Cheat Sheet for parents & swimmers that are new to the competitive swimming world.

Age Group: Swimmers are organized by age in competition. 8 and under swimmers compete against each other. Same goes for 9-10 year-olds, 11-12 year-olds, 13-14 year-olds, and 15-18 year-olds.

Backstroke Flags: Pennants that are suspended over the width of each end of the pool approximately 15 feet from the wall. Backstroke flags help swimmers easily detect where they are in the pool.

Blocks: The mounted platform a swimmer uses to dive into the water that is located behind each lane. When a coach says to “get behind the blocks,” this means the swimmer should get behind their respective starting block in anticipation of their heat.

Bullpen: Where swimmers report to before each event.

Declare: Intent to swim. Failure to declare will result in your swimmer not being placed in the line up. This can be done through the team site or Swimtopia app.

Deck: The area around the swimming pool reserved for swimmers, officials, and coaches.

Distance: How far a swimmer swims. Distances for short course are: 25 yards (1 length), 50 yards (2 lengths), 100 yards (4lengths), 200 yards (8 lengths).

Disqualified: “DQ” A swimmer's performance is not counted because of a rule infraction. A disqualification is shown by an official raising one arm with an open hand above their head.

Dolphin Timer: Dolphin is a wireless stopwatch-style timing system for swimming competitions. This is a Semi-Automatic Timing system that is started by an electronic start system that sends a signal to each watch. Once the race is completed, the watches send the times over the air to the base unit.

Dual Meet: A competition that is set-up between two swim teams that compete against each other for points.

Event: Events are broken down by distance (25, 50, 100, 200) strokes are (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly or I.M.) and oftentimes by age, gender and relay type. You can swim 3 individual events , and 2 relays in a swim meet. You will never swim in every event.

Exhibition: In exhibition heats, swimmers receive a time, but do not score points for the team. The swimmer will get an official time for the event, but his swim doesn’t count for the purposes of the competition. Most of the time, this simply means the coaches were limited in the number of swimmers they could enter, or there were no-shows that left empty lanes. It doesn’t mean anything negative about your swimmer.

False Start: When a swimmer leaves the starting block before the horn. A false start will disqualify a swimmer or a relay team, although the starter or referee may disallow the false start due to unusual circumstances.

Heat: In each event, there can be many swimmers competing. Depending on the size of the pool, only a limited number of swimmers can race at a time. If a pool has six lanes, then six swimmers will race in the event at a time, which is called one “heat.” If there are 60 swimmers competing in the 100 freestyle event in that six-lane pool, there will be 10 heats.

If you win your heat, you may not have won the entire event. Be sure to check the official results to see where you placed.

Heat Sheet: This is where you find out what you’re swimming, when, and where. Can be found using the Swimtopia app.

High Point: Recognition given to the swimmer scoring the most points in a given age group at a swim meet.

IM: Individual Medley. An event using all four of the competitive strokes on consecutive lengths of the race.

The order must be: Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Freestyle.

Equal distances must be swam of each stroke. Distances offered: 100 yards, 200yards/meters.

Lane: The assigned lane in the pool during your heat. Typically the fastest swimmers in each heat get assigned to the middle lanes. (ie) Lane 1 or Lane 2, tec.

Lane Ropes: Continuous floating markers attached to a cable stretched from the starting end to the turning end for the purpose of separating each lane and quieting the waves caused by racing swimmers.

Leg: The part of a relay event swum by a single team member. A single stroke in the IM.

Meters: The measurement of the length of a swimming pool that was built per specs using the metric system. Short course meters is 25 meters, Long course meters is 50 meters.

NT: No Time. The abbreviation used on a heat sheet to designate that the swimmer has not swum that event before.

Officials: A judge on the deck of the pool. Various judges or officials watch the swimmer’s strokes, turns and finishes. Officials will be in white shirts, blue shorts and white shoes with a USA Swim name tag.

Place Judge: Place judges record the finishing positions for each heat in a swim meet. The judges' decisions take precedence over the recorded times.

Points: Points are awarded to the team for swimmers placing 1-8 in individual meets and 1-2 in relays. A winner is determined at the end of each meet.

Psyche Sheet: An entry sheet showing all swimmers entered into each individual event.

Relays: An event in which four swimmers participate on a team. Each swimmer completes an equal distance of the race. There are two types of relays:

1.) Medley relay - One swimmer swims Backstroke, one swimmer swims Breaststroke, one swimmer swims Butterfly, one swimmer swims Freestyle, in that order.

2.) Freestyle relay - Each swimmer swims freestyle.

Scratch: To withdraw from an event after having declared an intention to participate.

Seed Time: The swimmer’s fastest time prior to this meet. Seeding is the method of placing swimmers in lanes in order of their entry times.

Start: Start of race signaled by an official. The dive used to begin a race.

Stand-up: The command given by the Starter or Referee to release the swimmers from their starting position.

Step-Down: The command given by the Starter or Referee to have the swimmers move off the blocks. Usually this command is an indication that everything is not right for the race to start.

Stopwatch: The recorded time from a stopwatch started and stopped manually by a lane timer. The lane timers use these stopwatches as backup in case the dolphin does not work correctly.

Stroke: There are 4 competitive strokes: Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Freestyle.

Freestyle (Free): Freestyle is swum as the fourth stroke in the Medley Relay and fourth stroke in the IM.

Backstroke (Back): Backstroke is swum as the first stroke in the Medley Relay and second stroke in the IM.

Breaststroke (Breast): Breaststroke is swam as the second stroke in the Medley Relay and the third stroke in the IM

Butterfly (Fly): Butterfly is swam as the third stroke in the Medley Relay and first stroke in the IM.

Team Records: The statistics a team keeps, listing the fastest swimmer in the clubs history for each age group/each event.

USA Swimming: The national governing body of the sport headquartered in Colorado Springs.

Warm-Up: Used by the swimmer before the race to get their muscles loose and ready to race.