Glossary of Swim
Jargon
If you are new to the swimming
world, you may hear lots of terms on the deck or at swim meets that
you don't understand. Hopefully, this glossary will help you with
some of the "swim jargon."
-
- Age
Group
- Division of swimmers according to
age. The National Age Group divisions are: 10-under, 11-12, 13-14,
15-16, 17-18. Most meets also include an 8-under and may include a
6-under.
- Blocks
- The starting platforms located
behind each lane.
- Championship Meet
- The meet held at the end of the
season for each LSC. Qualification times are sometime necessary to
enter this meet.
- Check-In
- The procedure required before a
swimmer swims an event in a deck-seeded meet. The swimmer must
check-in immediately arriving at the meet.
- Circle Seeding
- A method of seeding swimmers when
they are participating in a prelims/final event. The fast 18-24
swimmers are seeded in the last three heats, with the fastest
swimmers being on the inside lanes.
- Course
- The designated distance (length
of pool) for swimming competition. Long course = 50 meters and
short course = 25 yards.
- Deck
- The area around the swimming pool
reserved for swimmers, coaches, and officials.
- Deck
Entries
- Accepting entries into swimming
events at the meet.
- Disqualified or "DQ"
- A swimmer's performance is not
counted because of a rules infraction. An official raising one arm
with open hand above their head shows a disqualification. Swimmers
take the DQ slip to their coach.
- Dual
Meet
- Type of meet where two team or
clubs compete against each other.
- Entry
- An individual, relay team, or
club's roster's event list into a swim competition.
- Entry Fees
- The amount per event a swimmer or
relay is charged. This varies depending on the LSC and type of
meet.
- Entry Limit
- Meets will usually have a limit
of total swimmers they can accept, or a time limit they can not
exceed. Once an entry limit has been reached, a meet will be closed
and all other entries returned.
- Event
- A race or stroke over a given
distance. An event equals a preliminary with its final or a timed
final.
- FINA
- Federation Internationale de
Natation Amateur. The international federation for aquatic
sports.
- Time
Classifications
- Time classifications have been
defined for ranking swimmers and defining qualifying times for
meets. The classifications are as follows:
- B
- BB
- A
- AA
- SNRT - Sierra Nevada Reportable
Time
- Q - Qualifying time for Far
Western Meet
- WZQ - Qualifying time for Western
Zone Meet
- AAAA
- Junior National Time
- Senior National Time
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