Time standards
An Explanation of time standards
There is a lot to learn over the years about swimming. Time standards are one of the difficult things that newer swimmers and parents often struggle with.
Time standards are used to manage meets, as well as provide swimmers with stepping stones in their swimming.
First there are Age Group Time Standards.
They are divided by sex and age groupings. 10-U (sometimes 8-U); 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17-18 (though san diego uses 15-16 times for a 15-18 grouping).
They range from C to B to BB to A on up to AAAA. Swimmers who are beginners who do not have a time are in the C category until they reach the B std.
First time swimmers will have a NT listed as their time (No Time). Each swim has a separate standard. So you could have a C time in the 50 breast, a B time in the 100 fly, and an A time in the 500 free. When you "age up" and are in a new age bracket, you don't loose your times, but they likely will not meet the same standard as before.
Time standards exist for 3 potential pool courses: 25 yard pools (aka short course: SC or short course yards: SCY), 25 meter pools (aka short course meters: SCM), and 50 meter pools (aka long course: LC or LCM). Here are the USA swimming time standards through 2024. Pages 1-2 are LC, 3-4 SCM and pages 5-6 are SCY. By the way, we haven't had a short course meters meet in San Diego in over 30 years.
Specialty meet time stds for Age Group swimming
Some meets come with their own standards that are different than the USA swiming age group time standards . Normally these are championship - type meets. For example. In December, the Winter Age Group championship meet occurred. It has time standards that are based solely on previous years' results. Most refer to them as "WAG cuts".
Another important San Diego Age group meet is the SI Age Group Championships. There is a 14&U short course meet and a all-ages long course meet. This year the meets are in mid March and late July. Here are those standards.
Some other out of district meets also have their own standards. Although there are many of these, the ones that CAST gears for are Far Westerns (early April and sometimes we attend the LC one in Aug.) and Long Course Western Zones which is a San Diego all-star meet in Aug. Both of these meets have their own specific standards - usually in the AA to AAA range. In the case of Western Zones, you have to meet at least two time standards and be selected for the Zone team.
Senior meet Standards:
A senior meet no longer has age group categories. So a 15 year old may be competing against a heat of 20-23 year olds. Some high level 12-13-14 year olds may start qualifying for senior meets.
The Sr-Classic is a meet held in San Diego every February, and is kind of an intro level to senior meets, with many of it's time standards just above 13-14 JO time stds. There are many senior meets in Orange and L.A. County that are a significant step-up from that....all with meet-specific standards.
Some notable ones: Speedo Grand Challenge, Swim Meet of Champions, L.A. Invitational
Moving up the hierarchy of standard USA Swimming Senior meets are (lowest to highest):
Sectionals - Futures - Winter Junior Nationals - Summer Junior Nationals - US Open - Summer Nationals - Olympic Trials.
Many swimmers may never make it to Sectionals or above. It takes years of daily dedication to even reach this level. Making it to Olympic Trials takes much more: talent, dedication, relentless drive and ambition, and a lot of other factors. Most qualifiers to Olympic Trials are post high school and it represents approximately the top 1/2 of 1% of competitive swimmers in the US. I believe only 2 high school aged swimmers in all of San Diego went to the last Olympic Trials.
Using Time Standards:
As I stated at the top. Time standards are used both for meet management, and for stepping stones. Sometimes they can be effectively used for goal setting. Example: "I now have a B time in the 50 free and I am going to use the BB standard as my goal for 2 months from now." Using time standards as goals can help provide motivation, but that should be something between swimmer and coach. Parents who harp on time standards with their kids often don't know the training status and goal plans of the coach/swimmer and can cause feelings of failure in a swimmer when times aren't achieved, even when they only want to provide motivation.
Time standards are based on large numbers of swimmers and averaged over years. Because of this the next best time standard was not created with your specific swimmer in mind, and often it's best to just look at improving technique and habits in and out of the pool that will lead to faster swimming, and let the time standards take care of themselves.
If you have any questions regarding what level your swimmer is at, feel free to contact their coach.
Thanks
- Coach Dave
