When you or your child first start swimming, it can seem like everyone else is speaking a foreign language, so here is a glossary of some terms commonly used in swimming which can be hard for a newcomer to understand.

Age Group
Swimmer or competition for under 16s

ASA
Amateur Swimming Association – swimming's governing body

BAGCat points
The ASA believes that young swimmers develop their potential best by competing in a range of events.  In order to discourage specialising too early, events are divided into the British Age Group Categories - BAGCats for short.  When swimmers compete in a BAGCat event, their time is converted into points which take into account their age and sex and compare them against other swimmers across the country.  The points are used to work out which swimmer has given the best performance overall

Borough Championships
Highly competitive gala held each summer by Wandsworth ASA. This is usually fought very closely with Wandsworth SC – Leander's aim is to win!

Club Championships
Leander holds club championship galas twice a year.  These are open to all club members and are an ideal introduction to competitive swimming.  They are also the best way for you and us to find out how well you are progressing

County Championships
Usually referred to within the club as the Surreys.  Leander is affiliated to the Surrey ASA  so all swimmers who achieve the qualifying times should take part in these galas held in February and March every year. Times MUST be achieved at licensed meets during the qualifying period (usually since the last day of the previous year's competition) - times from Leander's club champs are valid for the Surreys

DNC
Did not compete

DNF
Did not finish

DQ
Disqualified – swimmers may be disqualified for several reasons e.g. false start, incorrect stroke, incorrect turn

Energy systems
Swimmers use different energy levels when they train, which relate to how much oxygen is used up by the muscles and how fast the heart is beating.  It is important to train at different rates, using all the energy systems, VO2 Max, Threshold, A2 (Aerobic 2) and A1 (Aerobic 1).  VO2 Max is working very hard but not an all-out sprint; Threshold  should be a pace when swimmers are working hard but can maintain speed and effort throughout the whole set; A2 is slightly slower than threshold, but again should be a pace swimmers can maintain and A1 is slightly slower again, with swimmers having a fairly low heart rate during an A1 set – however this does not mean they can swim slowly and put no effort in!

Form stroke
Backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly

Freestyle
In practice freestyle races are always swum as front crawl as this is the fastest stroke, however technically it means any stroke which is not a form stroke

HDW (Heat Declared Winner)
Only heats are swum, not heats and finals.  The swimmer with the fastest heat time in the relevant age group wins the event regardless of which swimmer wins the heat.  This seems to be very hard for younger swimmers to understand, but basically they just need to swim as fast as they can!

Junior Borough Championships
Held by Wandsworth ASA, this gala is open to all under 12s who did not win an individual medal in the main borough championships in July

IM (Individual Medley)
All four strokes - fly, back, breast and free – are swum in the same race, either over 100m, 200m or 400m.  In a medley relay the order of the strokes is slightly different – back, fly, breast and free – in order to avoid a takeover on backstroke

Lane order
In finals, the lane order is decided from times swum in the heats or semis. The fastest qualifier goes in lane 4, the second fastest in lane 5, third fastest in lane 3, fourth fastest in lane 6, fifth fastest in lane 2, sixth fastest in lane 7, seventh fastest in lane 1 with the slowest qualifier in lane 8.  In theory this should produce a spearheaded race – looked at from above, the swimmers are in the shape of a spearhead.  Sometimes the later heats in HDW events will be spearheaded as well

Licensed meets

Different galas are aimed at different levels of swimmers - Level 1 galas are aimed at the elite swimmers and usually have tough qualifying times, they must be held in a 50m pool.  Level 2 galas have slightly easier times and must be held in a 25m pool.  Level 3 galas are held in either 25m or 50m pools and are aimed at swimmers who're not so used to competing or who have slower times - Level 3 galas usually have an upper qualifying time as well as a lower qualifying time.  Level 4 galas are events like the Leander Club Championships and the Wandsworth Borough Championships - they can be held in 25m or 33m pools and don't have to have electronic timing.  Times from Level 4 meets are eligible for entry to the Surreys, but not to the London Regionals

Long Course
Galas swum in a 50m pool – times are usually slower than those achieved in a 25m pool

NQT
Qualifying time for the National Age Group/Youth Championships swum in July/August each year

One start rule
Swimmers are disqualified if they start before the referee sounds the horn or whistle

Open meet
Gala open to swimmers from any club, within specific age groups.  Usually swimmers have to be faster than set qualifying times – some meets also have cut-off times which means swimmers have to be no faster than the set time

Over the top start
Swimmers stay in the water until the next race has started

PB (Personal Best)
The best time achieved by a swimmer in a particular event so far.  Swimmers will have both short course and long course PBs

Regional Championships
The next step up from County Championships, swimmers will compete against clubs from all over London.  Times must be achieved at a Level 1, 2 or 3 licensed meet - club champs and Wandsworths times are NOT valid for the Regionals

Short Course
Galas swum in a 25m pool.  Because there are more turns, times are usually faster than those achieved in long course events

Splits
The times from each race are broken down into 25m or 50m chunks, which enables swimmers to see how they paced a race

Swim down
Gentle swimming to relax the muscles after training or competing

Taper
Period of less intense training in the run up to a major event

Warm up
Gentle swimming to loosen up the body at the start of training or before a gala