Age Group Swimming: The program through which Swim Canada provides fair and open competition for its younger members. It is designed to encourage maximum participation, provide an educational experience, enhance physical and mental conditioning, and develop a rich base of swimming talent. Nationally recognized age groups are 11-12, 13-14, 15-17 and senior. Local meets may also include events for 10 and under swimmers.

Blocks: The starting platform.

Bulkhead: A wall constructed to divide a pool into different courses, such as a 50-metre pool into two 25-metre pools.

Coach: A person who trains and teaches athletes in the sport of swimming.

Code of Conduct: An agreement outlining behavioural guidelines, signed by a swimmer and his/her parent/guardian as part of membership in the swim club.

DQ: Disqualified. This occurs when a swimmer has committed an infraction of some kind (e.g. freestyle kick in butterfly). A disqualified swimmer is not eligible to receive awards, nor can the time be used as an official time.

Dryland Training: Training done out of the water that aids and enhances swimming performance; usually includes stretching, calisthenics and/or weight training.

Entry Form: Form used by the coach to enter swimmers in a competition.

False Start: Occurs when a swimmer is moving at the start.

Final: The championship heat of an event in which the top six or eight swimmers from the preliminaries compete, depending on the number of lanes in the pool.

Finish: The final phase of the race – the touch at the end of the race.

Flags: Backstroke flags placed 5 metres from the end of the pool. They enable backstrokers to execute a backstroke turn more efficiently by counting their strokes to the wall.

Freestyle: Also known as the Front Crawl.

Goal: A specific time achievement a swimmer sets and strives for; can be short or long term.

Gutter: The area along the edge of the pool in which water overflows during a race and is recirculated through the filtration system.

Heat Sheets: These are the programs which outline all events, swimmers and their times for the meet.

I.M.: Slang for individual medley, an event in which the swimmer uses all four strokes in the following order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle.

Lap Counter: A set of plastic display numbers used to keep track of laps during a distance race. The person who counts for the swimmer is stationed at the opposite end from the start.

Long Course: A 50-metre pool in length. Most long course events are hosted in the late winter - spring.

Long Distance: Any event over 400 metres.

Marshalling: Where swimmers are organized and lined up before their race.

Meet: Competition designed to be a learning experience. By implementing what has been learned in practice, the swimmers test themselves against the clock to see how they are improving.

Middle Distance: Term used to refer to events of 200 metres to 400 metres in length.

Negative Split: Swimming the second half of the race faster than the first half.

Official: A judge on the deck of the pool at a sanctioned competition who enforces SNC rules.

Pace Clock: Large clock with a large second hand and a smaller minute hand, used to check pace or maintain intervals in practice (may also be digital).

Prelims: Slang for preliminaries, also called Heats or Trials – those races in which swimmers qualify for the championship and consolation finals in an event.

Q-Time: Qualifying time necessary to compete in a particular event and/or competition.

Relay: An event in which 4 swimmers compete together as a team to achieve one time.

Scratch: To withdraw from an event in a competition.

Short Course: A 25-meter pool in length. Most short course events are hosted in the fall - winter.

Split: A swimmer’s intermediate time in a race. Splits are registered every 50 metres and are used to determine if a swimmer is on record pace. Under certain conditions, initial splits may also be used as official times.

Sprint: Describes the shorter events (50 and 100m). In training, it means to swim as fast as possible for a short distance.

Streamline: The position used to gain maximum distance during a start and/or push-off from the wall in which the swimmer’s body is as tight as it can be.

Time Trial: A time-only swim, which is not part of a regular meet.

Touch Pad: A large sensitive board at the end of each lane where a swimmer’s touch is registered and sent electronically to the timing system.