The North Side Swim Team (NSST) was formed in 1978 by Central Iowa Swimming legend Lonny Kerman. Since that time the team has been members of the Central Hawkeye Conference during the summer and the Two Rivers Conference during the winter. It is one of the largest teams in both conferences, with an average of 150 swimmers per season. Its swimmers come from diverse backgrounds and reside in all parts of Des Moines and its suburbs. The club has swimmers who grow up to swim on high school teams at North, Hoover, East, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Johnston/Urbandale, Dowling, Valley, Ankeny, Southeast Polk, and Waukee. NSST is proud of the older swimmers who return to the club each year to help teach and mentor younger swimmers. It is this strong sense of community that makes the program so worthwhile.
NSST believes in accepting all children who wish to swim, regardless of skill level or experience. It stresses self improvement, self discipline, physical fitness, and team success above individuals winning. This approach has led to great success. In the summer of 2023 the team won its 44th straight Summer Conference Championship. In the Winter of 2019-2020 it won its 29th Winter Championship out of 30 years. With your help, this tradition will continue.