December 2020

Local, Regional, National, and International Organizations

Who is SES and FINA or USA Swimming?

As you are probably aware, Swimming is an International Sport. In fact it is an Olympic event. To prevent possible problems in interpreting rules, and to insure fairness at all levels of the sport, there are International, National, Regional and Local organizations to administer all aspects of competitive swimming and to insure that the playing field is kept flat and that all swimmers have a chance to compete with each other on equal terms.

PNY is a registered club member of SES and USA Swimming, and is, therefore, able to register swimmers who may then participate in sanctioned events. As a member of SES, PNY Swim Team is also allowed to host sanctioned events. All official times for swimmers in a sanctioned event are reported to SES, and upwards to USA Swimming and FINA to be posted in the Local, Regional, National, and World Record databases.

SES   The regional arm or "Local Swimming Committee" for our area is Southeastern Swimming, Inc. or "SES".

USA Swimming   USA Swimming is the National Governing Body for the sport of swimming in the United States, and they administer competitive swimming in accordance with the Amateur Sports Act. USA Swimming provides programs and services for their members, supporters, affiliates and the interested public.

As a registered member of USA Swimming, should a swimmer move to a new area, his or her previous event times are immediately available and honored by teams and coaches in the new area, regardless of their geographic location or their team's affiliations be it at the local level, College, University or even Olympic competition levels.

FINA   Although swimming was included in the Olympic program from the very first Games of the modern era in 1896 in Athens, the Federation Internationale de Natation was founded a few years later, on the 19th of July 1908, on the occasion of the Olympic Games in London under the name «Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur». This name was maintained until 2000 when it changed to FINA. FINA's main goal was to unify regulations and to no longer allow the organizing countries of the Games to impose their own rules.