Swimming is a sport of personal best times and goals.

At Toronto Swim Club, from the Introductory Program right through to our National Group, our swimmers do not stop learning and do not stop improving on technique. But with every sport competition is usually the name of the game. As much as your child might want to compete with other swimmers in his or her group or other clubs, the best competition is always the clock. Beating a previous best time is the goal. There will always be someone faster or someone slower, so the focus should be on self-improvement. Improvements can happen suddenly, but it can also be a gradual climb. Every swimmer progresses at a different pace, which is why our coaches put so much emphasis on personal goals.

The relative importance of Time Standards or comparing your swimmer with others:

As your swimmer moves into the competitive stream, time standards play an important role in setting goals, not only to qualify for specific meets, but to also move up the group ladder. However time standards should not be leveraged as a measure of a swimmer’s success. Success depends solely on self-improvement and hard work.

How are Time Standards set?

Central Regions
TSC is situated within a geographic area of Ontario labeled the Central Region by Swim Ontario. Swim Ontario prepares a "map" of time standards based on performance in previous years — Age Group through B, C, D, E — and these times standards remain in place through a quadrennial Olympic cycle (ie. 2017-2020). Qualifying swimmers from clubs in the Central Region are invited to meets based on performance in accordance with the Swim Ontario map times.

The Central Region Championships are based on a published standard close to the 'B'-standard and are held in February for the short course season and in June for the Long Course season.  Short Course means that your swimmer swims in lengths of 25 metres and long course indicates events will be in lengths of 50 metres.

Provincial Age Group Championships
Swim Ontario also has specific standards for participation in province-wide meets for swimmers aged 13 and up, which are the Age Group standards on the Swim Ontario time map. Qualifying swimmers from clubs throughout the province are invited to participate.

Swim Ontario Swim Festivals
Similar to the Provincial Age Group Championships, the Festivals are in place for provincial level meets for swimmers age 13 and under with their own set of Festival qualifying standards. Qualifying swimmers from clubs throughout the province are invited to participate.

Click here to see the Swim Ontario Time Standards for both long and short course (includes OSC, OYJ, Fest, A, B, C, D, E) 

National Meets
Swimming Canada (SNC) sets standards for all SNC designated meets such as: Eastern Canadian Championships, Age Group Nationals, Senior National Championships, and all International Games Trials (ie. World Championships, Commonwealth Games, and Olympic Trials).

Click here for Swimming Canada Standards – Trials / CSC / CJC / East / West