2017 TNT Swimmer Handbook - Youblisher

50
AGE GROUP vs. SENIOR
AGE GROUP swimming is referred to as such because swimmers typically compete
within certain age groups at swim meets. For instance, an eleven year old will
only compete against 11 and 12 year olds. There might be an “open” event where
the age groups are combined and an 11 year old competes against an 18 year old,
but since the meet has age groups within its schedule elsewhere, it is still considered
an age group meet.
Age group meets include most local A-B-C meets as well as the Age Group Invitational
(formerly called AA’s), Far Westerns, and Western Zones. These later three
meets require a minimum time standard to compete, and are of a higher caliber
than the typical local age group A-B-C meet; however, they are still considered
age group meets.
Age group meets are considered developmental meets to help swimmers progress
on to the senior level of swimming. Categorizing swimmers into age groups helps
swimmers compete at an appropriate performance level. The 6-under, 8-under and
7-8 age groups are locally defined. Only the 10-under, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16 and 17-
18 age groups are nationally recognized.
Swimmers who newly enter an age group (age 9, 11, 13, 15 or 17) sometimes find
competing against the swimmers at the top of the age group (10, 12, 14, 16 or 18)
challenging. Swimmers should remember that the age grouping is only for developmental
convenience. The long term goal should be to move on to senior swimming
where only the time matters, regardless of the age.
SENIOR SWIMMING is referred to as such because most of the athletes who are
eligible to compete at the senior level are older swimmers. The term “eligible” is used
because most senior meets require a time standard in order to participate. In a senior
meet, there are no age groups, only the event. All ages swim together and swimmers
are seeded together according to their times. If a swimmer is eleven years old, and
meets the minimum time standard, they are eligible to compete at the meet. A swimmer
older than 18 may also compete at senior meets. It is common to see twelve year
old girls competing along side twenty year old women at senior-level meets.
Examples of National level senior meets include Sectionals, Junior Nationals, US
Open, Senior Nationals, Olympic Trials, and the Olympics. There are other senior
meets that are local within the various geographical areas of the United States. These
would include the Mission Swim Meet of Champions (SMOC), Clovis Senior Q, and
the Terrapin Senior Meet to name three that are on our team Senior Meet Calendar.
One important goal that developmental swimmers should embrace involves progressing
toward the senior level of swimming. College recognition is more often established
at the senior level, and not at the age group level, although due to a national database
of times, recruiters have easy access to times anywhere they were swum.
Many of the senior meets that our team attends involve the participation of swimmers
and teams that are affiliated with colleges and universities. Most major universities
have a club swimming team, or their university team also maintains a club charter. For
instance, Trojan Swim Team is the club program associated with the USC men’s and
women’s college team. As our TNT swimmers qualify for meets such as the Santa
Clara International, various Grand Prix meets, Janet Evans Invitational and Speedo
Grand Challenge, our TNT swimmers compete at the meet with college programs from
Stanford, USC, UCLA, Texas and Auburn to name a few.