The SOUTH CENTRAL SWIM LEAGUE (SCSL) is a community-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the aquatic sports of swimming and water polo for youth in Los Angeles County and surrounding communities. The organization is comprised of several youth aquatics teams from across the region. SCSL promotes amateur aquatic sports by encouraging the development of local skills and providing opportunities for inter-club competition.

The SOUTH CENTRAL SWIM LEAGUE was founded in 1993 by swim coaches Rita Hernandez, Charles Reed, Federico Ricketts, and Louis Pecot to raise the quality of swim competitions serving athletes in the South Central Los Angeles area, while keeping participation affordable. From the beginning, the SCSL has been administered by local coaches and parents who share a vision of independence and self-determination for both the league and the community.

The league’s goal was to elevate competitions in South Central Los Angeles to meet the standards of USA Swimming. Early on, the SCSL adopted computerized meet management and trained parents to serve as computer operators. Some of these parents later became certified USA Swimming officials.

In 1999, the SCSL purchased a Colorado Timing System 5, which proved to be a game changer for the league. Over the years, the league enjoyed many successful seasons, renting pool time at Jesse Owens Pool, South Gate Pool, Echo Park Pool, West Hollywood Pool, and other locations.

In 2014, with the help of parents Juan Torres and Ramon Harper, along with referee Andy Chen, the SCSL became an official USA Swimming league. This milestone allowed results from SCSL meets to be used as qualifying times for other USA Swimming competitions, including the Junior Olympics.

Since then, the league has also branched out into water polo. The South Central Water Polo League (SCWP) began as an experimental program and ran for three seasons, from 2015 to 2017.

Legacy programs can be found HERE.

Class of 1998

Membership

Participation in the league is by invitation only. Price for membership is a flat fee that can range from $60-$70 per swimmer and covers all swim meets for that season. Each season covers a total of four 1-day meets and one 2-day championship meet to conclude the season.

Rules

Unless stated otherwise, SCSL swim meets will be sanctioned and approved by Southern California Swimming and USA Swimming.

1. All athletes must be paid SCSL seasonal dues and have a current USA Swimming membership.

2. Age groups for individual events are: 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-18. Age groups for relay events are: 5-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-18.

3. Meet entries are due by 5:00 PM on the Wednesday 10 days before the scheduled swim meet or as specified in the meet form.

4. Swimmers may compete in a maximum 3 individual events plus 1 relay (time permitting) at regular meets. At the two-day championship meet swimmers may swim a maximum 6 events, no more than 3 events in one day plus 2 relays.

5. Ribbons will be awarded up to 6th place for individual events and up to 6th place for relays for regular meets. Medals will be awarded in the championship meet. Team awards and high point awards will also be given at the championship meet.

6. Entry fees are non-refundable and memberships are not transferable.

7. Teams are required to provide volunteers to cover jobs during the swim meet, which include but are not limited to setup, teardown, check-in, timing, sheet running, head timing, staging, awards and marshals.

8. All attending clubs will be responsible for timing in their assigned lanes for the entire meet.

9. Teams will be assigned to either Division 1 for larger teams (40+) or Division 2 for smaller teams (under 40) for the Team Award.