BASIC TERMS

  • Dual Meet - This is the normal meet that is held each week of the summer season.  In general, dive meets start at 3:30 p.m.; Swim meets start at 6:00 p.m.  Two teams compete head-to-head (team with most points wins).  Depending on the home team, some meets may NOT include diving, and some home teams may hold their dive meets on Saturday mornings at 8 a.m.
    • Warm-ups – Teams are given time to warm-up before a meet as follows:
      • Swim Meets:  Typically, both teams warm-up simultaneously ½ hour before the start of the meet.  The home team uses half of the pool's lanes, while the visiting team uses the other half.  Shrewsbury will warm up at home from 5-5:30 and the visiting teams will warm up from 5:30-6:00 pm. See Meet Info for more specific information.
      • Conference Meet – At the end of the season, all teams participate in the Conference Meet.  The meet consists of "preliminaries" (separated by age-group) where divers/swimmers attempt to qualify for "finals".  Conference meets are usually held during three weekdays:  The Tuesday morning after the last week of dual meets - 10 & under prelims; The Monday morning after the last week of dual meets - 11 & over prelims; Finals, the Thursday evening the week of Prelims (all ages).

 

SWIM TEAM TERMS AND INFORMATION

  • Deck - The area around the pool.
  • Lap - One length of the pool.
  • Heat - One race of up to 6, 8 or 10 swimmers (or as many swimmers as there are lanes in the pool).  Heats in each event are numbered 1, 2, 3.... or A, B, C…. The last heat is the fastest
  • Lanes - Normally one team swims in the odd numbered lanes and the other team swims the even numbered lanes.
  • Event - One or more heats of one age group of boys or girls for a stroke.
  • Meet Sequence - The normal sequence for a meet is IM, Free, Free Relay, Back, Breast, Fly and Medley Relay last.
  • Starter - The official that is in charge of running the meet & starting the races.
  • Turn & Stroke Judge - The official that watches the swimmers to make sure they perform the strokes, kicks, turns and touches correctly. (See DQ)
  • Disqualification (DQ) - To be eliminated from a race for rule infraction. Examples; Doing the wrong stroke, not doing stroke by rules, improper kick, not finishing race, false start, etc.  A common DQ is when goggles slide down during the breast and fly starts and the swimmer stop their stroke trying to fix them or not finishing the backstroke on their backs.
  • False Start - Starting the race before the beep or gun.
  • Awards - 1st -3rd place ribbons are awarded in all heats for all ages.  Participant ribbons are awarded in all heats of 10 year and younger swimmers.
  • Scoring - Only the last heat of each event scores team points.
  • Year-round swimmers - Some of the swimmers’ swim for other teams/clubs that practice and compete all year round.

 

SWIM MEETS

Individual Events

  • Freestyle - One pool-length for ages 6 under, 7-8, 9-10; two pool lengths for 11-12, 13-14; four pool lengths for 15-18.
  • Backstroke - One pool-length for ages 6 under, 7-8, 9-10; two pool lengths for 11-12, 13-14, 15-18.
  • Breaststroke - One pool-length for 7-8, 9-10; two pool lengths for 11-12, 13-14, 15-18.
  • Butterfly - One pool-length for 7-8, 9-10; two pool lengths for 11-12, 13-14, 15-18.
  • Individual Medley - One pool-length of each stroke in the following order: fly, back, breast, free.

Relay Events

  • Freestyle Relay (Four swimmers swim a relay race) - One pool-length for each swimmer for 8&under, 9-10; two pool-lengths for each swimmer for 11-12, 13-14, 15-18.
  • Medley Relay (Four swimmers each swim a different stroke in the order, back, breast, fly and free) - 1 pool-length for each swimmer for 8&under, 9-10; 2 pool-lengths for each swimmer: 11-12, 13-14, 15-18.