The level of assumed knowledge may be daunting to those new to our swimming community, especially if they personally do not have competitive swimming experience to draw upon. This page attempts to shed light on some of the terms unique to our great sport. If you come across any terms you are not familiar with which aren't listed here, please approach us so we can add an explanation to the lists below.

USE OF ACRONYMS

Often, platforms used for our communication (scoreboards, single page PDFs, mobile phone width text fields in the newsletter) may limit the number of characters that can be used on a single  line.  For example, when listing upcoming events, acronyms are used for the:

CONFERENCES AIS BELONGS TO:

ACRONYMS USED FOR MEETS WE REGULARLY ATTEND:

DESIGNATED SWIM MEETS

Please ONLY enter targeted meets advertised through the AIS Sharks weekly Swimming Newsletter.

The Swimming Department MUST accompany swimmers to all Singapore Aquatic Meets and MUST follow school protocol, submitting Variations to Routine through the Logistics Committee. Therefore, one off requests will not be entertained as the process contains a lot of paperwork and can take 6-10 weeks.

Please refer to our AIS Competition Calendar (found on our Calendar & Schedule page) and the weekly newsletters for upcoming meets.

We appreciate your cooperation.

WHICH MEETS SHALL I ENTER?

It is extremely difficult to predicted everything 100% correctly planning this far out, so the PDF is regularly updated throughout the year, as Professional Development Days and Public Holidays change, and additional invites to meets are received. If you happen to notice a change before we do, please alert us to make the modification.

In addition to listing eligibility in competition information tables (like the SAIS Lions meet table below in the next section) we include an eligibility table at the base of each Competition Plan. The screenshot below is taken from our 2025-2026 Competition Plan.

The 'Reef' row has a Green cell with white text 'TBC'. Once confirmed by AIS Logistics and Singapore Aquatics this meet with be open to all Singapore Aquatics registered AIS Sharks squad members, including Reef Sharks.

Moving along the columns for Hammers and Reef into Term 4 there is a red oval enclosing empty cells. No meets are currently scheduled this time of year for Hammers and Reef, as they are not old enough to compete at the 4 championships listed. This will hopefully change as we approach like minded schools, looking to increase the number of opportunities for their Juniors.

Moving further to the right into Term 3, another oval highlights 3 weeks worth of cells for the five (5) competitive squads. Once again, Reef Sharks swimmers are not eligible for these meets as they are not old enough to compete at 13yrs/O SEASAC, nor are they fast enough to compete at SNAGS Jr. Still focussing our attention within the small oval, we see coloured cells with numbers. Amber coloured cells signify that some members of the aligned squad are eligible for the aligned meet. Green signifies all students in that squad are eligible. The number in the cell tells us how many days of competitive there is in that particular week.

Example 1: TIgers may attend the 3 days at SEASAC if the are 13yrs/O and fast enough to be selected. Tigers who are 12yr/U may attend up to 3 days at SNAG Jr if they qualify. Tigers who are 13yr/O may attend up to 6 days at SNAG Sr if the qualify.

Example 2: Great whites may also attend the 3 days at SEASAC if they are selected, hence the amber colouring. By definition, all Great Whites will attend SNAG Sr, hence the green cell.

At the end of every newsletter we include 'Calendar of Events'. This section also give eligibility information. If you have read 'Assumed Knowledge for Competitive Swimming, and have referred to the Competition Plan, the Meet Specific Competition Table, and the Calendar of Events, yet still require eligibility clarification, please approach coach.

HOW MANY SESSIONS SHOULD I TRAIN PER WEEK?

Session per week = Athlete's Age divided by 2

Whilst maintaining an average of 6.5 sessions per week does not guarantee AUS Age qualification, an average attendance record well short of this mark will guarantee these times standards will not be met.

Older athletes, swimming at SNAG Senior level receive invitations to join the Athlete Development Programme (ADP) training with athletes from other sports across the school. These athletes have access to 8 pool sessions and up to 3 Strength and Conditioning sessions. More information about ADP can be received from the PE Department.

We acknowledge date of birth and the age grouping of the meets will have huge influence on competitiveness. Some swimmers may win medals on age of the day meets like ACSIS, yet not meet minimum time standards for meets where the age is set as of 31 Dec 2025. We also acknowledge the array of physical maturation over a 24 month age band, but these are the cards we are dealt:

After analysing the results and qualifying times in AUS and SGP we have identified a considerable weakest in the standard of 200m events. Local clubs focus on the 50m and 100m events and 13yrs Girls / 14yrs Boys AUS Age qualifying times are much weaker than they were 5 to 25 years.

Physiologically, most student's bodies are suited to meeting the demands of the 200m. We see an opportunity here, and encourage all swimmers to experiment with 200m events. For those who are dreaming big, remember the powerhouse National Swim Teams (like AUS, CHN, GB, JP, USA) usually take six 200m Freestylers to the Olympics, World Champs and the like. Often only one specialist 50m Freestyler makes the team.

HOLIDAY TRAINING

Traditionally,  AIS offers a total of 5 weeks of training throughout the year, during the following breaks:

Spots are limited 30 swimmers (45 swimmers during Orientation Week). Initially, these placements will be offered to the Sharks Competitive Squads.  Sharks may register for Holiday Training via ecommerce.ais.com.sg . Spaces not filled may potentially be offered to Marlins, Teen Squad and Junior Squad.

AIS Sharks are effectively offered two training blocks:

MEET PROGRAMMES (usually published within 24 hours of a meet commencing) 

AGE GROUPS SYSTEMS:

Unfortunately, this can be very complexed and confusing, even for veteran parents, swimmers, and coaches.  The hosts of a meet (or the governing body sanctioning the carnival) decide which age group bands will be used and what cut off date will be applied.  There is no consistency.  

The most straight forward and arguably fairest system used is the 'age as on Day 1 of the meet' method.  This system is used by Swimming Australia and affiliated governing state and territory bodies.  This system is also used for most Australian Clubs, and for the majority of International School invitations in Singapore.  ACSIS moved to this system in 2024, but  unfortunately, this system is not used for, SEASAC, Australian Schools, or for Aquatics Singapore meets.

Aquatics Singapore and schools in Australia use the calendar year athletes were born in.  For instance, all swimmers born in 2011 will always swim together.  This means students born in the first quarter of the year should theoretically always have a maturation advantage over those born late in the year.

The most confusing systems, which often presents as a challenge for communication, is when a conference has multiple meets throughout the year, pitched at different age groups.    For instance, SEASAC uses the first day of the Senior Championships to set the age groups for the whole year, then applies this to all 3 meets.  3 months later, at the Junior Championships 25% of 12-year-old students swimming in the 11-12 year dual age group, would have already turned 13!

DUAL AGE GROUPS:

Often, meet organisers break the age divisions up into dual age bands, where students may find themselves 'at the top of an age group' or 'on the bottom of an age group'.  

LONG COURSE & SHORT COURSE:

LONG COURE TO SHORT COURSE CONVERSIONS & VICE VERSA

Largely a thing of the past, this tool can be used to convert times from one course to another.  Note, this link has two calculators, one open and one which includes age and gender.   Physical maturation plays a significant role in Short Course times being faster than Long Course times.

Conversion tables are rarely used anymore as governing bodies usually stipulate that swimmers must achieve qualifying times in the course that they wish to enter. e.g. Australian Age only accept Long Course qualifying times as the Australian Championships are held in a 50m pool.

SPLITS

The time swum for each length in races involving turns.

NEGATIVE SPLITS

Swimming the second half of a race faster than the first half.

RACE PACE

Holding the splits necessary for a specific events e.g. 4 x 50m @ 200m Pace

INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY & MEDLEY RELAYS

MEDLEY ORDER: The individual medley (IM) is swum as Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Freestyle.  Short Course the medley events are 100 IM (rarely contested) and 200 IM.  Long Course the medley events are 200 IM & 400 IM.

MEDLEY RELAYS:  The legs of a Medley Relay are swum in alphabetical order.  Backstroke is first as Backstrokers start in the water.

RELAYS - TEAM FIRST MENTALITY

Relays are often Double points.  Students who have finished racing their individual events are encouraged to stay to support the team until the end of the meet.  If a student has a genuine clash this should be discussed with coach prior to the meet.  All swimmers must say goodbye to their coach before leaving the venue. This is important from both a Safeguarding / Duty of Care and from a Team perspective.  Supporting the team is fun and ensures we have backup swimmers for relays, incase someone falls sick or gets injured.

RELAY SPLITS

Only the lead off leg of a relay can be used as a Personal Best or an official time.  The subsequent legs (there's usually 4 swimmers in a relay) get a flying start, as they can move on the blocks and lean right out over the water as the previous swimmer touches the wall.  This can give the swimmer a 0.5-0.7 second advantage.

WE COMPETE AGAINST:

ACRONYMS & ABBREVIATIONS:

COMMON WORKOUT ABBREVIATIONS ON THE WHITEBOARD: