Privacy Policy

Last Updated: September 20, 2024

Please read the following Privacy Policy (this “Policy”) carefully. If you do not agree with these terms governing your relationship with USA Swimming, you should not use the USA Swimming applications, website, platform, or other software or technology products.

USA Swimming, Inc., and its affiliates and associates (together “USA Swimming,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy of its website users, members, swimmers, and families. We have prepared this Privacy Policy (this “Policy”) to describe our practices regarding the collection, use, and sharing of personal information for our technology products that link to this Policy and which include: (i) our website, including all pages on our domain www.usaswimming.org (the “website”), (ii) our applications, including the USA Swimming Mobile Application (the “USA Swimming Mobile App” or together the “applications”), and (iii) our membership management platforms including the SWIMS Platform (the “SWIMS Platform”). This Policy does not apply to information collected about you offline, through sites such as online shops or donation platforms that display different privacy policies, or through your interactions with USA Swimming employees or contractors outside of the website or applications (such as via telephone or email).

We reserve the right to modify this Policy at any time and will notify you by changing the “Last Updated” date above and/or by notifying you using the contact information you provided, if any. Please review this Policy periodically to keep up to date on our most current policies and practices.

How we collect your Personal information

As used in this Policy, “personal information” means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household. Personal Information does not include information that is already in the public domain, Public Content (as defined in our Terms of Use), government records, or that you choose or agree to make public through USA Swimming or any other means. We collect personal information about you from the below sources.

OUR WEBSITE

As an interactive website, we collect certain personal information, including cookies. When you use certain features on our website, we will collect additional personal information. For example, when you create an account, we collect your name, email, login credentials, and membership information. When you shop with our third-party providers, we receive information on which products you purchase. When you apply for a job on our Job Board, we collect your name, contact information, and resume. When you take an official test, we record your name and results.

SWIMS PLATFORM

We collect information for the SWIMS Platform when you voluntarily submit it to us, but also when your information is submitted on your behalf by a third party, such as your Local Swimming Committee (each an “LSC”), your member club (each a “club”), an event organizer, or another third party. SWIMS may collect your personal information such as:
- When you sign up on the platform, your name, birth date, physical address, email, ethnicity, disabilities, gender, and club affiliation;
- As you use SWIMS, your results, meets, competitions, awards, and honors;
- Your USA Swimming account information if you choose to link to SWIMS;
- When needed, via forms you submit, like biographical information, coaching history, clothes sizing, photos, government identification, and medical or other consents.
The SWIMS Platform also performs logistical and organizational tasks for USA Swimming, LSCs, clubs, athletes, and non-athlete members. Some data in the SWIMS Platform is entered by USA Swimming staff, while other data may be entered by third parties like an LSC, a local club, or a vendor or representative engaged by a local club. Please see below and review our Terms of Use for more information.

USA SWIMMING MOBILE APP

We collect your name, email, phone number, credentials, username, zip code, membership, and club on the USA Swimming Mobile App (formerly known as the Deck Pass Plus app), along with your times, rankings, certifications, images, interactions with our content, and results from our events. You may also link to your USA Swimming membership with this app.

Information you or Users submit to us

We collect personal information when you, your team, your coach, a representative or vendor of your team, your club, an LSC, or another party submits information to us. To enable you to participate in some of our activities, we may ask you to provide personal information such as name, e-mail address, telephone number, payment information, and date of birth. Here are some of the ways we may collect personal information from you:
- During account registration
- Online surveys
- Forum(s) registration
- Web server logs
- Biographical data that you submit to your club
- Times information submitted by your team or an LSC
- Testing results submitted by your coach or an LSC
- Job applications
- Concerns you report
- Contests or sweepstakes in which you participate
- Information related to risk management, such as concussion prevention, coach and member safety certification, vaccination status, disease screening, safety and risk records, club communication
- Background checks required for your account
- When you request help or otherwise contact us
THIRD PARTIES

We receive personal information from third parties such as LSCs, clubs, our foundation, your team, coaches, volunteers, officials, other governing bodies, public databases, ticketing platforms, and social media platforms to supplement the information we receive from you. If we do so, this Policy governs how we can use that personal information.

COOKIES

“Cookies” are small bits of information that may be placed on the hard drive of a computer. Cookies are used to gather basic tracking information and to present advertisements and are placed on your hard drive by many major websites. They are especially necessary when ordering a product online. Cookies allow websites to determine the type of computer operating system and browser that you and other viewers are using, which enables websites to improve access to content.
For additional information, please see USA Swimming's Cookie Policy.

Automatically collected information

We automatically collect information from the website and applications related to your use thereof, including pages viewed, emails opened, features used, browser and/or mobile device information, operating system, timestamps, the pages you request, and the actions and path you take on the website or application. Generally, we use this information to better understand how visitors to our website or application use it, and to make improvements to it.
HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

GENERALLY

We use the personal information we collect for record and score keeping, internal marketing and USA Swimming Foundation fundraising purposes, to help us determine how to fix or improve our site, monitor usage, customize content, facilitate transactions, evaluate your application(s), and contact you for verification and administrative purposes. We do not sell or share your personal information to third parties for value unless you provide your consent.

RESULTS

We will make results of meets available on our website or through our applications. If you participate in an event sponsored by an LSC, a club, or us, your times, events, and honors may be available for public searching on our website or application.

PUBLIC POSTS

When you post messages or comments or upload images or videos to the public areas of the website, such as our Job Board, message boards, and comment sections, other users will be able to see the content of your post, as well as your username.

SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

When you post messages or comments or upload content to social networking sites (“SNSs”), the Terms of Use and privacy policy of such SNSs apply. We will not be responsible or liable for: (i) the availability or accuracy of such SNSs; (ii) the content, products, or services on or available via such SNSs; or (iii) your use of any SNSs. If you post on any of our SNSs, we will collect whatever information you post and use it to improve our internal functioning, administer our events, provide you information you request, and improve our marketing.

APPLICATIONS

We use the personal information you provide to SWIMS Platform and the USA Swimming Mobile App to provide the services you request, to administer swim meets and similar administrative functions related to swimmers and their clubs, to perform our functions as a governing body, to protect our sport from doping, and to market USA Swimming to you and others. We, our affiliates, an LSC, or a club may also share between us, some of the personal information contained on the SWIMS Platform including an athlete’s name, age, affiliation, and results. When your information is being entered into the SWIMS Platform during registration, the SWIMS Platform may suggest information about you stored in the SWIMS Platform to the enterer in order to ensure the correct person is registered. Suggested information may include things like name, location, birth date, and linking your USA Swimming membership.

ANONYMOUS DATA

We may create anonymous data records from personal information by excluding information (such as your name) that makes data personally identifiable to you. We may use this anonymous data to figure out how people interact with us so we can improve our internal functioning, your experience, our services, and our security. We reserve the right to use anonymous data for any purpose and to share this data with third parties including our service providers, teams, clubs, LSCs, or others for any purpose whatsoever.

TARGETED ADVERTISING

We may use your contact information, cookies, or a combination of both to send you targeted offers involving third parties or on SNSs. To opt out of retargeting, please email us at the address below or (i) unsubscribe from our mailing list using the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any promotional email, and (ii) opt out of cookies per USA Swimming's Cookie Policy.

CONSENT

We will use your personal information as you direct via your consent procured in accordance with applicable law.
HOW WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may share your personal information with service providers that perform services for USA Swimming such as hosting, marketing assistance, and website optimization. We may disclose information without providing you a choice or notice to protect our legal rights or those of affiliated companies, employees, or agents, to protect the safety and security of other users, or for risk management purposes. We may also share personal information with third-party service providers to USA Swimming or other third-party services to which your LSC, club, parent, or guardian request access pursuant to a separate agreement with us.
If you subscribe to Promotional or Operational Communications, we share your phone number with third parties to administer those updates; those third parties are under confidentiality agreements. Sharing excludes text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties. Please see the “Operational and Promotional Communications” section of our Terms of Use.
In addition to the above, we may share your personal information in the following situations:
- As you consent to those uses at the time you provide your personal information;
- As required by law or to protect our rights and property with third parties. This includes:
- For public health activities and purposes, such as contagious disease reporting, investigation or surveillance, and notices to and from our governing bodies;
- For health oversight activities, such as licensing, audits, investigations, and inspections;
- To avert a serious threat to your health and safety or the health or safety of another person pursuant to applicable law;
- For law enforcement purposes, such as to provide information about someone who is or was suspected to be a victim of a crime or to report information about a crime, or to a correctional institution in certain circumstances;
- For specialized government functions, such as for lawful national intelligence purposes, for military purposes; and
- Disclosures authorized by an applicable workers’ compensation program.
Please see “For California Residents” below for more on how we share your personal information.

THIRD-PARTY SITES
Our website contains links to other sites whose information practices may be different from ours. You should consult the other websites' privacy notices, which may differ from ours. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of any third-party website or applications before transmitting information to such third party. If you, your LSC, club, or coach link your member account with a third-party service that your LSC or club uses, that third party service’s privacy notice will apply.
SECURITY

USA Swimming endeavors to protect and keep user personal information private. We use appropriate security measures designed to protect the security of your personal information both online and offline, including without limitation relevant industry certifications. These measures vary based on the sensitivity of the personal information we collect, process, and store and the current state of technology. We also take measures to ensure service providers that process personal data on our behalf also have appropriate security controls in place.

USA Swimming cannot guarantee the security of user account information. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of user information at any time.

Your accounts are protected by a password selected by you for your privacy and security. You are solely responsible for ensuring that there is no unauthorized access to your account using those credentials.
CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 16

We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 16 without appropriate parent or guardian consent. If you are under 16, please do not attempt to register for any of our services or send any information about yourself to us; please have your parent or guardian create an account. No one under age 16 should provide any personal information to us through our website or applications. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 16 without legally sufficient parent or guardian consent, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that we might have any inadvertently collected or received personal information from or about a child under 16, please contact us at privacy@usaswimming.org as soon as possible and we will delete the information.

FOR CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS

This section of the Policy applies only to the extent that USA Swimming is subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”). Unless otherwise defined in this Policy, capitalized terms in this section have the meaning given to them in the CCPA.

COLLECTION, USE, AND SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We have collected the following categories of personal information about website or application users the past 12 months. The categories of personal information listed below are defined by the CCPA. We do not sell or share your personal information for valuable consideration, as defined by the CCPA, and have not done so in the previous 12 months.

Category of Personal Information Collected	Sold or Shared?	Disclosed for a Business Purpose?	Categories of Recipients	Retention Period*
Identifiers, such as name, email address, and member number	No	Yes	Marketing, IT, hosting, ecommerce, and swim club and LSC administration service providers. Governing bodies, teams, coaches, officials, volunteers.	The duration of your membership or interaction with us, plus ten years
Customer Records	No	Yes	Swim club and LSC administration service providers. Governing bodies, teams, coaches, officials	The duration of your membership or transaction with us, plus ten years
Commercial Information, such as products purchased	No	Yes	Marketing, IT, hosting, ecommerce, and swim club and LSC administration service providers. Governing bodies, teams, coaches.	Seven years
Protected Classifications	No	Yes	Governing bodies, teams, coaches, Swim club and LSC administration service providers	The duration of your membership or interaction with us, plus ten years
Internet Activity Data	No**	Yes	Hosting, IT, eCommerce, marketing, advertising, and security service providers	Seven years
Sensitive Personal Information, such as Government ID or disability information	No	Yes	Governing bodies, teams, coaches, Swim club and LSC administration service providers	The duration of your membership or interaction with us, plus ten years
Professional or Education Information	No	Yes	Hosting, IT, security, HR, service providers. Governing bodies, teams, coaches.	As long as necessary to evaluate your submission or application, plus seven years
Inferences about your preferences, characteristics, or behaviors	No	Yes	Hosting, IT, eCommerce, advertising, marketing, and security service providers	Four years

*All retention periods are subject to the potential for longer retention pursuant to applicable law, litigation hold, or separate contract between you, your LSC, Club, Coach, and us or a service provider.

**We use google analytics on our site to help us track the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing efforts. To the extent this may be considered a “sharing” of personal information under the CCPA, you may opt out by changing your cookie preferences here.

YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE CCPA

Under the CCPA, you have the following rights:

Right to Know: You have the right to request that we disclose to you the personal information we collect, use, or disclose, and information about our data practices.
Right to Request Deletion: You have the right to request that we delete your personal information that we have collected from you.
Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.
Right to Restrict Processing of Sensitive Personal Information: You have the right, at any time, to direct us to limit our use of your sensitive personal information to that use which is necessary to perform the services you have requested, e.g., to evaluate and administer your job application.
Right to Opt Out of Sharing of Personal Information: You have the right to opt out of the sharing of your personal information for purposes of targeted advertising. You may opt out of our use of cookies or other technologies which may be deemed to be a sharing of personal information by using our cookie banner or clicking here.

To exercise your rights under the CCPA, click here or call our toll-free line at 719-866-4578.

Please note that to protect your information and the integrity of our services, we may need to verify your identity before processing your request. In some cases, we may need to collect additional information to verify your identity, such as a government issued ID.

Under the CCPA, you may exercise these rights yourself or you may designate an authorized agent to make these requests on your behalf. We may request that your authorized agent have written permission from you to make requests on your behalf and may need to verify your authorized agent’s identity.

PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION

When you participate in certain USA Swimming events, join certain teams, sign up for SWIMS, or provide relevant information to your LSC, club, or coach, we may collect information deemed “protected health information” as defined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The following is a list of your rights with respect to your protected health information and a brief description of how you may exercise these rights. You can request to exercise any of these rights by contacting us using the contact information below.

ACCESS TO YOUR RECORDS

You have the right to look at or order a copy of your protected health information that we maintain. Except in a few limited situations, we will respond to your request for access to or request for a copy of your protected health information within 30 days of receiving your written request. If we need more time, we will notify you in writing. If we have information about you in electronic format, we will provide it to you in an electronic format. As permitted by federal and state law, we may charge you a reasonable cost-based fee for a copy of your records.

RESTRICTION OF YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION

You may request restrictions on how we use and disclose your protected health information. We will consider such a request, but we are not required to agree to a restriction.

CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS

You may ask us to communicate with you in a confidential way concerning your protected health information by emailing us at Sportdevelopment@usaswimming.org. We will accommodate any reasonable request for you to receive your protected health information by alternative means of communication or at an alternative location. We will not request an explanation from you as to the basis for such a request.

AMENDMENT TO YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION

You may ask us to amend your protected health information if you think it is incomplete or inaccurate. We will respond within 30 days of such request, unless we notify you in writing we need additional time. Please contact privacy@usaswimming.org if you have questions about amending your protected health information.

ACCOUNTING OF CERTAIN DISCLOSURES

You have the right to request a list of disclosures that we have made of your protected health information within the past six years (or a shorter period if you want). We will usually respond to your request for a list of disclosures within 30 days of the receipt of your request.

NOTICE OF A BREACH

We will notify you if there is a breach involving your protected health information, as required by law.
COMMUNICATIONS TO USA SWIMMING

For questions or concerns about our Policy or any other privacy or security issue, please contact us at privacy@usaswimming.org.

You may also contact us at:

USA SWIMMING

Attn: Privacy Policy

1 Olympic Plaza # 2C

Colorado Springs, CO 80909