AAAA Parent Education Series 5 of 5
5 of 5
AAAA Parent Education Series
The most important thing you can do as the parent of a swimmer is to love and support your child, both in and out of the pool. This support is a key factor in fostering enjoyment and learning as well as contributing to the child's individual success in the pool.
We have a staff with 40+ years coaching experience with even more competitive swimming experience. On AAAA, we try our best as a coaching staff to continue to educate families on the sport of swimming based on this experience. There are a ton of great resources on usaswimming.org and on our very own site under the Swim Team 101 tab.
This week's topic is on Time Standards.
Time Standards can be a confusing thing for newer swim families. There are lots of time standards for lots of different competitions. There are also time standards that measure the progress of a swimmer on a national level. Here is an explanation of the progression meets and time standards.
It is important to realize one thing about time standards first -- they are merely a way of helping control the size of swim meets. Swimmers can fall into the trap of labeling themselves as Sectional or Divisional qualifiers. This can sometimes lead to stagnating performances and progression as a swimmer. So, if you think of standards more as a means of an invitation to certain meets -- we may be better off.
National Motivational Time Standards measure the progress of a swimmer through the age group phase of swimming. These range from B times to AAAA times. Swimmers can use these to work from the B level to AAAA level. Some meets around the country may use these standards for qualifying -- most notable the Zone Meets which use the AAA times.
So... what about all of these Division, Sectional and Level Meets? Which are the most important? Which should your child strive for?
For starters, our LSC Championship meets are in March and July. We strive to have our best team showing at these meets. The standards for these meets are called Division 1 times. The week or two before these meets, our LSC has a Division 2 meet. This meet is a stepping stone, if you will, to the Division 1 meet. The standard for this meet is the Division 2 time. Division meets have different summer cuts and spring cuts. The Sectional or Region 8 meet is a regional meet with separate time standards for summer and spring. This meet happens in March and July. Swimmers will begin to approach these cuts around the ages of 12-14 and AAAA will travel as a team to participate in this meet.
Level 1 Championships is a mid-season prelim/final swim meet unique to our LSC in mid-December. The qualifying standards for this meet are the A times from the National Motivational Time Standards. The week prior to this meet is the Level 2 meet with a separate time standard. These meets are great mid-season events to attend -- these meets are next on our list -- sign up here - L2 (in Lawrence!) -- L1 (in Wichita).
The Zone and All-Star meets are regional championship competitions where we compete as the Missouri Valley LSC team against other states and LSCs. If you make a AAA time, you are eligible to attend the Zone meet in August. The All-Star meet is a selected team where the Head All-Star coach will assemble the roster. The top 5 swimmers in each event per age group (9-10, 11-12, 13-14) will be elected to attend and join the team.
Beyond these meets are higher level competitions sponsored by USA Swimming with quicker time standards. They are Grand Prix Meets (7 meets per year around the country), Junior Nationals (summer and Winter), Senior Nationals (summer and winter) and Olympic Trials (every 4 years).
In addition, there may be meets scattered throughout the year with time standards that, again, limit the number of swimmers of the meet. This past weekend's meet in Columbia had standards for 13 and over swimmers.
Here is the progression of meets for swimmers to strive for through their careers:
Division 2 - February and July
Level Meets - December
Division 1 - March and July
Zones/AllStars (14-U) - August and January
Sectionals - March and July
Grand Prix - Year Round
Junior Nationals - Winter -- then Summer
Nationals - Winter -- then Summer
Olympic Trials - July
For a list of D1, D2 and Sectional Times Standards
For National Meet Time Standards
