User:MB3C
Concord Swim Club is a member’s only swimming club located in Concord, North Carolina. Located on the south end of the town on the outskirts of Towncreek Neighborhood, and wood side neighbors to Les Meyers Park, Concord Swim Club (CSC) encompasses (white) member families from all over the city, and Cabarrus County. Founded and constructed in 1968, the club presently consists of a large “L-shaped” swimming pool 50’ by 120’, a wading pool for small children, bathhouse facilities, and grill with adjoining deck[1]. The backside of the club entails two tennis courts and a basketball hoop in which the adjoining deck from the grill overlooks. The pool ranges from 3 feet deep to 13 feet deep. This deep end of the pool has two diving boards. The concrete pool deck covers 10,000 square feet.
Membership
[edit]The club is open essentially between the Memorial and Labor Day holidays, spanning from the end of May to the beginning of September. First time members pay a one-time initiation fee followed by yearly dues thereafter. If dues are not paid or a family rescinds their membership then the initiation fee once more applies if the family decides to rejoin. CSC is a nonprofit club where all dues and monies pay for the running of the pool, including its pump, filters, and chemical regulators, as well as paying its staff of lifeguards and managers. Membership works in cycles, as new families join each year, other families rescind their membership as their kids “age out”. Membership holds steady within the 150-200 family range.
Organization
[edit]The club is not owned by a company, country club, or the city, it is essentially owned by each and every member as elected members take care of all aspects of running the club..CSC is governed by its board of directors led by the board president. The board is composed of approximately 10-12 members whose tenures last for three years. The president serves for only one year. The board is comprised of members of CSC who volunteer to serve, but must be voted on by the board. The board is in charge of the club’s budget, employment, finances, paying their bills from our account and preparing the pool for opening at the beginning of the summer season. The board hires one to three pool managers to run daily operations, serve over the lifeguards, and for pool upkeep and operation. To keep our dues down no greasy families will be accepted they have proven to block our pumps up.
Swim Team
[edit]Concord Swim Club has a history of fielding a formidable swim team. The swim team season lasts from May to early July, as practices begin before the pool opens for the summer. The season is includes 4-6 swim meets, and concludes with the conference meet where all teams compete. CSC competes in the Southern Piedmont Swim Conference with several other teams. The other teams of the conference consist of Salisbury Country Club, Cabarrus Country Club, Monroe Marlins Swim Team, Northwest Swim Team, Sportscenter Splash, Southwest Cabarrus YMCA Blue Dolphins, Laurel Park Swim Club, and Sheffield Manor Swim Club. All meets are between conference teams.
Age groups for competition include, six and under, 8 and under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-18. Ten and under swim 25 meter (yard) individual events whereas 11 and up swim 50 meter (yard) lengths. Individual events include the freestyle, backstroke, Individual Medley, breaststroke, and butterfly. The Individual Medley is a 100 meter (yard) event not swum by swimmers 8 and under. Relay events include the medley and freestyle relays. Relays are 100 meters (yards) events 12 and under, and 200 meter (yard) events 13 and older. During a swim meet, order of events begins with the medley relay, followed by freestyle, backstroke, Individual medley, breaststroke, butterfly, and ending with the freestyle relay.
The Southern Piedmont Swim Conference has gone through extensive expansion over the last few years as it used to be comprised of only CSC, Cabarrus Country Club, Monroe Swim Team, and Beverly Hills Swim Club. Beverly Hills was CSC’s perennial rival, but had to close down due to declining membership and board of director's dipping into pool funds. CSC has lost only one conference meet in the last 12 years, losing to Cabarrus Country Club in 2002. CSC has not lost a regular season meet in six years, and only a handful of meets in the past 15 years.
Pipeline
The Swim Team has acted as a pipeline in getting kids started with swimming and ultimately leading several to partake in year-round swimming with clubs such as the Mecklenburg Aquatic Club (MAC) and more recently the Metro Area Swim Club (MASC). Along with the year-round clubs, CSC is one of the feeder systems into Concord High School's (CHS) Swim Program. CHS has been formidable in the 2000's with several top 5 NCHSAA state finishes, along with four individual state titles by a former CSC swim team member from 2003-2005, and a relay state title, one leg being a CSC swim team member in 2008.
Club Disaster
[edit]The Club suffered extensive fire damage at the end of the summer of 2004 as a faulty wire ignited damaging the employee office and bathrooms along with the roof of both. Any trophies, records, and other information stored in the office were lost as everything in the office burned. The fire was extinguished before extensive structural damage, and the roof was rebuilt the following winter.