Swim Speak
Like many other pursuits swimming on occasions appears to have a language of its own, here are some of the most common phrases:
Age Groups: An abbreviation for Age Group Competitions, which are competitions organised within specific age groupings.
ASA: The Amateur Swimming Association, is the national governing body in England for Swimming, Diving, Water Polo and Synchronised swimming.
A.S.F.G.B.: The Amateur Swimming Federation of Great Britain is the body which represents the ASA, Scottish ASA and Welsh ASA, as Great Britain.
Competitor Card System: A system whereby after you have sent off your entry to an event you will be issued with a card. This must be ‘posted’, normally in a box when you get to the event. This posting must be done before the start time normally at least 45 minutes. The card is then used to allocate your heat and lane and record your time.
Designated Meet: A gala which is organised so as to meet certain conditions set by the ASA. It is then ‘designated’ as a gala from which times obtained may used to qualify for National Age Group and National Senior Championships
Disqualification: A swimmer may be disqualified for variety of reasons, I.e. faulty stroke, faulty turn, false start, etc. Do not be discouraged by a disqualification, it happens to world champions some times, just remember what it was you did and try not to do it again.
False Start: When a competitor moves before, or at the time the starting signal is given it is deemed to be a false start.
F.I.N.A.: The Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur is the world governing body for Swimming, Diving Water Polo and Synchronised swimming.
First Claim: This refers to the club of which the swimmer has the longest current unbroken membership
Graded Meet: A Gala where time restrictions are imposed for each event i.e. If you have achieved a time faster than the graded time, you may not enter the event.
Heat Declared Winner (HDW): An event (usually 200m or more) where there are too many swimmers for a straight final and the winners are decided on the times achieved in the heats.
Heats and Finals: When there are too many swimmers in an event for them all to compete in one race, that event is divided into heats or qualifying races and then the fastest swimmers go forward to the final.
IM: Individual Medley, an event using all strokes in the order butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.
Junior: In ASA promoted competitions and championships a junior swimmer is one who is under 17 years of age on 31st December in the year of competition.
Long Course Events: Any competition held in a pool of 50m or 55 yards in length.
Nationals: An abbreviated term used to describe all National events.
NQT: A time set by the ASA which a swimmer need to achieve at a designated event in order to be eligible to enter National Championships.
Open Meets or Open Events: Events which are open to swimmers of any affiliated Club to enter.
P.B.: An abbreviation for Personal Best, referring to the swimmers best time to date for that stroke and distance.
Qualifying/Consideration Times: Some times organisers require a time to have been achieved in order to enter an event.
Seeding: A method of arranging swimmers who have entered an event according to their submitted times.
Short Course Events: Any competition held in a pool less than 50m in length.
Submitted Time: A time previously recorded on a stroke and distance which is submitted with an entry to enable the organisers to “seed” the events.
Swim Off: Following heats, when the number of finalists exceeds the number of lanes available due to dead heat or identical times. A swim off usually take place between those concerned to determine who swims in the final.