Swim With Us
We invite returning, new, and visiting swimmers to join us year round.
⚠️ Note: As of November 1, 2025, a USMS Membership is not required to swim with ORCA.
To swim with ORCA, you must:
Be at least 18 years old
Be a current ORCA member or be in a free trial
Be able to swim 200 yards unassisted without stopping
Swimmers of all abilities are welcome! If you don’t meet the third requirement yet, you can join the Development Program to grow your skills. To sign up for Development classes, follow the New Swimmer process and reach out to our co-captains to get started.
If you plan to swim at Seattle University, you will need to sign the Seattle University waiver.
New swimmers
We offer new swimmers a one-time 30 day free trial, which includes 3 swim passes. After your free trial ends, you will need to join ORCA and pay annual dues to continue swimming with us.
Current or former USMS members are eligible for the free trial, as long as you’re new to ORCA.
To schedule your first swim with ORCA, please click the “SCHEDULE FIRST SWIM” button. We will email you, guide you through the registration process, and meet you at your first swim.
If you have any questions or are not able to find a practice that works with your schedule, please reach out to captains@orcaswimteam.org.
visitors
ORCA welcomes visiting swimmers.
If you have never swum with ORCA before, you are eligible for the 30-day + 3-swim free trial. You can use the special SCHEDULE FIRST SWIM (VISITOR) button below to schedule your first swim. See the NEW SWIMMERS section above for full instructions.
For Visitors who aren’t eligible for the free trial (because they’ve swum with ORCA before), we ask you to join as ORCA Members and pay $15 annual dues. See the “ORCA MEMBERS” section, below, for instructions. And, reach out to captains@orcaswimteam.org if you have any questions or need help registering for or attending practice.
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A few reasons. First, ORCA is no longer using USMS insurance. ORCA pays a fixed cost for insurance for each unique swimmer who swims with us in a given membership year, whether they are a visitor or a member, belong to USMS or not, or swim once or 365 times. Our membership dues are meant to cover that insurance cost. Second, it is simpler for our volunteers to manage the team this way. We don’t need to track visitor memberships, or adjudicate exactly how far away from Seattle one must live, or how infrequently one must swim, to be eligible. Third, our dues ($15 per year) are extremely low cost. TNYA, a similar team in New York City, has regular annual dues of $118, and offers a visitor membership for $19.50 per year, which is more than our regular membership dues of $15 per year. So, we ask that you join as a regular member to swim with us, after you’re no longer eligible for a free trial membership.
ORCA Members
ORCA requires team dues of $15 per membership year to be an ORCA Member. Dues cover our insurance costs. The ORCA membership year is November 1 - October 31 of the following calendar year.
We welcome USMS members, and ORCA is registered as a USMS Workout Group for our members who want to compete in USMS Swim Meets. But, we do not require a USMS membership to join ORCA or swim with us at practices.
To become a member, first register your MindBody account, by clicking the “MINDBODY” button.
Once logged into MindBody, you will need to pay dues, purchase a Swim Pass, and register for classes.
To Pay Dues:
1. Log into MindBody
2. Click “ONLINE STORE” (upper right tab)
3. Select “Membership” in the dropdown
4. Select the $15 “Annual Membership”
⚠️ You will not be able to register for swim practices through MindBody until annual dues are paid.
To Purchase a Swim Pass:
1. Log into MindBody
2. Click “ONLINE STORE” (upper right tab)
3. Select “Swim Practice’ in the dropdown
4. Choose one of the Swim Pass options:
- Single Swim Pass ($18)
- 10 Swim Pass ($120)
- 30 Day Unlimited Pass ($79)
To Register for Swim Practices:
1. Log into MindBody
2. Click on “Classes” (upper left tab)
3. Choose a practice* and click “Sign up Now” **
** Note: If you don’t see “Sign Up Now” buttons on regular practices, you need to pay dues. See above.
SCHOLARSHIPS
As a non-profit focused on the mission of promoting the sport of swimming, we strongly believe that our sport should be accessible to all members of our community. We are proud therefore to be able to offer scholarships to those in need of financial assistance in order to participate on our team.