U.S. Masters Swimming Open Water Service Award

Recipient:	Dick Sidner
Year:	2016
LMSC:	Indiana

Dick was the coach for Noblesville Adult Swim Team (NASTI), which was awarded the 2009 USMS Club of the Year Award, and for 10 years he was an active member of the USMS Long Distance Committee. He was also a member of the USMS Open Water Clinic Task Force. In June 2011 he hosted the first USMS Open Water Clinic which had USMS partial funding and which had a national evaluator.  The OW National Clinic was repeated annually from 2012 to 2015.  He also served as a panelist and presenter at the first “Protecting Athletes: USMS Open Water Safety Conference.” From 2008 to 2015, Dick was the event director for five USMS National Open Water Championships, two 25K’s, a 15K, a 10K, and a 5K events. One of these events was the 2008 Inaugural USMS 25K National Championship, held in the Morris Reservoir, and which attracted 45 solo swimmers and 140 relay swimmers. For many years, Dick opened his home and allowed countless swimmers to experience open water swimming on a portion of the race course, just off the shore of his home in Indiana.