Time Standards

My daughter competed in a total of six swim meets during the Long Course season from April, 2015 ending on July 31, 2015.  I was not informed by the coaches about championship meets or A and B times when we started nor did I did know to ask.   This is the email that was sent to the team right before the championship meet in late May 2015.  **For the Mt Hood meets in June: all 8&unders will swim in the C meet (6/13-14 Sat&Sun only-indoor SCY).  9&10 year olds will swim in the Age Group Meet (6/12-14 Fri thru Sun-outdoor LCM) IF they have 4 or more qualifying times for the meet (OSI 9 year old B times).  When I found out that my daughter did not make the qualifying B times for the long course championship meet, I quickly realized that there is something more than just swimming on a team.  She was at a "C" meet that was going on inside in a small pool with a small group of girls while many of her friends were swimming in the outside pool in the sunshine that was olympic size, really nice and packed full of people.  Luckily my daughter was with a great group of girls who all had so much fun teasing the coach, laughing and playing together.  At the meets to follow, I started to talk to other parents and they were discussing A times.  I also heard the term State.  After the long course championships at the beginning of summer a few of my daughters' teammates were moved into another squad called "Storm."  My daughter really wanted to get onto Storm.  I was not that excited about this idea because I heard that the workouts are six days a week.  I told her that she would probably need to get "A" times to get moved.  Although many of the girls who were moved did not have "A" times.  I'm not exactly sure of the criteria to get moved to another squad.  I looked up Oregon Swimming and found the 9 year old "A" times.  There is a lot of information to sort through because much of it does not apply to your child until they are ready and need it. 

Here's what I think I've learned so far:

A common misconception is that the championship meets are called "state" championships.  These meets are open to registered Oregon Swimming Swimmers and Oregon Swimming does not only encompass the State of Oregon.  Oregon swimming includes SW Washington and excludes Eastern Oregon counties. 

Oregon Swimming hosts several championship meets a year during short course and long course seasons. During the short course season, the 10 and Under Championships are usually held the second weekend of February, open to all swimmers who meet the qualifying standard (during the qualifying period of February 1 of the previous year until the entry deadline) . During the Long Course season, Oregon holds the 10 and Under Championships during the second weekend of July for swimmers who meet the qualifying standard during the qualifying period July 1 of the previous year until the entry deadline.  Oregon swimming publishes a list of time standards can be found at:  http://www.oregonswimming.org/standards.  If your child has a birthday, than they need to meet the qualifying time standard for the age that they will be on the day of the championship meet. 

After the "C" meet, I printed out the 9 year old "A" times for my daughter.  During the summer, the workouts were 90 minutes on Tuesdays in an outdoor pool.  The other workouts were about an hour instead of the usual 45 minutes.  Because of these extra workouts, and my daughter's determination, she did get an "A" time in the butterfly.  She ended the long course season in a really positive way.