Team New York Aquatics (also referred to as TNYA) is a Masters level swim, water polo and diving team based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to foster aquatic sports amongst gay,

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

, and

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

athletes and their heterosexual allies. TNYA has a membership of over 500 swimmers, divers, and water polo players. TNYA is recognized as the largest Masters level swim team in

and the largest

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

swim team in the world. TNYA was organized in 1988 as a New York membership not-for-profit in preparation for the Gay Games III held in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1990. Section 1.2 of the Bylaws of TNYA state that the mission of TNYA is (a) to support and develop lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and non-gay amateur athletes for national or international competition, (b) to promote participation in aquatic sports such as swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming, among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and non-gay individuals, (c) to provide an atmosphere where lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and non-gay athletes can practice together in mutual understanding and support, and (d) to provide an opportunity for athletes of all abilities to participate in organized practices and competitions in a team atmosphere and so to achieve their own goals in their aquatic sports. TNYA is affiliated with

U.S. Masters Swimming U.S. Masters Swimming (USMS), founded in 1970, is a nonprofit membership national governing body for masters swimming, an organized program of swimming for adults. The program began when the first National Masters Swimming Championships were held ...

(USMS),

USA Diving USA Diving, Inc. is the national governing body of diving in the United States as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and is a member of United States Aquatic Sports Inc., the United States' member of FINA (the International Swimmin ...

, and

USA Water Polo USA Water Polo is the governing body of the sport of water polo in the United States and is a member of the United States Aquatic Sports. USA Water Polo is responsible for fielding national teams and hosts 20 annual tournaments. The Organization h ...

(USAWP). TNYA competes in the International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics annual meet, the

Gay Games The Gay Games is a worldwide sport and cultural event that promotes acceptance of sexual diversity, featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) athletes, artists and other individuals. Founded as the Gay Olympics, it was starte ...

held every four years, and a variety of regional and local competitions. TNYA has 18 swim workouts per week at pools at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

John Jay College The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts co ...

, Baruch College, and

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university with two main campuses, LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It offers more than 500 academic programs at its main campuses, online, and at multiple non-residential. LIU ...

, 2 polo practices at Chelsea Recreation Center and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Aquatics Center, and 2 springboard diving practices at

and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Aquatics Center. Members range in age from 20 to 85 years old. The minimum age to participate in Masters swimming and diving is 18.

References

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External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20110325192830/http://www.tnya.org/about.html Swimming in New York City LGBT organizations based in New York City LGBT sports organizations in the United States Sports clubs and teams established in 1988 1988 establishments in New York City 1988 in LGBT history Sports clubs and teams in New York City Swim teams in the United States