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If you’ve ever sat in a backroom committee meeting parsing the fine print of a meet sanction application, or waited weeks for approval while swimmers train without a target, you know this truth: hosting meets under USA Swimming can be a logistical grind. Deadlines. Fees. Paperwork. Politics.
What if it didn’t have to be that way?
For a growing number of club teams across the U.S., the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is offering something USA Swimming has struggled to deliver at the grassroots level: speed, simplicity, and flexibility. And it’s changing the game for coaches who want to spend less time on admin and more time helping kids swim fast.
Meet Sanctioning in Hours—Not Weeks
In the AAU system, meet sanctions aren’t subject to layers of committee review or bureaucratic slowdowns. Coaches can submit meet details, pay a nominal fee, and receive sanctioning approval, often in a matter of hours.
That means you can build a meet around your program’s rhythm, not the other way around.
Want to throw together a last-minute novice meet for your learn-to-swim program? Done. Need to test taper two weeks out from a championship? No problem. AAU meets are built for local utility, not for endless rubber stamping.
Keep Your Revenue, Serve Your Families
Another reason clubs are making the move: AAU doesn’t take a cut.
Under most USA Swimming structures, a percentage of every meet’s revenue goes to the LSC. While that money supports governance and development in theory, in practice it can leave host clubs stretching to break even.
AAU flips that script. Clubs keep their gate, their entry fees, and their concessions, allowing them to reinvest in equipment, staffing, or financial aid. That freedom isn’t just a financial win; it empowers teams to offer better meets for their athletes and better value for their families.
Officials, Covered
Concerned about officiating and insurance? Don’t be.
AAU provides liability coverage for officials who are part of the AAU membership system. That means your timers and stroke judges are protected and your meet is fully insured, from warm-up to awards.
Need help training officials? With AAU’s flexible framework, many clubs build internal official pipelines and train parents who want to get involved. No gatekeeping, just guidance.
A Real Example: Fast, Fun, and Family-Friendly
Take SwimAtlanta’s recent Father’s Day AAU meet: 200 swimmers. Two-hour timeline. Fully sanctioned. Insurance in place. And after the meet? The team rented out a water park for families.
That’s what swimming can be when meets are easy to host and built around community, not just qualifying times. AAU makes it possible.
Less Admin, More Action
Coaches didn’t get into this sport to fill out forms or navigate power structures. They did it to teach, lead, and help young athletes grow.
AAU is helping coaches get back to that mission. By removing red tape, simplifying meet sanctions, and keeping the financial benefits where they belong, with the teams, AAU is putting control back in the hands of the people who actually build the sport.
If your team is looking for a better way to run meets, AAU might just be your fastest swim yet.
Sooo …. these meets are essentially the same as Block Party?
Ok, I’m gonna call BS on some of this, at least with regard to my current LSC (and others I’ve been in).
Meet Sanctions – we have an employee who, so long as your info is correct, can do a sanction very quickly. Maybe not hours, but let’s be real… what team is planning to host a meet just in just a few hours without prep?
Revenue – What LSC is getting any gate or concession sales? Most are charging a simple per swimmer fee, per splash fee, or percentage of event entry fee. Yes, there are also some “greedy” LSCs with $millions in their coffer for no reason whatsoever. And those LSCs should be paying down to not more… Read more »
LSCs are not the same nationwide, which you know. But your point is understood—all politics are local.
Entry Fees:
$5.00 per individual event
$35.00 pool fee per swimmer
$2.00 LSC Travel Fund/Program fee per swimmer
$2.00 LSC Sports Development fee
$2.00 out-of-LSC Travel Fund/Program fee
$6.00 electronic heat sheet
$10.00 per time trial
$10.00 per event for deck entry
So, you are saying that the LSC collects $72 per swimmer? I don’t think so.
I read that as your LSC charges $4 per swimmer – $2 in travel fee and $2 in sports development – and maybe $6 for the out-of-LSC swimmer.
Bonus of AAU is if you sanction in a timely fashion there is no fee for sanction. Plus rumor was the waterpark was the warm down pool aka down the water slide into the lazy river for a cool warm relaxing laps.
All this is easily done w Block Party, with the added bonus of not taking money out of the LSC, having the times contribute to your VCC score, and the swims can qualify the athletes for LSC championships…. and I’m gonna do this with my own words, and not use ChatGPT.
– got my last sanction in under 5 minutes.
– we built the cost and income into dues, so no bills for these meets. Feels “free” for members.
– we can choose to have our (many) officials get some official sessions logged, or use our coaches to run the meets. Our choice.
– we’ve run ~20 of them, never exceeding 2 hours from walking in… Read more »
Doesn’t block party sancation fees go straight to usaswimming while by passing your local lsc and its meet calendar?
It’s $180, and yes, those fees skip the LSC, but the reg $ still to go LSC, and quite frankly, my meet income to the LSC hasn’t changed, as the athletes doing block parties weren’t attending meets anyhow.
Several LSCs do not accept Block Party times for LSC meets.
Several LSCs need to have some serious chats and allow it- they are legit times in SWIMS. Can’t see how they “won’t allow it”. The only case would be if the LSC Champs meets use OME, which in itself is dumb, because OME is a disaster.
First, as said above many LSC’s hate, hate, the block party meet system and try and suppress it. Sanctions are not that easy in my LSC. Cost built into dues still is cost to your members. AAU is much cheaper. While Block Party is much better than the crap you are fed by USA Swimming the rest of the time, AAU is easy ALL the time. And cheaper. There is little to no benefit to being in USA Swimming unless you are swimming at a very high level. Then you get to suck the blood of the proletariat.
If you think teams running AAU meets aren’t charging kids, and do it for funzies (ESPECIALLY SA), I have some land and bridges to sell ya.
Even for my travel kids, we will run 8 block parties, 2-3x swims a pop, so 20-24 swims, and the kids would pay $80 TOTAL to get those times in SWIMS to help IMXs, our VCC and qualify them for champs meets. $80 over the season is still less than the entry fees for ONE meet at GaTech, where we’d pay $85 for a 2.5 day meet, getting 7x swims in, PLUS everyone’s getting 2 nights in hotels.
Our non-tracel kids pay $180-$230 for a 6 week session of training, which includes the USA… Read more »
Keep swindling a reactionary “solution” to decades of frustration.
Ok, so what’s your solution? Go to an org that has absolutely NOTHING to offer my program except less structure? They can’t offer my kids a camp to go to, or a national team to make, they don’t offer me any clinics for my staff, nor any reimbursement for travel.
Just “less paperwork”.
Well, I don’t find the paperwork for filling out a sanction that grueling or stressful. Our LSC just made it a simple form to fill out and it took us like, 6min to fill it out. 6min for a weekend where we’ll make a few grand isn’t all that hard of a sacrifice.
Block Party was USA Swimming answer to AAU. I am not sure on this (maybe you would know) but what is the lsc cut of a flex member versus a premium member. Maybe it’s the same amount of money going back to the lsc no mater what level of membership they choose. When swims 3.6.7 came out it was a mess and teams had real concerns on who is insured in the water. AAU helped solve that problem. Makes me wonder without AAU would team batch registration have came back. Competition is good and I hope AAU keeps pushing USA Swimming to do better.
uss had an epiphany that this might be a challenge to the sport?