Ohio Swimming and Lake Erie Swimming Announce Plans To Merge Into Single LSC

Two of USA Swimming’s Local Swim Committees (LSCs), Ohio Swimming Inc. (OSI) and Lake Erie Swimming Inc. (LESI), announced plans to merge into a single LSC on Friday.

LSCs are the local administrative organizations of USA Swimming’s governance structure.

The proposed merger will see the state of Ohio combine its resources into a single entity rather than splitting between the two LSCs, something that has been in the works for more than eight months.

The LESI currently serves the northeast section of Ohio, while the OSI covers the rest of the state. Both compete in the Central Zone.

• The LESI serves the Ohio Counties of Ashland, Ashtabula, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Richland, Seneca, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, and Wayne.
• The OSI serves the rest of the state, including the Counties of Campbell, Kenton, and Boone the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

During the 2023 USA Swimming Workshop last April, Athlete Representatives from OSI and LESI met to discuss ways a potential merger could benefit the swimmers, and landed on four key areas:

• LSC Unification – combine resources and expertise to deliver high quality services, programming & support throughout Ohio under a single consolidated LSC.
• Enhanced Competition – improve the competition position & experience by adding quality venues; offering higher levels of competition by bringing all Ohio athletes together.
• Strengthen Operational Efficiencies/Strengthen Financial Position – maximizing results through minimizing costly duplications.
• Improve Member retention/attract new families – the merger will re-energize the base as we strategically plan for long term future successes.

USA Swimming has not published membership numbers for 2022, but the two LSCs combined to have 9,394 members in 2020, and then the number dropped to less than 8,000 in 2021 amidst the pandemic.

The 2021 membership numbers are directly impacted by COVID, and thus do not represent an accurate representation of where the LSCs sit today.

Steven Connock, the current Administrative Vice Chair of OSI, told SwimSwam that he expects membership numbers to be in the 9,000-swimmer, 100+ club range once the two LSCs merge.

The members of the two organizations found that efforts were being duplicated by officials and volunteers, and swimmers were negatively impacted with a limited pool of meets and athletes to compete with.

As a state with an impressive swimming pedigree, especially given that it’s land-locked, it made too much sense to bring the two LSCs together for the betterment of all.

“Re-energize” was a buzzword for Connock when discussing the move and how the members felt about it.

“Our merger will enhance our competition by opening up the number of venues available for competition in a single unified State of Ohio LSC versus the limited geographic boundaries of two separate LSCs within Ohio,” Connock said.

“More options are available in creating new exciting LSC Championships which serves to motivate all swimmers while providing an outstanding experience for athletes, coaches, volunteers & families.”

He also noted that the size of a 9,000-swimmer LSC wouldn’t be a hindrance given that the two committees are simply coming together, combining forces, and that the improved efficiency would make things easier rather than more daunting or overwhelming for those in organizational roles.

Some LSCs are separated by state boundaries, but several of them are not. There are currently 59 LSCs, and Connock believes more will follow once OSI and LESI successfully come together.

“I think others are going to pop shortly after this,” he said.

“I think other LSCs are in similar thought processes and they just didn’t know…how do we launch this? When do we launch it? We’re really the first to show the path on how it can and should be done, so I believe they are looking for us to take the lead to be the first to actually see how you can successfully go through the process.”

That process will culminate with a vote by the House of Delegates at USA Swimming’s Annual Business Meeting in the spring. If passed by a majority vote, the merger will become official no sooner than 60 days after the vote.

It’s worth noting that the current boundaries implemented for the LSCs were drawn in the 1970s when USA Swimming was split for the American Athletic Union (AAU). The boundaries were put together with other sports in mind, not swimming.

In January 2020, a proposal was made to split the Southern California Swimming LSC, the largest in the country, as coaches in the Orange County area vied for their own committee. The Southern California LSC ultimately voted to remain intact.

At the time, those lobbying for the creation of the Orange County LSC believed Southern California Swimming was too big. That is a contrast to the issue Ohio found, which was that two LSCs were not necessarily too small, but were small enough they could merge to make everyone’s lives easier.

Based on 2021 numbers, Southern California had the biggest membership base with 14,377 athletes (18,039 in 2020), which was followed by Illinois Swimming (13,029) and Pacific Swimming (10,290) as the only three with more than 10,000 (Potomac Valley and Middle Atlantic had over 10,000 in 2020 prior to COVID).

So even with Ohio Swimming and Lake Erie Swimming combining, the new Ohio LSC still won’t be in the top three, or likely even top five or six, biggest in terms of membership.

OSI General Chair Jim Peterfish and LESI General Chair Vince Colwell issued a joint statement in announcing the merger, noting that updates will be provided throughout the process before it becomes official.

“Today marks a historic and exciting milestone for all of us as we combine our exceptionalism to create new levels of achievement and success in competitive swimming for every athlete, family member, coach, volunteer, and community within the State Ohio,” they said.

“We are eager to begin the merger planning process immediately with an announcement during mid-2024 of our Merger ‘live’ date.”