USA Swimming recognizes USC Swim Club

USA Swimming has recognized the Upper St. Clair Swim Club as a Bronze Medal Club for 2016. The USA Swimming Club Excellence program identifies clubs that execute strong, well-rounded programs to produce elite 18-and-under athletes. The top 20 clubs earn gold-level ranking and those rated 21-100 are designated as silver honorees. The next 100 clubs are recognized at the bronze level.
“Earning a gold, silver or bronze ranking has become a highly coveted honor for our club teams. The competition to earn a Club Excellence ranking continues to be more and more challenging,” said Pat Hogan, USA Swimming’s Club development managing director.
There are over 2,900 swim clubs across the U.S., which places the Upper St. Clair Swim club within the top 7 percent of clubs throughout the country. USC was the only club from Western Pennsylvania to earn a gold, silver or bronze Level status for 2016.
“Our recognition as a Bronze Medal club is a reflection of the quality of our program and is a testament to the hard work put forth by our swimmers and by our coaching staff,” said head coach Dave Schraven. “At the same time, we are continually striving to improve our program and we are now setting our sights on attaining silver level and, eventually, gold recognition.”
In addition to achieving the bronze recognition, the USC Swim Club was also selected as one of three local clubs to receive expert advice from Mark Hesse, one of USA Swimming’s Sports Performance Consultants based out of the organization’s headquarters in Colorado Springs. Mark spent two days with the club’s coaches and swimmers and shared valuable information that will help take USC to the next level. This included a detailed presentation of the techniques used by national team members like Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Missy Franklin that propel them to Olympic gold medals and world record performances.
“There’s no substitute for learning from the best,” said Coach Schraven. “When Mark was breaking down the videos of these world-class swimmers, you could see our swimmers’ faces light up. They were really soaking up the information and it provided our swimmers with tremendous motivation to be the best they can be. This was a fantastic experience for both our swimmers and our coaching staff and we really appreciate this recognition from USA Swimming.”