SWIMMING GLOSSARY -
Common Swimming Terms
Bilateral breathing - This involves alternating the side that a swimmer turns their head to breathe, mostly in freestyle.
Blocks - The starting platforms located behind each lane. Some pools have blocks at the deeper end of the pool, and some pools have blocks at both ends. Blocks have a variety of designs and can be permanent or removable. Blocks usually include a bar for swimmers to hold onto when starting in the water to perform backstroke.
Breaststroke - Arms move together under the water horizontally, with the legs doing a 'frog kick'.
Butterfly - Arms move up and over together, and legs move up and down together in a dolphin kick.
Deck - The area immediately surrounding the pool. During most meets, only 'authorised' people (swimmers, officials/timekeepers, coaches) are allowed on pool deck.
District Victoria is divided up into 4 metro districts: East, South, North, West and 12 country districts.
DNF (Did Not Finish) - This is when a swimmer starts an event, but does not complete it for some reason.
DQ (Disqualification) - This is when a swimmer in a race is disqualified by a technical judge. It happens to most swimmers at some stage, usually for starting a little before the gun, an incorrect turn, or not getting something right with a stroke (e.g. doing the incorrect kick for breaststroke, or not keeping your feet together for butterfly kick). The DQ code will appear in the results sheet next to the swimmers name at the base of the results for that event/heat.
False Start - When a swimmer leaves the starting block before the horn or gun. One false start will disqualify a swimmer or a relay team, although the starter or referee may disallow the false start due to unusual circumstances.
Flags - Pennants that are suspended over the width of each end of the pool approximately 5 metres from the wall. The flags are especially helpful to swimmers doing backstroke so they know when they are approaching the wall.
Four beat kick - This involves four leg movements for each arm stroke in freestyle. A 2-beat or 6-beat kick may similarly be used.
Freestyle - This swim is called 'freestyle' because there is no set technique and swimmers can do whatever movement they find fastest - this leads to a stroke many call the 'front crawl'.
Heats - A division of an event when there are too many swimmers to compete at the same time. The results are ordered by swimmers time swum, after all heats of the event are completed. At some meets (such as at State Championships), there may be a final for the top ranked swimmers after all heats have been swum.
IM (Individual Medley) - A swimming event using all four of the competitive strokes on consecutive lengths of the race. The order must be: Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Freestyle. Equal distances must be swum of each stroke over a total distance of either 200M or 400M.
Lane Ropes - Dividers that mark the width of lanes in a pool. There are individual disks placed on a cable that turn on the cable when a swimmer's wave hits - this helps to dissipate the wave.
Lap Counter - This is the large numbered cards placed at the non-starting end of the pool for freestyle events of 800 metres or longer - an official turns the cards for each lap.
Long Course - Events swum in a 50 metre length pool.
Marshalling - This is the area where each swimmer waits before their upcoming race. At each meet there is a marshalling board which shows the number of the event that the meet is marshalling for. It is important to know your event number (e.g. you might be in heat 4 of 8 heats for 50M freestyle), and to keep an eye on what event is being marshalled so that you don't miss your race.
Medley - A swim event where all strokes are used. This may be an individual event (see 'individual medley'), or a team event with four people with each swimmer swimming a different stroke. For relay events, the order is backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
Open Water - Swimming in water other than in a pool, such as a lake or the ocean.
PB (Personal Best) - This is when a swimmer goes faster than their previous fastest performance in a particular stroke over a particular distance. Each swimmer can set a PB for freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and individual medley (IM) over each available distance, such as 25M, 50M, 100M, 200M, 400M and even 1500M.
Pull - Using your arms in a swimming practice drill. Swimmers usually place a 'pull buoy' between their legs to keep their legs together while they pull.
Referee - The head official at a swim meet.
SCR (Scratched) - This code may appear against a swimmers name on the results sheet when they have registered to enter a particular event, but do not start for some reason.
Short Course - Events swum in a 25 metre length pool. The times for short course events are often quicker than long course events due to swimmers getting to push off the wall more often.
Streamline - This is a term used to describe the best technique for swimmers to move through the water through the dive, stroke, turn, and finish sections of their swims, with minimum water resistance and the best chance for speed.
STS (Steps to Success) - These are our Head Coaches recommended steps for achieving swimming success, which include a focus on staying streamlined in the water (meaning that you move as efficiently as possible, with minimum water resistance through the water). There are 5 steps - ask your Coach for details.
Timekeeper - The volunteers sitting behind the starting blocks/finish end of the pool, who are responsible for setting stopwatch times on events and/or activating the backup buttons for the timing system. If there is an automatic timing system with touchpads, the timekeepers are the backup for the automatic system.
Touchpad - This is the removable plate on the end of the pools that is connected to an automatic timing system. A swimmer must properly touch this automatic timing pad at the end of a race to register an official time in a race.
Tumble turn - A turn at the ends of the pool used in freestyle swimming which is similar to a somersault under the water. Once the technique is mastered, this is quicker than a 'touch and go' turn.
Warm-down - The recovery swimming a swimmer does after a race (when pool space is available). This helps the swimmer to clear waste products from their muscles.
Warm-up - The practice and '"loosening up" session a swimmer does before the meet or before their event is swum. This helps the swimmer to get their body ready to perform at their best on the day, and helps to prevent injury.