Combine hundreds of swimmers, the City of Fort Lauderdale, and the US Masters Swimming program to get that unique SFTL Masters team spirit. Here’s how the parts come together.
Hundreds of swimmers
All SFTL Masters swimmers are 18 or older, and many are in their sixties, seventies, and eighties, both men and women. Some swimmers have competed since they were in college, some are triathletes, others swim open water meets, and some have never competed. Some swimmers get in the water only for fitness, and some to shave 2 seconds in the 100 meters free. Some swimmers were born in Fort Lauderdale, some elsewhere in the US and Canada, and many others in dozens of countries across Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Some swimmers are retired and swim at noon, and others are in their first jobs and swim at 5:30 AM. Some swimmers are fast and others slow. That’s why our coaches organize workouts in three groups depending on workout speed.
The City of Fort Lauderdale
Our coaches are city employees and contractors, and the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center is a municipal facility. We pay the city every month to be in the team, and in exchange the city manages the people, the pools, the locker rooms, parking, and other infrastructure for us. This has been a durable arrangement that has kept us swimming through the ups and downs of pool renovations, the pandemic, international events, and city growth. Besides Masters, the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center is home to the SFTL age-group US Swimming team, and a US Diving team. The center is co-located in the same plot as the International Swimming Hall of Fame, an independent organization which operates a museum and is currently working on a new building featuring an aquarium and other facilities.
US Masters Swimming
All SFTL Masters are USMS members as a condition to be a part of the team, for insurance reasons, even if they don’t compete. If you compete even once in an official meet, USMS will keep a record of your time. If you place within the ten fastest men or women in your age group at any race, you score points, starting with one point if you are tenth and going up to twenty points if you are first. Points scored by all swimmers in a team add up to a team score. In this way, the SFTL Masters team has won the USMS National Summer Championship meet, including in Federal Way, Washington, in 2025, and has had a presence at both the Spring and Summer Nationals for many years. The SFTL Masters also organize three official USMS meets every year: the SFTL Masters Challenge in the Spring (25 yards), the June Krauser Invitational in the Summer (50 meters), and the Fall Classic (25 meters).
USMS also certifies our coaches, Fort Lauderdale provides the sunny weather, and that is how so many people have become SFTL Masters. Tap “Swim” to join us.
SFTL Masters 