Mom, what's my time?   Dad, did I make a "cut"?  Can I swim in the B Meet?

Ever hear any of the above?  Ever wonder what all these times you hear mentioned around the pool deck mean?

First, remember the most important time of all is a swimmer's personal best time in any event - individual or relay.  The most exciting "cut" is to make an improvement to that time.

To help motivate your swimmers please read the below and determine the best way to use this information as a motivational tool.  Maybe your swimmer is at "BB" times now, the coaches will likely make a "B" time their goal.  If your swimmer is making Southeastern Times, then perhaps the coaches will make a Sectional time the goal.  Remember - your job is to cheer any improvements (and good efforts) towards these goals, and to let the coaches set the goals and work with the swimmers towards those goals.

MYB is both a USA Swimming Club and a YMCA Swimming Team, so let me start with an USA Swimming time standards overview.

First, every USA Swimming Club is under one of 50 plus Local Swimming Committees (LSC), which are divided among 4 Zones around the country.   Our club, MYB, is in the Southeastern LSC and is in the Southern Zone.

• See USA Swimming site for more info on USA Swimming and Southern Zone.
• See Southeastern Swimming LSC site for info on our LSC and other clubs in our LSC

For Zone and National Meets, time standards are standard for all swimmers in the meet, this level of meets time standards are posted at the USA Swimming web site for each year.  Examples of these standards include:

• 2004 Olympic Trials
• 2004 Nationals & Olympic Trials
• 2003 U.S. Open
• National Team Qualifying (Junior & National)
• US National 2001-2004 Top-16 Consideration Times
   

Each LSC (and some large clubs) have their own time standards within the LSC, time standards can vary from LSC to LSC (based on number of swimmers in that LSC and how many make top 16 times etc, times are adjusted within the LSC to keep the competition level appropriate to the level of swimmers in that LSC).  Our LSC (Southeastern Swimming LSC) is about the middle of the pack time wise for the 50+ LSC in the USA.  

The time standards for Southeastern Swimming LSC are what you will hear called "Southeasterns" (as in "I made a Southeastern Cut").  These standards are established yearly for Short Course (25 Yard), Long Course (50 Meter) and 8 & Under Swimmers and are available here.

Swimmers who make these times are eligible to go to the Southeasterns Championship Meets.  8 & Under Swimmers who make these times have their own Championships (Usually held same time as Districts meet).  Swimmers who do not make Championship times, have a end of season Districts Meet.

Obviously with each LSC having slightly different time standards, you need SOMETHING to gauge your swimmer by "Nationally" - and that is where the "National Age Group Times" standards come in.  This is an "average" (if you will) of the different LSC swimmers times and allows you to motivate your swimmers as they move from "B" times, to "BB" times, to "A" times.  On "AVERAGE" in our LSC - our Southeastern Cuts are somewhere around the "A" to "AA" times, once your swimmer is in this range, start motivating really, really loud!  (Before then be really loud!)

Swimmers who are exceeding Southeastern Times, are likely to be working with the coaches on goals towards "Sectionals" or "Zones" or "Nationals" Meets.  This level of swimming is closely monitored by the coaching staff, if you have questions in this area, please let them know.

Ok - everyone a little clearer on time standards for USA Swimming?  Hope so, onto YMCA Swimming now.

As a dual club (USA Swimming and YMCA Swimming) we have two sets of time standards and therefore twice the opportunity to have our swimmers compete and excel in meets.

YMCA Swimming for age group swimmers (usually Silver II and Below) is typically among local YMCA teams, examples for us would be Prattville YMCA Sea Lions, Anniston YMCA Swim Team, Bessemer Area YMCA Hurricanes and Playground Area YMCA, Ft Walton Beach, FL among others.  YMCA age group swimming does not have "A" or "B" times nor does it have "AGE GROUP (9-10, 8 & under etc) time standards".    Note though, that since we are a dual team (USA Swimming and YMCA) that if a swimmer "makes" a USA Swimming or Southeasterns time in a YMCA meet - it COUNTS towards USA/Southeastern qualifications.

For older swimmers, the YMCA National Championships have their own time standards (again different than USA Swimming National standards) available here under National Times

Alright, ready for the quiz?   Just kidding.  I hope this helped some to clarify things.  "What's your/my time" gets said a lot around the deck, so just remember - the most important response to that is "Your time is better than your last time - you have a new PERSONAL BEST!"

See you at the pool.