25, 50, 100, 200 YARD EVENTS - The pool is 25 yards long. A 25 yard event isone length. A 50 yard event is two lengths. A 100 yard event is four lengths. A 200 yard relay event is eight lengths, with each swimmer doing two lengths.

AGE GROUP – all swimmers compete with their age swimmers, as of the June 15th cutoff date. Age groups consist mostly of 2-year intervals, with 6&Under, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-18

CHECK-IN - The procedure required before a swimmer swims in a meet. The swimmer must see the check in desk at home meets, or find the check-in coordinator at away meets, and have their name marked on a list to confirm they will be racing. Failing to check-in, or checking in after warm-ups are complete may mean a swimmer is removed from relays without notice. Parents working meets jobs must also check-in at the same location to avoid fines or fees.

CIRCLE SEEDING - Used only in the prelims of Championship meets with events that have "prelims & finals". This affects only the top 24 seeded swimmers (8 lane pool) which compete in the last 3 heats. All other heats are regular seeding. Circle seeding goes like this: The fastest seeded swimmer will be in the last heat in lane 4. The second fastest swimmer will be in the second to last heat lane 4. The third fastest swimmer will be in the third to last heat lane 4. The fourth fastest swimmer will be in the last heat lane 5 and so on. For an event with 60 swimmers, the seeding would look like this:

swimmers seed in prelims

THE DESK (MEET ADMIN AREA) - The area where meet administration and officials handle the seeding, placing, scoring, and all other functions of swim meet processing. The desk is typically located poolside behind the starter and head referee.

DQ (DISQUALIFICATION) - A swimmer is usually disqualified when they perform a stroke, touch or turn incorrectly. This can happen often with new and developing swimmers, especially in breaststroke and butterfly, and it is a normal part of the learning process. Other disqualifications include false starts and early take-offs.

DUAL CONFIRMATION - When two officials must see an infraction. Dual Confirmation is necessary to determine if swimmers in a relay have left before the previous swimmer has touched. Relay start judges are trained to watch the take-off, then confirm a finish; so in order to be a safe start, the swimmer only needs a single toe on the block when their teammate touches the wall.

DUAL MEET - A swim meet where two different teams compete, either as a Home or Away Meet.

FALSE START – When a swimmer enters the water before a race or moves forward during the start prior to the starting sound, the swimmer may be charged with a false start disqualification. Depending on the meet, the swimmer may be allowed another start, or be unable to compete in the event.

IM (INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY) – A race done by an individual swimmer consisting of one equal leg of each of the competitive strokes - butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle - in that order.

FINALS - the session of a meet after prelims at a prelims/finals meet. It is generally swum in the evening. Finalists are determined by the fastest swimmers in the preliminary rounds usually swum earlier that day. The number of finalists depends on the meet.

HEAT SHEET - a listing of all swimmers by event number, heat, and lane assignments in the meet.

PRELIMS (PRELIMINARIES) - in certain meets, the qualifying rounds held for each event to determine the finalists.

MEDLEY RELAY – Four swimmers on each team each swim one fourth of the total prescribed distance in the order: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle.

MEET DIRECTOR – The individual in charge of planning and organizing all aspects of a meet. It is under the discretion of the meet director that changes be made to the event schedule, scoring, timeline, etc. Parents should use the Meet Director for complaints, especially for facility issues, parent volunteer questions, and non-competition based conflicts.

MEET REFEREE (HEAD REF) - Meet Officials typically dress in white, and judge the strokes for accuracy during the competition in order to ensure fair competition. The Meet Referee is the meet official who has the authority over all other officials at the meet. The Referee makes all final decisions and sees to the efficient running of the meet, and is typically standing near the starter and desk. Parents should not approach the referee, and should talk to their coach instead.

SEEDING TIMES - the time a swimmer uses to enter a meet. This time usually determines one's heat and lane in the particular event.

SHORT COURSE - a type of competitive pool, which measures 25 yards or 25 meters in length. In American swimming it will almost always be 25 yards. Age group swimmers short course season usually lasts from September to March while Seniors short course season varies on the level and age.

SPLIT - an incremental time that may be in the results and that coaches often record for teaching the concept of pacing. For instance, a swimmer's time for each 50-yard leg of a 100-yard event is the splits.

Negative Split – Making the second split of a race faster than the first split. For example, in a 100 yard free the splits would look like 31.00 for the 1st 50-yeards, and 29.00 for the 2nd 50-yards.

SSST - the official abbreviation of Sycamore Stingrays Swim Team

STARTER - the meet official responsible for starting each heat and calling the next to the blocks. This is a unique role, with guidelines on meet pace, and fairness from the blocks. Starters rotate throughout a meet.

STROKE JUDGE - a meet official, who determines the legality of swimmers' strokes and disqualifies those who do not conform to USA SWIMMING and VSA rules.

TIME STANDARDS - goal times have been set up for swimmers as markers when they drop time over the course of the season. Gold standard times have been set up as a qualifying time for the postseason Contra Costa County Meet A swimmers’ goal should be the betterment of their time, and achieving a new time standard is a way to transition swimmers from instant gratification to understanding delayed gratification that comes from sustained efforts.  Sycamore Time Standards.

TOUCH PAD - the part of an electronic timing system that rests in the water at the finishing end of each lane. Swimmer's times are electronically recorded when the pad is touched. Timing “plunger” buttons and stop watches are often still used as a backup system.

VSA (VALLEY SWIM ASSOCIATION) - Sycamore’s swim league, consisting of eight teams in the surrounding area. VSA Website.

What is warm-up? Why do we do it? Coach Sean Answers:

Warm-up is a short period swimmers are allowed to hop in the water with their age group prior to the start of the meet. All swimmers practice (streamline) starts and finishes, making sure that they have proper head and body position in order to maintain momentum throughout the lap. 7-8 IM swimmers and all 9&Ups practice turns as well, continuing to focus on head position at the breakout; body position during the first stroke of each lap is critical to making swimming easier and faster. 11&Up swimmers also use this time to loosen up their growing muscles to avoid injury during the fast-paced sprints.

Home meet warm-ups are great for equipment checks, ensuring that boys suits are properly tied, and that goggles are properly fastened. (Note: goggles falling off is typically a combination of loose goggles and improper head position.) Away meets are especially important to test starts and turns, as the blocks, walls, flags, and even the depth at either end can change how the starts and turns are perceived and performed. Relay swimmers should always attend warm-ups, or at least check in with their relay team parents or meet shepherds, to make sure that we’re not scrambling to find a replacement.

6&Unders: warm-up is always optional for non-relay 6&Under swimmers. Attitude and confidence are the biggest factors with young swimmers, so if skipping a cold Saturday morning warm-up means that your child is happy and more eager to race later, then we support your decision. This is especially true for swimmers doing a sitting or kneeling dive from the side, since away meet blocks are not a factor in their race performance.

7-8s: Warm-ups are encouraged but not required. Their short warm-up is helpful for most 7-8s to swim each stroke quickly and/or legally, especially those that dive from the blocks. We practice legal starts and finishes, and go over some ideas for race plans as a group. If they need to skip their warm-up, then they should practice their streamlines, (head down) finishes, and race plan ideas on dry land with parents, long before they get ready for their races.

9&Ups should go to warm-ups. If they don’t want to warm-up, please politely tell them “Coach Sean likes all older swimmers to warm-up,” and hopefully that's enough to encourage them. Exceptions will always be made for illness or other reasonable issue, but warm-up attendance and performance is a way for each swimmer to show their dedication for the day. These age groups are expected to get in on time, hear the instructions all together, and execute the instructions to the best of their ability. Swimmers are expected to maintain proper head and body position, regardless of speed, which can be difficult in a crowded warm-up. Swimmers who are disruptive, including walking on the bottom, may be removed from portions of warm-up at the coach’s discretion.

Race Plan: a race plan is a specific piece of technique that a swimmer selects to focus on, in order to perform their best. For Time Trials, new swimmers should focus on their streamline (arms and legs) to get them in a balanced and floating position at the start of the race, and how to perform each stroke. New 9-10s should add head down on each lap for all strokes, especially into their walls for the turn and finish.