Santa Clara Crowned Top Swim City In America

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Photo Courtesy: David Farr

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (September 15, 2016) – The San Jose-Santa Clara, Calif., area earned the No. 1 position as America’s Top Swim City for the first time ever, according to a third-annual study commissioned by USA Swimming and leading swimwear company Speedo USA. Two-time Top Swim City Ann Arbor, Mich., placed second, with the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn., area climbing seven spots from 2015 to claim the third position.

Rounding out the top 10 of the 50 Top Swim Cities, Presented by Speedo USA, were Austin, Texas; Madison, Wisc.; Washington, D.C.; Raleigh-Cary, N.C; Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo.; Indianapolis-Carmel, Ind.; and the San Francisco-Oakland, Calif., Bay Area.

“The swimming community is unlike any other, and I know that the support of my teammates and coaches, and the close bonds we developed during training, have inspired me to achieve at our sport’s highest level,” said four-time Olympic medalist and Team Speedo USA athlete Maya DiRado. “I understand firsthand the impact these swim cities have on individual swimmers – from elite athletes to those just beginning their competitive careers – and hope this survey and my USA teammates’ performances in Rio inspire more people to get in the water.”

San Jose-Santa Clara’s jump can be attributed in part to its large growth in new USA Swimming members in 2016. Long known as a swimming hotbed, the area saw 36 percent of its USA Swimming membership join for the first time this year. In addition, the area also holds the top spot for most USA Swimming members per 1,000 people, and the 64 pools in the San Jose-Santa Clara area make swimming more accessible for people to join a team.

Santa Clara Swim Club is one of the most successful swim teams nationwide, with its swimmers winning 80 Olympic medals, including 51 gold, 17 silver and 12 bronze, during its proud history. Swimming legends Mark Spitz and Donna de Varona also grew up in the area.

“It is a great honor for San Jose-Santa Clara to earn recognition as America’s Top Swim City. Aquatics has a deep history here, and the passion and commitment for aquatic sports is really a fabric of our community,” Santa Clara Swim Club Head Coach John Bitter said. “Our future is incredibly bright, including the new Haines International Swim Center, and our outstanding partnership with the city of Santa Clara will lead to more successes for America’s Top Swim City in the future.”

California (eight cities in the top 50 spots) and Colorado (four in the top 33) were the highest-ranking states.

Indianapolis moved up 10 places from 2015 to take the No. 9 spot this year and numerous other cities made their debut into the top 50. Roanoke, Va., had the biggest jump, moving up 49 spots to No. 45 on the list. Louisville, Ky., gained 42 spots to crack the top 50 at No. 48 for 2016, and Atlantic City, N.J., jumped 41 spots from 88 to 47. Omaha, Neb., host city of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming, also had a notable jump within the top 50, advancing 33 spots from 50 in 2015 to 17 this year.

“The top swim cities exemplifies all the qualities that make the sport of swimming great, with strong community involvement, ease of access and ability to grow the sport,” said Matt Farrell, Chief Marketing Officer for USA Swimming. “We want to invite people of all ages across the country to join the sport of swimming, and we hope this list inspires more kids and families to get involved.”

Each city’s ranking is based on an aggregate score in categories including percentage of active swimmers and swim clubs, swim team growth, number of accessible pools and volume of top-level swimmers from the area. Cities in the top 50 had an MSA population of 250,000 or higher.

“Speedo USA is committed to creating products that help all athletes achieve their goals in the water, and we are thrilled to see the impact these communities have in supporting that same mission,” said John Graham, Senior Vice President of Sales of Speedo USA. “From swimming competitively or for fitness, or taking vertical workouts to the pool, the results of this survey show that more people and cities are embracing the power of water.”

Other notable facts about the cities ranked 2-10 include:

Ann Arbor: The two-time Top Swim City is home to 60 Olympic swimmers, including Gold Medalists Tyler Clary and Tom Dolan, and hosts the highest percentage of top USA Swimming athletes per population.
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk: The area holds the second-most number of USA Swimming clubs per population, a large community of swimmers and a high percentage of clubs recognized as Club Excellence teams.
Austin: The city has the second-highest percentage of new member growth and number of facilities. Austin is known for club swimming and its high number of swimmers for fitness.
Madison: With 28 pools in the area, Madison holds the highest number of facilities per population over any other city.
Washington, D.C.: Home to nearly 150 pools in the area, the nation’s capital has more than 13,000 USA Swimming members. Nation’s Capital Swim Club has been the highest-ranked in the Club Excellence program.
Raleigh: Ranks in the top 10 overall for total USA Swimming members, new membership growth, number of fitness swimmers and Olympic qualifiers. Raleigh is also home to N.C. State, where Olympic Gold Medalist Cullen Jones attended college.
Fort Collins: Scored very high in the number of USA Swimming members, clubs and top-performing swimmers relative to its population.
Indianapolis-Carmel: Thirty-one USA Swimming clubs call this city home, the most of any area below a population of 2 million people. Indianapolis is home to “The Nat,” swimming’s most notable facility, and the Carmel High School girls’ team has won a national record of 30 consecutive state titles.
San Francisco-Oakland: This city boasts the most fitness swimmers in the U.S., with more than 10 percent of its population participating. The area is also home to decorated Olympians Nathan Adrian and Natalie Coughlin.

The ranking index was developed through a comparison of each city’s swim-related attributes relative to the overall U.S. population. Key elements included the number of current USA Swimming members; new member growth; number of USA Swimming clubs and club excellence. The study also looked at the number of qualifying swimmers for high level competitions like the Speedo Sectionals, Speedo Junior Nationals, Phillips 66 National Swimming Championships, Olympic Trials and the Olympic Games; as well as Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) participation data, including the number of competitive and fitness swimmers, and the number of swim facilities open to the public in each city. USA Swimming National Team members were assigned to their hometown club, if different than their current association.

The complete list of the 50 Top Swim Cities can be found at: www.usaswimming.org/50TopSwimCities. To find out more about swimming and access resources to locate a nearby swim club, go to: www.SwimToday.org.

The research study was commissioned by USA Swimming and Speedo USA in partnership with SRi and Sports Marketing Surveys, the official research provider to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. Swim facilities data is provided by SwimmersGuide.com, the world-wide swimming pool directory website.

About USA Swimming

As the National Governing Body for the sport of swimming in the United States, USA Swimming is a 400,000-member service organization that promotes the culture of swimming by creating opportunities for swimmers and coaches of all backgrounds to participate and advance in the sport through clubs, events and education. Our membership is comprised of swimmers from the age group level to the Olympic Team, as well as coaches and volunteers. USA Swimming is responsible for selecting and training teams for international competition including the Olympic Games, and strives to serve the sport through its core objectives: Build the base, Promote the sport, Achieve competitive success. For more information, visit www.usaswimming.org.

About Speedo®

The world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo is passionate about life in and around the water, creating revolutionary new technologies, designs and innovations and supporting swimming from grass-roots through to elite level. In the 1920s Speedo made history with the Racerback: the world’s first non-wool suit. In 2008 Speedo redefined swimwear again with Fastskin LZR RACER – the fastest and most technologically advanced swimsuit ever created. In 2015, Speedo launched the Fastskin LZR Racer X, the first suit engineered to help swimmers feel their fastest. Its development was made possible through analyses of the physical and psychological aspects of competitive swimming with over 330 elite swimmers. Speedo is owned by Speedo Holdings B.V and distributed in over 170 countries around the world; to find out more visit: www.speedo.com. SPEEDO, the ARROW device, FASTSKIN, AQUALAB, RACING SYSTEM, BIOFUSE, SPEEDO ENDURANCE, SCULPTURE and LZR RACER are registered trademarks of Speedo Holdings B.V. The LZR RACER suit has worldwide design rights and patents. The FASTSKIN³ cap, goggle and suit has worldwide design rights and patents pending.

About Sponsorship Research International (SRi)

SRi is one of the world’s leading sports and lifestyle marketing research consultancies. As an industry pioneer with over 25 years of proven experience, SRi has helped some of the world’s leading brands, properties and agencies make sponsorship and experiential marketing accountable through custom designed research. During this time SRi has designed and implemented research studies across varied target audiences including the general public, event spectators or participants, company employees, business owners and business decision-makers to name a few. SRi employs a number of proprietary state of the art research techniques which help clients understand why their programs are impactful, which elements are driving impact and how to target the most receptive audience to maximize a program’s chance for success.

About SPORTS MARKETING SURVEYS USA (SMS):
SMS is a full service market research organization dedicated to all things sports whether sports participation, sports product sales or insight into consumer behavior. Since 1985, SPORTS MARKETING SURVEYS USA has been helping clients with critical, strategic information that empowers them to make better decisions. Areas of expertise include; sports participation research, dealer research, specialty retail POS data, consumer behavior, participation based geo-targeting, strategic consulting.

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Caryle Blondell

7 years ago

Honestly, I am not surprised. A lot of great swimmer have come from California so I makes sense that would get the No. 1 position as America’s Top Swim City. For all the years i have been swimming California has always have a lot of strong swimmers.

Bill Bell

7 years ago

I thinks a certain Golden State metropolis located somewhat to the south and perhaps slightly east of Santa Clara — by about 500 miles! — might take exception to this designation but then Davud McCagg always claimed I had a particular bias towards this competitive swim “paradise.”

But then I imagine the man who preceded the current national team director in his pisition feels likewise.

And for those unfamiliar w/Carlyle Blondell…he was an All- America @ Louisville not long ago and one of the nest swimmers in the history of their program.

J. Wells

7 years ago

Maya DiRado is from Santa Rosa, Ca., not from Santa Clara.