Introducing Tom Ponting - Bluephins Head Coach

Age Group Swimming: This is the program through which SNC 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 & under swimmers.

Block: The starting platform.

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

Circle Swimming Performed: by staying to the right of the black line when swimming in a lane, to enable more swimmers to swim in each lane.

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

Cut: Slang for qualifying time. The time standard that a swimmer must reach in order to attend a particular meet or event.

Distance Event: Term used to refer to events over 400 metres.

Disqualified (DQ): This occurs when a swimmer has committed an infraction of some kind (e.g. one-handed touch in breaststroke). A disqualified swimmer is not eligible to receive an award, nor is there an official time in that event.

Drill: An exercise involving a part of a stroke, used to improve technique.

Dry-land Training: Training done out of the water that aids and enhances swimming performance; usually includes stretching, callisthenics, 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 prior to the signal.

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

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

FINA Federation Internationale de Natation de Amateur: The international governing body of competitive swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming.

Flags: Backstroke flags are placed 5 metres from the end of the pool. They enable backstrokers to execute a backstroke turn more efficiently by being able to count the number of strokes into each wall.

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

Gutter the area at the edges of the pool in which water overflows during a race and is recirculated into the pool. Deep gutters catch surface waves and don’t allow them to wash back into the pool and affect the race.

Individual Medley (IM) Abbreviation of 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.

Lane Ropes: the dividers for the individual lanes. These are made of individual finned disks strung on a cable, which rotate on the cable when hit by a wave. The rotating disks dissipate surface tension waves in a competitive pool, allowing for flat water and faster swimming.

Long Course: a pool configured for swimming with a 50-meter long racing course. World records may be set in long-course and short-course competitions. The main Canadian Long Course season is from mid-March to August. Championship meets are conducted at the end of the long course season, including Regionals, Provincials and Nationals. The Olympic Games, as well as all major international competitions, are conducted in long course.

Long Distance: Any freestyle event over 1500 metres, normally conducted in a natural body of water, such as a lake, river, or ocean.

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

Middle Distance: Term used to refer to events of 200 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.

Official Time: A time achieved in a race during a duly sanctioned competition.

Pace: The often predetermined speed with which a swimmer completes each segment of a race (e.g., 25 m, 50 m).

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).

Prelim: Abbreviation for preliminaries, also called heats — those races in which swimmers qualify for the championship and consolation finals in an event. October 2011

Qualifying Time (QT): Necessary to compete in a particular event and/or competition.

Relay Exchange: The exchange between the swimmer in the water and the next swimmer on the relay team. A perfect exchange will simultaneously have the finishing swimmer’s hand on the touch pad and the starting swimmer’s feet just touching the starting block, with the rest of the starting swimmer’s body extended over the water.

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

Safety Procedure: Safety procedures are designed to prevent accidents and must be followed to the letter.

Sanctioned Meet: All competitions in which records may be set and official times may be obtained must be sanctioned (approved officially) by a Swim PEI Sanctioning Officer.

Scratch: To withdraw from an event in a competition.

Senior Swimming: The program through which SNC provide fair and open competition in provincial and/or national swimming championships. It is designed to afford maximum opportunity for participation, provide an educational experience, enhance physical and mental conditioning, and develop a pool of talented athletes for national and international competition. There are no age restrictions on senior competitions.

Short Course: Or SC refers to events held in a pool 25 metres in length. Most competitions held during the winter are short-course.

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

Sprint: Describes the shorter events (50 and 100 m); in training, 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 and straight as it can be.

SNC Swimming/Natation Canada: The national governing body of competitive swimming.

PARA Swimming: Swimming for swimmers with a locomotor or cognitive disability. Para swimmers usually compete alongside able-bodied swimmers in local meets.

Taper: The final preparation phase. As part of this phase, and prior to major competitions, older and more experienced swimmers will decrease their amount of practice time to allow their bodies to rest and recover from hard training. They may also shave their entire body to reduce resistance and heighten sensation in the water.

Time Card: The card issued to each swimmer prior to each race, on which splits and the final time are recorded. Most meets today are “cardless,” meaning the results are recorded electronically and on the timers’ sheets only.

Time Trial: A practice race which is not part of regular competitions. Time trials may be sanctioned and used to qualify for specific meets.

Touch the finish of the race.

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.

Turnover: The number of times a swimmer’s arms turn over (cycle) in a given distance or time during a race.

Warm-down: Low-intensity swimming used by a swimmer after a race or main practice set to rid the body of excess lactic acid, and to gradually reduce heart rate and respiration.

Warm-up: Low-intensity swimming used by swimmers prior to a main practice set or a race to get muscles loose and warm, and to gradually increase heart rate and respiration.

Watches: Stopwatches used to time swimmers during a competition. When totally electronic timing equipment is used, watches serve as a backup method.

Officials: Present at all competitions to implement the technical rules of swimming and to ensure that the competition is fair and equitable. Officials attend clinics, pass written tests, and complete work meetings before being certified. All parents are encouraged to get involved with some form of officiating. If you are interested, contact your club’s officials’ chairperson.

Timekeepers: Operate timing devices (stopwatches or automatic timing equipment) and record the official time for each swimmer in their lane. Turn judges observe from each end of the pool and ensure that the turns and finishes comply with the rules applicable to each stroke.

Stroke Judges: Observe from both sides of the pool, walking abreast of the swimmers, to ensure that the rules relating to each stroke are being followed.

Relay Take-off Judges: Stand beside the starting blocks to observe the relay exchanges, ensuring that the feet of the departing swimmer have not lost contact with the block before the incoming swimmer touches the end of the pool.

The Clerk of Course: Arranges the swimmers into their proper heats and lanes.

The Starter: Assumes control of the swimmers from the Referee, directs them to take their mark, and sees that no swimmer is in motion prior to giving the start signal.

The Referee: Haas overall authority and control of the competition, ensuring that all the rules are followed; assigns and instructs all officials and decides all questions relating to the conduct of the meet. Violations of the rules are reported to the Referee, and the rules require that every reasonable effort be made to notify the swimmers or their coaches of the reasons for any dissatisfaction.