities have a least one pool if not two. The cities also subsidies the pool rental for the teams if they carry the city name. This makes swimming more affordable for all not just the lucky few who can afford it….
Also in most high schools if you swim on your high school swim team your PE period is swimming for the whole year not just the swim season, and you do not have to take PE if you swim on a year round swim team…when you put all these fact together you can see why swimming in So cal is growing and PVS is not on the same path.
I lived in So Cal and swam So Cal swimming for seven years before relocating to the east coast.
VSI dad: I think to say “Loudoun County kids are lazy” is not fair. I swim every morning before school, have good grades and work hard. I think loco swimmier is almost correct that Loudoun county schools does penalize club swimmers by making them chose a lot of time between club swimming or another club sport and high school swimming. Swimming is defiantly not promoted by LCPS, and your academics can suffer. What other school district expects kids have swim practice until 10pm – 10:30pm. Four times a week and then club swim at 5am. I don’t see any other sport having to do this.
Lane 4 must not be seeing what I am seeing, there is plenty diversity in PVS. Diversity isn’t just African American, but all classes. The Asian invasion within swimming in PVS is well documented and the largest minority group behind Caucasian. That is where the growth is, not in the traditional minority thoughts that is prevalent in this country. Asian and Latina not African American is keeping PVS solid.
The lack of pools in the PVS area means that most high school club swimmers have to practice before school. For most students, waking up at 4 AM or so will negatively affect grades. If anybody doubts this, compare the list of colleges seniors will be attending that is posted on the PVS Website against the similar list on, say, the Virginia LSC Website. In general, the PVS list is not that impressive — especially since my sense is that the young men and women who swim are better than the average student in terms of such characteristics as work ethic and motivation. Obviously, some PVS swimmers do quite well in school despite being tired all the time. However, many do not.