Glossary of Swim Meet Terms:

 

Anchor Leg The final (4th) leg of a relay, typically swum by the fastest swimmer.
Block The starting platform.
Bull Pen Staging area where swimmers are organized by heat and event prior to racing. Often used for younger swimmers to ensure that they do not miss their races. Operated by extremely patient individuals.
Colorado System Our brand of electronic timing system used by our team.
Deck The area around the pool reserved for swimmers, officials and coaches.
DQ Stands for disqualification, meaning that an official observer the swimmer commit an infraction during their swim. This could be a false start or a stroke and turn violation.
Dry Land What evil coaches make their swimmers do when they are not swimming. Dry land training is actually very beneficial for older swimmers, and mainly involves workouts similar to what other athletic teams employ- sit-ups, light weights, pull-ups, etc.
Dual Confirmation Relay teams are watched by the relay take-off judges for an illegal early take-off. This must be observed by both judges in order for the team to be DQ'd.
Fast Water Believe it or not, some pools swim faster than others. This relates to the quality of their lane ropes, gutters and other things. Swimmers will simply say "this pool has fast water."
Flags Backstroke flags that are placed 5 meters from each end of the pool. Swimmers use these to gauge their position in the backstroke, with a swimmer knowing how many strokes he/she takes past the flags before initiating their turn.
Heat Sheet This is the swim meet program, often sold at an exorbitant price by the host team. It lists all of the events by heat, along with the swimmers and their seed times. Host teams sell ads to place in heat sheets, which can be a major source of income. You kinda have to have one too.
IM- Individual Medley This event combines the 4 basic strokes in the following order: Fly, Back, Breast, Free.
LSC Local Swim Committee, the governing body for a region of USA Swimming. Ours is Southeastern Swimming, covering Alabama, Tennessee and parts of Florida and Georgia.
Lead-Off Leg The opening leg of a relay event. This is the only leg of a relay that can also count as an official time for the stroke being swum, as it is the only one where the swimmer starts from a set position.
Medley Relay Analagous to the IM, but with the legs swum in a different order: Back, Breast, Fly and then Free.
Motivational Times Sometimes in a heat sheet you will see letters next to a swimmers time. These range from B to BB, then A, AA, AAA, AAAA etc. A is better than B, but making a B time is something to be proud of. Few swimmers achieve AAA times or better.
Official Meets are manned by several officials- one referee, one starter, and 4 or more stroke and turn judges. Championship meets often have a chief judge and additional stroke and turn judges, relay take-off judges, and place judges.
Psych Sheet Several days before a meet the host team will post a preliminary heat sheet listing all of the entered swimmers and their seed times. This is called the Psych Sheet, since swimmers will digest it and get all worked up (psyched) about who they're swimming against and what times they'll need to swim.
Qualifying Time Championship meets have time standards that must be met before a swimmer is eligible to compete. This standard is the qualifying time.
Scratch To withdraw from an event in a competition formally. A swimmer who merely doesn't show up is listed as a No Show, and could face penalties in certain settings.
Seed This is the position a swimmer is in prior to the race. For example, if 50 swimmers are entered in the swimmers event and he/she has the 4th fastest time, they are the 4th seed. Swimmers are placed in lanes based on seed times, with the fastest getting Lane 4, then Lanes 5,3,6,2,7,1 and 8. This theoretically gives the fastest seed the least disturbed water to swim in.
Short Course Refers to the winter season, where events are in yards not meters and are of the shorter distance variety.
Soft Touch Young swimmers in particular often do not finish the race by nailing the touch pad, but rather by grazing it or hitting over the top of it. This leads to what looks like a slower than expected time on the scoreboard. The hand-held backup stopwatches usually correct this.
Split Time Refers to the time a swimmer achieves either during their leg of a relay, or in a specified portion of a long individual event.
Streamline The position used to gain maximum distance during a start and/or push off from the wall. The swimmer's body is as tight as it can be, forming a pencil-like position with the hands forming the point.
Touch Pad The things hanging in the water at the end of lanes. Swimmers hit the touch pad at the finish of a race, triggering an electronic time to be recorded.
Warm Up Teams are given scheduled warm-up slots before their meet session. Typically a team will be given one or two lanes and a 20-30 minute time slot. Swimmers who miss the warm up tend to not swim as well.

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