Bullpen -  Place where swimmers report at meets, before their event, to be arranged into their heat and lane assignment. 

Heat - A heat in swimming is a group of swimmers swimming the same event. Since only a certain number of swimmers can swim at a time (depending on the number of lanes, usually 6) they have to have swim at different times and usually they place heats on how fast they swim. So, in the winter season if you have the fastest time going into the race then you'd be in the last heat and if you have the slowest time going into the race then you'd be in the first heat. During our summer dual meet season, it is the reverse. The fastest heat always swims first. 

Course  - Designated distance over which the completion is conducted. 

Deck Seeding - Heat and lane assignments are determined for the swimmers at the beginning of each meet session, after scratches are taken out. 

DQ  - Disqualification - A swimmer is usually disqualified when she/he performs a stroke, touch or turn incorrectly or when s/he enters the water before the start (false start).

Dual Meet -  Meets conducted between two teams, usually with a limitation to the number of entrants from each team. 

False Start  - When a swimmer enters the water before a race or moves during the start, she/he may be charged with a false start. This results in disqualification. 

Finals  - Finals are the session of a meet where qualifying rounds were held previously to determine the finalists for the event. Usually there are 1 or 2 heats of finalists and their order of finish determines the ultimate placement in a given event. Most trials-finals meets are on a championship level. 

Finals Heat - Last heat of a trials/finals meet to determine the top 6 finishers in an event, seeded by prelim’s results 

Heat - A heat is a group of swimmers who swim in a race at the same time. Several heats may be held in a particular event. 

Heat Sheets - A program printed listing of all swimmers by event number and entry time. These are also called the Meet Programs or Psych Sheets. 

I.M.  - Individual Medley is an event where a swimmer swims butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle.

Lap  - A lap consists of two lengths of the pool. 

Length  - A length is one length of the pool. 

Medley Relay -  Four swimmers on each team swim one length of the pool in the following order: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle. 

Meet Director -  The individual responsible for acceptance/ rejection of teams’ entry into the swim meet designated meet schedule and events offered, staffing the meet, and publishing results. Parents are not allowed to contact meet directors without prior approval from the head coach. 

Prelims or Trials  - In certain meets, the qualifying rounds for each event to determine the finalists.

Proof of Time  - A requirement at some meets to make certain that swimmers have legally met the entry time standards for that meet.

Pyramid Seeding - In trials or preliminaries of trials-finals meets, the swimmers in the top 3 heats are intermingled so that the fastest three swimmers are in the middle lanes of the last 3 heats, the next 3 in the late next to that in each of the heats, and so forth. This is also called “circle seeding”. In finals, those finishing fastest by time swim in the top 1 or 2 heats (final and consolation final)

Referee  - A referee is an official who has been named as the final authority over all other officials at a swim meet. This individual makes all final decisions and sees to the efficient running of the meet. 

Seed Times - The times a swimmer uses to enter a meet. These times appear on the heat sheet and the entry cards and determine the swimmer’s heat and lane assignment in a meet. 

Seeding -  The process of assigning swimmers to lanes and heats by entered time. In general to swimmers with the slower seed times swim in the earlier heats. The order of swimming in the final heats depends on the type of meet. 

Straight Seeding - Swimmers are assigned to lanes in heats from slowest to fastest. In a given heat, the fastest swimmers swim in the middle lanes and the slower swimmers on the outer lanes. 

Split - The time a swimmer achieves in one or more laps of his/her race. Coaches use these times to help instruct swimmers in pacing. For example, the time for the first 50 yd in a 100 yd race is the swimmer’s first 50 yd split. 

Starter  - The starter is a meet official who has been chosen as the person responsible for starting each heat and calling the swimmers to the blocks for each race. 

Stroke and Turn Judge  - An official, who determines the legality of swimmers’ strokes, turns, and finishes and disqualifies those who do not conform to the rules.

 Time Trials -  A session that a coach will designate as a time to get times for each swimmer in each event at the beginning of the season as a base time for each swimmer. 

The four competitive swimming strokes are freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. The combination of all four strokes is called the individual medley.

​In freestyle events, the competitor may swim any stroke. The stroke most commonly used is also known as the crawl stroke, which is characterized by the alternate stroking of the arms over the surface of the water surface and an alternating (up-and-down) flutter kick.

Backstroke consists of an alternating motion of the arms with a flutter kick while on the back. On turns, swimmers may rotate to the stomach and perform a flip turn and some part of the swimmer must touch the wall. The swimmer must finish on their back.
 

Breaststroke requires simultaneous movements of the arms on the same horizontal plane. The hands are pressed out from in front of the breast in a heart shaped pattern and recovered under or on the surface of the water. The kick is a simultaneous somewhat circular motion similar to the action of a frog. On turns and at the finish, the swimmer must touch the wall with both hands simultaneously at, above or below the water surface.

​Butterfly is often thought of as the most difficult of the four strokes. It features a simultaneous recovery of the arms over the water combined with an undulating dolphin kick. In the kick, the swimmer must keep both legs together and may NOT flutter, scissors or use the breaststroke kick. Both hands must touch the wall simultaneously on the turns and the finish.

​The individual medley, commonly referred to as the I.M., features all four strokes. In the IM, the swimmer begins with the butterfly, then changes after one-fourth of the race to backstroke, then breaststroke and finally freestyle.