| A | |
| Age Group Meet | All USA registered swimmers, 18 years of age and younger, who have met the qualifying time standard for a specific event(s) are eligible to participate in their age category. A swimmer's age on the first day of competition shall govern for the entire meet. |
| B | |
| Bronze Cut | The qualifying time in a given event for the Bronze Championship. |
| C | |
| Circle Seeding | This is the seeding system used in prelims where the final three heats of an event are arranged so that the three fastest swimmers occupy the middle or fastest lane in their heat; the next three fastest swimmers occupy the next fastest lane, etc. |
| Classification of Meets | A swimmer's ability level determines his or her class of competition at USA meets. Gold, Silver and Bronze meets are sanctioned by USA. Each class has USA time standards for each stroke at each distance for each age group. Swimmers new to competition are classified as "Bronze" swimmers in their first meet. |
| Course | Designated distance over which the competition is conducted. |
| Cuts | Qualifying times for specific types of championship meets. |
| D | |
| Deck Seeding | A procedure for assigning swimmers to the proper lanes and heats immediately before each event in the marshaling area. |
| Disqualification (DQ's) | Stroke and turn judges watch each race. Swimmers with improper form or technique are disqualified and told why. Swimmers should not be discouraged by a DQ. Most team members have had the same experience. Pay attention to the judge's remarks and work doubly hard on stroke perfection in practice. Swimmers may swim the remaining events that day and may enter the same event at the next meet. |
| Dual Meet | Meets conducted with two teams. Dual meets usually have a limitation on the number of entrants per event from each team. |
| E | |
| Event | Any race or series of races in a given stroke and distance. Usually a swimmer is allowed to enter up to three individual events and one relay per day at USA swim meets. However, event limits are set by the host team, so check the meet information sheet to see how many events per day you are allowed. You will receive periodic reports. |
| Entry Fee Account | An account from which a swimmer is billed for meet entry fees, late fines, swimmers equipment, etc... |
| F | |
| Finals | The session of a meet where qualifying rounds (prelims) were held previously to determine the finalist (usually 1-16 depending on pool size and whether or not consolation finals are conducted). Results of the finals determine the ultimate placement in a given event. Most 'final' types of meets are at the championship level (i.e. YMCA Nationals, USA Championship meets). |
| Freestyle Relay | Four swimmers on each team, each swimmer swims one fourth of the distance using any desired stroke. |
| G | |
| Gold Cut | The qualifying time in a given event for the Gold Championship. |
| H | |
| Heat | A division of an event into a series of races. Each race is one heat. Heats are needed when more swimmers enter a race than there are lanes available in the pool. |
| Heat Sheet | A list of swimmers entered in each event with their respective entry times. Pre-seeded meets will also list swimmers in pre-assigned heats and lanes. The host team of a meet prepares heat sheets and sells them to spectators for a nominal fee. |
| Hotline (LHY) | Telephone info at #973-334-0091 |
| I | |
| Individual Medley (IM) | All four of the competitive strokes are swum by one swimmer in the following order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. |
| J | |
| Junior Olympics | Meets held at the end of each season in each state (winter - March, summer - July). Cut-off or qualifying times are required. |
| L | |
| Long Course | A type of competitive pool which measures 50 meters or 55 yards in length. The standard size for all International competition and all world record swims is the 50 meter course. |
| LHY | The official abbreviation for the Lakeland Hills YMCA Swim Team for use on all entries for meets. |
| M | |
| Marshal | The person responsible for assigning heats and lanes to swimmers. |
| Marshaling area | Area adjacent to the marshal in which swimmers are assembled and assigned to a heat. |
| Medley Relay | Four swimmers on each team, each swimmer swims one fourth of the prescribed distance continuously in the following order: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle. |
| Meet | Series of events determining the basis of competition. |
| DUAL - two teams in competition, generally not sanctioned. | |
| INVITATIONAL - a sanctioned meet sponsored by a team with two or more teams invited to participate. Invitationals and USA-S meets are classified according to the level of competition. A "Gold" meet is a high level of competition restricting competition to swimmers who have achieved "Gold" time standards. A "Silver" meet is restricted to swimmers who have not achieved "Gold" time, but have achieved better than "Bronze" times. | |
| P | |
| Prelims (Preliminary Heats) | In certain meets, the qualifying rounds held for each event to determine the finalists. |
| R | |
| Referee | The official who has authority over all other officials at a meet. He/She enforces all rules, decides all questions about conduct of the meet, and is responsible for the efficient running of the meet. |
| Relay | An event where four swimmers are part of a single, team oriented event. |
| S | |
| Sanction | Official or authorized approval from USA-S to sponsor a meet. |
| Scratch | The withdrawal of an entry from competition. |
| Seeding | The process by which a swimmer is assigned a certain lane and heat in an event. Competitors are assigned to lanes based on their seed times as follows: |
| 6 lane pool - lanes numbered 3,4,2,5,1,6 (with the fastest time in lane 3) | |
| 8 lane pool - lanes 4,5,3,6,2,7,1,8 (with the fastest time in lane 4) | |
| Senior Swim Meet | All USA registered swimmers who have met the Senior qualifying time standard for a given event are eligible to compete. |
| Short Course | A type of competitive pool which measures 25 yards or 25 meters. |
| "Silver" Cut | The qualifying time in a given event for the Silver Championship. |
| Split | A per lap time that coaches often record for teaching the concept of pacing. For instance, a swimmer's time for each 25 yard leg of a 100 yard event are his/her four splits. |
| Starter | The official at a meet responsible for the proper, legal start of each race. |
| Strokes | There are four official racing strokes - butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. |
| Stroke Judge | A certified official who determines the legality of swimmers' strokes and disqualifies those who do not conform to the USA or YMCA rules. |
| Swimming World | A monthly magazine with articles and stories about competitive swimming as well as some regional and all national meet results. For subscription information write, |
| "Swimming World" | |
| P.O.Box 45497 | |
| Los Angeles, CA 90045 | |
| T | |
| Timed Finals | Competition in which individual heats are swum and the final placements are determined by the times performed in all of the aggregate heats. All swimmers are seeded from the slowest times to the fastest times. Each heat is set up by ascending order of times (i.e. if 48 swimmers are entered in the 50 yard backstroke, the 8 slowest times would be swum in heat#1, and the 8 fastest times would be swum in heat #6) |
| Time Standards | Certain qualifying times which have been set up by the New Jersey Association of the USA and the National USA for all events in all levels of meets to insure that all competitors are of reasonably the same ability in their respective meets. |
| Top 16 (USA/YMCA) | A tabulation of the top 16 times in every age group and every event of all USA or Y competitions from the previous season. The short course Top 16 are published in August, and the long course Top 16 are published every March. |
| U | |
| Unattached | The status assigned to a swimmer when switching from one USA club to another. A swimmer must be unattached for 120 days from their last competition with their previous club. During this time, the swimmer may compete individually, but not in relays. |
| USA-S | Abbreviation for USA Swimming, Inc., which is the governing body for amateur swimming in the United States. National headquarters is in Colorado Springs, Colorado. |
| USA-S Meet Rules | All USA competition is conducted in accordance with the rules of USA Swimming as set forth in Official Rules for Competitive Swimming, a rule book published annually by USA. |
| Y | |
| YMCA East Fields | A meet where the top YMCA swimmers from the region came to compete. This meet no longer exists. |
| The walls of the pool hold the many prestigious banners that the LHY Team has earned over the years at the East Fields Meet. | |
| YMCA States | A meet conducted in February/March to determine the State Championship of Y swimming. You must achieve a Y State qualifying time to compete. |
| YMCA Nationals | A meet held in April and July where the best Y swimmers from all over the country swim to determine the best team and best individual swimmers in each event. |
