Swimming Club Near Me by the Beach: SWIM Long Beach Masters at Belmont

A few hundred yards from the sand in Belmont Shore, a stainless-steel 50-meter pool sits on what used to be a parking lot at 4320 E Olympic Plaza. Long Beach built it in 2013 as a stand-in after the 1968 Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool closed, and it has outlasted every prediction. Three mornings a week, SWIM Long Beach Masters takes the far four lanes on the Ocean Boulevard side. If your search for a swimming club near me in the South Bay or Long Beach wants beginners welcome and ocean swimmers in the next lane, start here.

The original Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool was dedicated on August 15, 1968, an eight-lane tile pool with seating for about 2,700 that hosted Olympic trials. The city says it drew more than 200,000 visitors a year before seismic concerns closed it in 2013, and it was demolished in 2014. The replacement was built in six months with $5 million in city funds by Myrtha Pools, and open water legend Lynne Cox came to its opening day.

That stopgap is now in its thirteenth year. On May 30, 2026 the city broke ground on the permanent Belmont Beach and Aquatics Center, with a 50-meter competition pool and a separate zero-depth teaching pool, due before the LA28 Games. SWIM Long Beach expects the temporary pool to stay in service until construction wraps up.

Myrtha lists the pool at 52 by 25 meters with a depth of 1.05 to 2 meters, and a movable bulkhead lets staff run it as 25 yards or 50 meters. It can hold ten long-course lanes or eighteen short-course lanes, and the masters group trains in both layouts on different days. The pool is heated and outdoors, and it closes for lightning, thunder or rain and wind heavy enough to hide the bottom.

Inside the masters lanes, swimmers line up from fastest to slowest. The quick lane is full of former college swimmers and All-Americans from their mid-twenties to mid-fifties, while the slower lanes hold triathletes, firefighters staying in shape, ocean paddlers, surfers and grandparents.

Head coach Hank Wise founded Swim Focus and SWIM Long Beach, and he also runs the Rocket Fish swim school. He swam at Stanford on the 1986 to 1987 NCAA team and raced at the 1988 Olympic Trials. He has crossed the Catalina Channel seven times and set the men's record from Catalina to the mainland, 7 hours 55 minutes, in October 2018.

The team's own record book matches that ocean streak. It set a Catalina Channel relay record of 6 hours 53 minutes in October 2011 and has won the team title at the Huntington Beach Pier Swim more than a dozen times. Workouts follow what the club calls the Master's Option, so you can modify a set when your shoulder or your sleep says so.

Practice runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Shift one goes from 5:30 to 6:45 AM, and shift two from 6:45 to 8 AM. Tell the kiosk worker you are with Swim Long Beach when you arrive. During the summer season, from mid-June to mid-October, a Thursday 5:30 AM group the club calls the Sea Monkeys swims 1.75 miles from the Seal Beach Pier.

The club's only entry rule is that you can swim. Speed, distance and polished technique are not required, and beginners are welcome. New swimmers who already hold a U.S. Masters Swimming registration can come to one workout free before signing up. Registration runs through Rocket Fish, and you need to join USMS through Southern Pacific Masters within two weeks, naming SWIM Long Beach as your club.

SWIM Long Beach charges $77 a month, a figure the club last updated in March 2025. USMS dues are paid separately. For comparison, the pool's own drop-in rate is cheap: adults pay $4 and seniors $3, and a 25-visit adult pass costs $87. Youth entry was free through August 21 this year.

The city also runs adult lessons here. In summer 2026, Adults Beginner for ages 13 and up met Tuesday and Thursday from 6 to 6:50 PM for $69, or Saturday from 10:30 to 11:20 AM for $60, and Adults Intermediate met Saturday at 8 AM for $60. Water exercise costs $6 a class and is free for seniors over 49. Admission fees are not refunded.

Belmont is a shared pool, and the city lists several adult groups. The Long Beach Grunions are another U.S. Masters team and social club that promotes diversity. Talk to people on deck before you commit, since many swimmers have tried more than one group.

Public lap swim runs weekdays from 5:30 to 9:30 AM in short course, with limited lanes from 10 AM to 1 PM, plus Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 PM and Saturday from 8 AM to noon. Google reviewers summarized on Wanderlog say the pool gets crowded at peak times and that Tuesday and Thursday evenings leave more room. They also suggest asking staff to open the cabinets if you want kickboards.

The pool closes on November 26 and 27 and on December 25, and it shuts after 2 PM on December 24 and December 31. Children under 48 inches must have an adult with them in the water.

Masters swimmers can park free in the back lot on the non-kiosk side until 8 AM. Otherwise the Granada lot at 5100 E Ocean Boulevard charges $1 an hour. Long Beach Transit Route 121 runs along Ocean Boulevard. After a workout, walk over to the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier next to the pool site and watch the swell you just avoided.