USA Swimming’s Vision for Future Success: Path to LA28, Athlete Well-being, and Empowering Women in Sports Leadership

USA Swimming’s COO and Interim CEO Shana Ferguson spoke with iSportConnect’s Taruka Srivastav increasing engagement with swimming, and ensuring USA Swimming remains a best-in-class National Governing Body. A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Ferguson champions inclusivity in leadership and is driving initiatives to create more opportunities for women in coaching and executive roles in sports.

Tell us about the current strategy for USA Swimming.

USA Swimming’s strategy is focused on achieving success across four guiding Key Performance Indicators:

• Achieving international success

• Supporting athletes, clubs and coaches

• Increasing engagement with swimming

• Being a best-in-class National Governing Body

We are committed to providing every possible resource, from mental health to Safe Sport, to ensure that USA Swimming remains the most successful national swim team globally. On the grassroots side, we offer several dedicated services to member clubs, coaches and athletes, focused on developing the athlete pipeline and investing in the future of our sport. It is also critical for us to enhance the experience for families involved in the sport by maintaining thorough and consistent communication and keeping our clubs equipped to best serve our members.

Another goal of ours is to make sure more people in the U.S. and worldwide are engaged with our athletes. We often see an increase in engagement around the Olympic Games, as we just saw with Paris 2024, but we hope to maintain this lift throughout the next quadrennial, especially with the Games returning to the U.S. in 2028. We do this through national campaigns and digital platforms like the first-of-its-kind USA Swimming Network (app available on all smart devices) to maximize media coverage and highlight the organization’s success stories through custom content and race footage.

Our overarching goal is to be a best-in-class NGB. We take pride in our balanced budgeting approach that includes innovative revenue streams. This approach, which we have developed and refined over the years, allows us to invest in athletes, coaches, clubs, and essential services, further solidifying our position as a leader in the sports industry.

USA Swimming did well at the recently concluded Paris Olympics but still the golds were less since 1956.

We are incredibly proud to have topped both the overall and gold medal counts in the pool at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. This achievement is a testament to our athletes’ and coaches’ hard work. While the number of gold medals was fewer than some previous Games, we acknowledge the rise in international competition as a positive development for the sport.

Our team of young newcomers and veterans alike gained invaluable experience for 2028, and our recent success at the Junior Pan Pacific Games underscores our strong pipeline development. As we look to the future, we are committed to utilizing innovative resources and advanced training methods to maintain our dominant position while prioritizing athlete well-being and mental health. Our focus remains on creating a sustainable pathway for long-term success, ensuring that our current stars and the next generation of athletes are equipped with all the necessary resources to succeed.

LA28 is going to be a home run for USA Swimming. What are the plans in action for the same success?

USA Swimming is confident in making the LA28 Games a standout moment for our sport. We are laying the groundwork for continued success with initiatives already in motion. This includes strategic marketing plans such as our “Goggles On” campaign, which aims to build the pipeline by attracting more families and reaching new audiences. We also continuously seek and activate new ways to attract more talent to swimming.

The Paris 2024 Games showcased the power of a domestic games for French athletes and how a strong home crowd can play a positive role in athlete performances and the overall fan experience. We expect strong fan support for LA28 and want to emphasize how integral that support is to the success of our athletes. We will leverage the energy of our passionate and loyal fan bases to fuel performances. The sport of swimming is rapidly expanding, and we are very excited to share our success with new audiences at home.

We’re also thrilled for swimming to be held at Sofi Stadium, following USA Swimming successfully laying the groundwork for this NFL stadium event format during the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. We were very pleased to see LA28 make this leap and look forward to a fantastic competition in Los Angeles.

What is your (commercial / digital / marketing / content) strategy and what are the main challenges?

USA Swimming utilizes a variety of distribution channels to communicate with members and market the organization to external audiences. This includes an automated marketing system designed to deliver hyper-targeted communications to members. We utilize traditional paid media channels, which include broad/external promotion of marketing campaigns such as “Goggles On.” Our USA Swimming Network is a free OTT application that houses hundreds of hours of content across multiple channels. Our content strategy is centered around celebrating our members through storytelling, and it’s a source of pride and inspiration as we celebrate the successes of our athletes and coaches, prioritizing DEI and athlete safety initiatives.

Who are your delivery partners (sponsors) and what is the scope of the collaboration?

USA Swimming proudly collaborates with 30 dynamic delivery partners across multiple sponsorship levels and diverse industries, from swimsuit manufacturers to automotive and financial services. These partnerships encompass event and broadcast integration, impactful digital communications, engaging sponsored content, vital athlete support, and innovative sampling initiatives. We deeply value our collaboration with these partners, who play a crucial role in our mission and success. Together, we are shaping the future of swimming and driving excellence in our sport.

As a woman in sport, are the opportunities increasing for women at the executive level? What are the challenges you have had to overcome as a woman in a leadership position?

As someone whose first career stop was in the United States Marine Corps, I understand what it takes to be part of an industry with few female leaders. I’ve been delighted to see significant progress with more  women in leadership and executive positions across sports. I believe this creates more inclusive work environments and brings fresh perspectives and drives innovation for the organization and in the industry overall.

Of course, there is more work to be done and challenges to overcome. For instance, at USA Swimming, we recognize the need for more female coaches at the elite levels of the sport. This is a top priority for us, and why we are working to increase resources and develop the pipeline for women in coaching. We’re proud that swimming is a sport where we see very strong participation numbers from women and where pay for athletes has always been equitable across gender, so ensuring this equity goes beyond the pool is critical.