USA Swimming News

Saturday, September 23, 2023

Muhammad, Prindle Elected to USA Swimming Board of Directors


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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Swimming, the national governing body (NGB) for the sport of swimming in the United States, today announced the election of Sabir Muhammad and the reelection of Kathleen Prindle to its Board of Directors. The organization’s eligible voting members of the House of Delegates (HOD) elected these At-Large Directors to four-year terms at the Annual Business Meeting. The HOD was required to elect at least one At-Large member who is a coach member. 


SabirMuhammad With the election of Sabir Muhammad, USA Swimming can now boast more than one third representation by 10-Year and 10-Year+ Athletes on its Board of Directors.


Sabir Muhammad's swimming journey began after his mother started working as a member of the cleaning staff at a local Atlanta swimming pool. Despite facing skepticism that swimming was not for Black people, Muhammad broke a total of 10 American Records and earned a total of 22 international medals representing the USA at World Aquatics events. 


In 1998, Muhammad led Stanford to its 17th straight Pac-10 championship and eighth NCAA Team Championship, breaking Pablo Morales' American record in the 100-yard butterfly. Muhammad finished his collegiate career with multiple Pac-10 championship titles, All-American honors, and NCAA, US Open, and American Records. Muhammad qualified for the Pan-Am Games and graduated from Stanford as an Academic All-American with a degree in International Relations. 


In 2000, Muhammad competed in the Short Course World Championships held in Athens, Greece, winning silver and bronze medals, becoming the first African American to win a medal at a major international swimming competition. Between 2009 and 2019, Muhammad founded and led the Atlanta Swim School, teaching hundreds of children in the City of Atlanta to swim. Muhammad is the author of the children's book Born to Swim and is a Georgia Aquatics Hall of Fame inductee. 


In addition to his work in swimming, Muhammad holds an MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and is a Senior Director at Magnite - a global leader in the advertising technology industry. 


Kathleen Prindle Kathleen Prindle (Penn State University ’93) was first elected to the USA Swimming Board of Directors in 2019. She was part of the 2021 Keeping Athletes First 1.0 Initiative, served on the Nominating Committee and currently serves on the Audit Committee. 


Locally, Prindle has served for more than a decade on the Florida Gold Coast LSC Board of Directors. Her current responsibility is LSC Governance Chair, and her most recently elected role was Finance Vice-Chair (2019-2022). In 2018 she instituted Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Chair as an elected position. Prindle led a taskforce to institute an LSC Scholarship for senior swimmers in the wake of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting. Today, she serves as LSC Scholarship Chair and athlete mentor. Prindle has served the American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA) as past Vice-President, Board of Directors, and still chairs the Fellows Program. 


Prindle was named Head Coach for the 2022 USA Swimming Boys National Select Camp and Co-Leader for the 2022 Women’s Leadership Summit. Her service includes seven years on Senior Development Committee. Prindle chaired the 2018 USA Swimming National Taskforce on Transgender Athlete Inclusion which created initial NGB policies for gender-diverse athletes, since updated. Prindle, alongside her taskforce, created the first LSC COVID-19 Relief Grant - which expanded throughout the organization and led to more than $9M in relief funding from LSCs, USA Swimming, and the USA Swimming Foundation. 


Prindle is in her 21st season as Head Men’s & Women’s Varsity Coach at Grandview Preparatory, a private school in Boca Raton, Florida. She is past Chair of the FHSAA Coaches Advisory Board. 


After leading a nationwide study to explore the evolving needs of USA clubs/coaches, Prindle founded PAQ Swimming, a team focused on senior athlete development. Since 1989, Prindle has launched nine learn-to-swim programs, two USA Swimming club teams, two US Masters teams, and recreational programming. In over 30 years coaching experience, Prindle has coached at multiple U.S. Olympic Team Trials, World Aquatics Swimming Championships and Olympic Games. Prindle has trained national qualifiers from more than 18 countries. Prindle is a two-time inductee in the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame for her contributions to coaching. 


USA Swimming also recognizes outgoing board member Bill Schalz for his service to the membership and for his dedication to swimming in the United States. 


The complete list of USA Swimming Board of Directors members can be viewed here.


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