Glossary of Swimming
Click Here for a Glossary of Swimming Terminology
Mobile Apps
1. On Deck is a nice mobile app to have to check your account and see your swimmer's meet entries. Use your TeamUnify primary email and password to sign in.
2. Deck Pass is the mobile app from USA Swimming. It is a great app for young swimmers who often enjoy seeing their times or playing online games to learn more about swimming, sportsmanship, and healthy living. They earn online badges as they complete assignments. Parents with questions about what swimmers should eat on meet days, how to help nervous swimmers, etc. will find it useful as well.
3. Meet Mobile is yet another useful app. Some teams will post their meets and results on Meet Mobile instead of creating paper programs and paper results. Parents with Novice A swimmers who are competing in this weekend's MAC Hogan meet will want the app to know their swimmers event/heat/lane assignments and to see real-time results.
Please take a moment and update your accounts to include:
1. VERIFIED email addresses for each person who will need a parking pass. Swimmer emails should be added on the appropriate member tab.
2. At least one VERIFIED mobile number so that you will receive urgent messages.
3. Updated medical information if necessary
We cannot email you or text you except on verified accounts. You won't want to miss the parking pass or meet sign-ups or texts for sudden pool closings or delays for weather or mechanical issues.
Some useful pages on our NAAC.ws website you may not have seen yet:
1. Our 24-Hour Athlete page (also available by clicking the tile on the home page) is a great resource for everything from meet preparation to recovery.
2. Our Meet Info pages, accessible from the top menu bar, gives you our schedule, links to the meets, tells you which groups are going to each meet and what the special requirements are for some meets. It is updated with warm-up times, psych sheets, and results as they are provided to us. It is a good place to check your entries.
THE FOUR STROKES
The four competitive swimming strokes are freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. The combination of all four strokes is called individual medley.
In freestyle events, the competitor may swim any stroke. The stroke most commonly used is sometimes called the crawl, which is characterized by the alternate stroking of the arms over the surface of the water surface and an alternating (up-and-down) flutter kick.
Backstroke consists of an alternating motion of the arms with a flutter kick while on the back. On turns, swimmers may rotate to the stomach and perform a flip turn and some part of the swimmer must touch the wall. The swimmer must finish on the back.
The breaststroke requires simultaneous movements of the arms on the same horizontal plane. The hands are pressed out from in front of the breast in a heart shaped pattern and recovered under or on the surface of the water. The kick is a simultaneous somewhat circular motion similar to the action of a frog. On turns and at the finish, the swimmer must touch the wall with both hands simultaneously at, above or below the water surface.
Some consider the butterfly to be the most beautiful of the strokes. It features a simultaneous recovery of the arms over the water combined with an undulating dolphin kick. In the kick, the swimmer must keep both legs together and may not flutter, scissors or use the breaststroke kick. Both hands must touch the wall simultaneously on the turns and the finish.
The individual medley, commonly referred to as the I.M., features all four strokes. In the IM, the swimmer begins with the butterfly, then changes after one-fourth of the race to backstroke, then breaststroke and finally freestyle.
COMPETITION 101
RULES
The technical rules of swimming are designed to provide fair and equitable conditions of competition and to promote uniformity in the sport. Each swimming stroke has specific rules designed to ensure that no swimmer gets an unfair competitive advantage over another swimmer.
COURSE
Competition pools may be short course (25 yards or 25 meters), or long course (50 meters). The international standard (as used in the Olympics) is 50 meters. World records are accomplished in 25 and 50 meter pools. USA Swimming maintains records for 25 yard, 25 meter and 50 meter pools.
COMPETITION
Participants compete in different age groups and meets depending on their achievement level and how old they are on the first day of the meet. Traditionally recognized age groups are 10 and under, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17-18. Many local meets feature 8 and under, single age groups, or senior events. Team practice groups are usually determined by age and/or ability.
OFFICIALS
Officials are present at all competitions to enforce the technical rules of swimming so the competition is fair and equitable. Officials attend clinics, pass a written test and work meets before being certified. All parents are encouraged to get involved with some form of officiating.
CHASE STARTS - These types of starts are only for long course meets, and only for distances of 100, 200 and 400 meters. They are used to speed up the meet. Swimmers start from alternating ends of the pool. A heat of swimmers is started after the previous heat, which started from the opposite end, has made the final turn and is on their last lap. Here is how it usually works. Girls will start from one end. Boys will start from the other. Each end will have its own starter and timers. The first heat of girls will start. When the slowest girl finishes her last turn the starter on the boys' end will begin to start the first heat of boys. Some young swimmers worry that they may run into or even get passed by the swimmer from the opposite end. That does not happen. By the time all of the starting protocol is complete the swimmers in the previous heat will be well out of the way.
