Age-group: Swimmers compete in the following age brackets: 6 and under, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 and 15-18. Per NWAL rules the age of the swimmer on May 1 is the age-group they will compete in. 

Anchor: is the last (usually 4th) person in a relay race. They are the final leg and usually the fastest to anchor the relay team.

Bilateral Breathing: in freestyle being able to breath on both sides.

Declare/Declaration: to officially say “attending” or “not attending” for each meet. You will also choose the 2-3 events your swimmer will participate in and say “available” or “not available” for relays. You must declare for every meet even if you will not attend (see How to Declare in How To’s section on the website)

Diving/Starting Blocks: The platform from which swimmers dive off from to begin races. Each pool's blocks are different, it is important to attend warm-ups to practice diving off the blocks before the meet begins.

Divisionals: The end of season meet between all teams in the Division. (See Division section on the website for more information.)

Dolphin kick: Once just the leg motion for butterfly, the dolphin kick is now considered the fifth stroke. It is done underwater in streamline position to build momentum on fly, freestyle and backstroke starts and turns. Swimmers are even allowed to take one dolphin kick in breaststroke.

Dual Meet: a regular competition meet between two teams.

DQ: shortened for disqualification. If a swimmer is disqualified during a meet an official will typically come up to you after your race to explain why you have been DQ’d (you can also ask the official why)- this means your time will not be officially recorded as well. See our "What does DQ Mean?" or NWAL Infraction Cheat Sheet for more .

Event: each race/event is numbered 1-82 (See Order of Events) Swimmers typically write their event numbers on their arms with a sharpie to help keep track of/remember their events for the day. .

Freestyle Relay: relay race consisting of 4 swimmers. All swimmers will swim freestyle. A swimmer must wait for the person in the water to touch the wall before entering the water.

Heat: When an event has more swimmers entered than available lanes, as is usually the case, there are multiple heats of the event. Swimmers are grouped into heats based upon their seeded times, and heats for each event progress from slowest to fastest.

Heat Sheet: This is the official schedule of swimmers in their assigned events, heats and lanes drawn up by the coaches. You can find the heat sheet on the Swimtopia app, the events calendar, and it is usually sent out by email the day before a meet. (See How To Find Heat Sheet and Results in theHow To’s section on the website).

IM: is the individual medley, an event in which a swimmer performs all four competitive strokes in one race. The order is butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle.

Invitational: an optional meet that a swimmer must have a qualifying time for (See Invitational section on website for more information.)

Medley Relay: a relay race consisting of 4 swimmers with each swimmer doing a different stroke. The order is backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, and freestyle. A swimmer must wait for the person in the water to touch the wall before entering the water.

NS: short for NO-SHOW

Official: is a person who has been trained in the technical details of all the strokes and turns. They observe swimmers for proper technique and can issue DQ’s based on the swimmers proper or improper execution of the swimming technique.

On-deck: the area in which swimmers are preparing for and lining up for their races (PARENTS ARE NOT ALLOWED ON DECK)

Pentathlon: this is where each swimmer will swim all 4 strokes as well as IM in one day.

Ready Bench: is the area where swimmers will line up and be placed into the correct order before their event (organized by heat and lane number). Your swimmer will report to the ready bench when the event number is called.(Parents are not allowed in the Ready Bench area).

Time Trial: is the first meet of summer league. It is a “practice” meet with just the home team and is used for the purpose of getting a swimmer’s seed time. It is important to attend because you cannot enter a regular dual meet without an official seed time.

Timer: a position in which a stopwatch is used to time a swimmer. In a regular dual meet there are 1st and 2nd shifts, with 3 timers per lane.

Two-hand Touch: when swimming breaststroke or butterfly a two hand touch is mandatory on your finish. Both hands must simultaneously touch the wall to ensure you are not DQ’d.

Scribe: the person who writes down the times taken by the timers. In a regular dual meet there are 1st and 2nd shifts, with 1 scribe per lane.

Scratch: To withdraw or be withdrawn from an event at a meet.

Seed Time: you must have an official time to enter a regular dual meet. Seed times are the swimmers fastest beginning time and typically taken at the Time Trial meet.

Streamline: When the body is pointing in a long, straight line with the arms at the ears, locked together with one hand on top of the other, while the legs are together and the toes are pointed. It is used on starts and turns because it minimizes drag or resistance underwater.

Stroke Count: in backstroke, when coming to the finish or turn the swimmer will make note of how many strokes it takes them to get from the flags to the wall. Attending warm-up is important to help the swimmer practice their stroke count, because pools are different.

Warm-up: is usually a 10-15 minute time period where the swimmer can practice starts, turns, and finishes before the meet officially starts. Warm-ups are important to attend so the swimmer can get familiar with a pool, especially in an away meet.

25 vs 50 vs 100: think of the laps as quarters, one lap is 25, 2 lps is 50, 4 laps is 100, and so on. In summer league we only swim 25s, 50s, and 100s.