Welcome to the wonderful world of swimming and diving. This guide will hopefully help explain some of the more confusing aspects of our sport, especially for new families.

PVAC is completely volunteer-run. Aside from our coaching staff, no one is paid, including the board. To successfully run swim meets we need around 25 parent-volunteers for each home swim meet (including snack bar, meet setup and breakdown) and even more for our invitational which is traditionally held the last Sunday in October. We need 12 volunteers for each away meet.

We also need six volunteers for each home dive meet and four volunteers for each away dive meet. Because of that need, we do require each family to volunteer for a certain number of regular season meets and for championship meets.

Volunteering may seem overwhelming or even scary, but be assured you will be trained properly for whatever volunteer spot you choose. We will offer volunteer training before each season and highly encourage parents to get involved.

We’ll explain PVAC, our team and our league in more depth below, but first some basics about swimming. If you’re familiar with the sport you can skip ahead to the section titled PVAC, SAL, and USA Swimming.

Introduction to Competitive Swim and Dive:

Swimming is a team sport made up of individual events and relays. Diving is one of those individual events. Perkiomen Valley Aquatic Club (PVAC) is part of the Suburban Aquatic League (SAL) and also offers a USA Swimming program. There is much more info on SAL and USA Swimming in the next section.

Recommended equipment:

A swimmer should have goggles that fit well and aren’t a distraction, a well fitting suit that doesn’t create a lot of drag in the water, and at least one towel. Swimmers with longer hair will need a swim cap (see below for more info on caps).

Suits:

• At the beginning of the season PVAC will facilitate orders for a “team suit.” We will schedule a suit fitting at the high school. It is highly recommended all swimmers and divers attend the fitting, especially new swimmers and divers. The team suit is a racing suit and often fits more tightly than what your athlete is accustomed to.
• There is no requirement for a swimmer or diver to purchase or wear the team suit at meets.
• Swimmers and divers can wear their team suit to practice, but chlorine will degrade the suit and it will stretch out so it’s recommended to have a couple practice suits to save the team suit for meets.
• Practice and competition suits can be found online and at most sporting goods stores. Traditional reputable swimming and diving brands include but are not limited to TYR, Speedo, Nike, Dolfin, and Arena.
• Tech suits are not allowed for swimmers under 12 years old.

Boys’ Suits:

Boys can wear what are called “briefs” or “jammers.” Briefs are what are typically referred to as “speedos.” Jammers are longer and cover the thigh. Which you choose comes down to personal preference and comfort. Boys’ suits generally are close to pants size. Avoid traditional swim trunks or board shorts, they don’t work well for swimming or diving.

Girls’ Suits:

Girls’ suits vary between different brands and sizing can be a challenge. There are also several different cuts. What you choose comes down to personal preference, and comfort should be a leading factor in the decision. A swim-focused shop like Toad Hollow in Paoli is valuable in finding sizes and brands that fit well. It’s best to avoid tie-back suits, some swim officials will rule them illegal for competition. Two-piece suits like a bikini are not appropriate for training or competition.

Swim Caps:

Caps are not required but they are recommended. Swimmers with long hair will struggle without a cap. Divers do not need caps.

• At the beginning of each season we will do a team cap order with the PVAC logo.
• Caps are not required by rule but most swimmers wear them. They are necessary for swimmers with long hair.
• There is no rule that requires your swimmer to wear a PVAC cap, they can compete in any cap they choose.
• While it is more expensive to order a PVAC cap with your swimmer’s name on it, it’s recommended as caps can easily get confused on deck.
• Last name is recommended for personalized caps but some people do choose first names.
• You can find non-PVAC caps at most sporting goods stores and online. Silicone caps are strongly, strongly recommended. It is also strongly, strongly recommended to avoid latex caps. They do not last long, break easily, and some people have latex allergies.

Goggles:

There is a wide array of various goggles and styles at a wide array of prices. What you choose is personal preference. While there are many brands that work well, and we don’t want to promote a certain brand, a solid recommendation for a new swimmer would be Speedo Vanquishers. They’re available in adult and junior sizes. They are durable, reasonably priced, and come in many colors.

Divers do not wear goggles.

Swimming competitions are called “meets.” The dive event is also called “a meet“ and their results roll up into the “swim meet.” (details below.) There are also “invitationals.”

• Most of PVAC’s meets will be “ dual meets,” meaning there are two teams competing against each other.
• There are also occasional tri-meets in our league, that means three teams are competing at the same meet.
• Because of limited pool space, boys swim and girls swim SAL meets are held separately. Co-ed dive meets are also held separate from swim meets.
• There are also “invitationals” which are optional with an additional cost. These are co-ed with boys and girls together.
• PVAC also offers USA Swimming, which gives an opportunity for swimmers nine-and-older to swim different distances and events at bigger meets.
• For a more specific explanation of SAL meets and invitationals, see the section PVAC, SAL, and USA Swimming.

Swim Meets

A swim meet is divided into “events.” Each event is made of “heats.”

• The “event” is the entire group of swimmers based on age and stroke.
• An example of an event is “Girls 8-and-under 25 Freestyle” or “Boys 14-and-under 100 yard freestyle”.
• A “heat” is the group of swimmers that are racing each other. For most of our meets, each “heat” will have six swimmers.
• The number of heats depends how many swimmers are in the event. If there are 24 girls swimming the 8 and under 25 free, then there would be four heats.
• When your swimmer gets the list of what they are swimming from their coaches, it will have an event number, a heat number, and a lane assignment.

For PVAC purposes, almost all the pools we swim in are 25-yards.

• A 25-yard pool is called “Short Course Yards,” abbreviated “SCY”
• There are also 25-meter pools, more common in summer swimming in this area.
• A 25-meter pool is called “Short Course Meters,” abbreviated “SCM”
• There are also 50-meter pools, which you see in the Olympics and international swimming.
• A 50-meter pool is called “Long Course Meters,” abbreviated “LCM”

In swimming, a “lap” is one length of the pool. Unlike other sports like running, a lap in swimming is NOT when you get back to where you started. The terms “lap” and “length” are interchangeable and mean the same thing. For almost all PVAC’s purposes, a lap is one time down a 25-yard pool.

Most of the events we swim with PVAC are 25-yards (one length), 50-yards (two lengths), 100-yards (four lengths), and, for relays and older kids, 200-yards (eight lengths). There are other distances available in USA Swimming, which we’ll get to later.

The pool is divided into “lanes.” Most pools like ours at PVHS have six lanes. Some newer pools like North Penn and Upper Merion have 8 lanes. Souderton actually has 10 lanes, but they use 8 lanes for SAL meets.

• In a six lane pool, each team generally gets three lanes, one team will be in lanes 1,3,5, the other team will be in 2,4,6
• The fastest swimmers in the heat are put in lanes 3 and 4, then lanes 2 and 5, followed by 1 and 6.

The age groups are divided by: 8 and under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15 and up.

• The birthdate used to determine age the entire SAL season is October 31st. That means whatever age the swimmer is on 10/31 is the age group they will compete in for the entire season.
• USA Swimming has a different age rule.  The age on the first day of the meet shall determine the swimmer’s age for the entire meet.  That means a swimmer could move to another age group during the season depending on their birthday.

Swimming has four main strokes: Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, and Freestyle

• We’ll get more specific about each stroke later but generally breaststroke and butterfly are the most difficult strokes for new swimmers to swim legally. It’s very common for new swimmers to get disqualified in breaststroke and butterfly and is all part of the learning process.

There is also what’s called the Individual Medley, abbreviated IM, where the swimmer swims ¼ of the race using each stroke. If it’s a 100-yard IM, the swimmer will swim one length (25 yards) of Butterfly, one length of Backstroke, one length of Breaststroke, and one length of Freestyle. In a 200-yard IM, the swimmer would swim two lengths of each stroke.

In addition to individual events, there are also relays, a Medley Relay and a Freestyle Relay.

• In the medley relay, each swimmer swims one of the strokes for ¼ of the total distance of the relay starting with backstroke. If it’s a 100-yard Medley relay, the first swimmer swims one length (25y) of backstroke, the second swimmer swims one length of breaststroke, the third swimmer swims one length of butterfly, the fourth swims one length of freestyle.
• In the free relay, each swimmer swims ¼ of the total distance. In a 100-yard free relay, each swimmer swims one lap (25y). In a 200-yard free relay, each swimmer would swim two lengths (50y).

For SAL meets, our coaches will decide what events each swimmer will swim. The swimmers will be notified before the meet what event, lane, and heat they are in.

The team aspect of swimming comes from points awarded in each event.

• In SAL meets, only swimmers in the first heat score points based on the order of finish.
• In individual events - 1st place: 6-points, 2nd place: 4-points, 3rd place: 3 points, 4th Place: 2 points, 5th place: 1 point.
• In relays, the team that gets 1st place scores 8 points, second place scores 4 points, and third place scores 2 points.
• Coaches will literally spend hours putting together a line-up to maximize points based on the team we are swimming against. It is a chess match.

A brief overview of each stroke, without getting too technical with the rules (we can do that later):

Backstroke: The swimmer must stay on their back for the entire race, except at the turn where they’re allowed to flip over on their stomach right before they turn. The swimmer can kick or stroke however they want, as long as they stay on their back.

Breaststroke: The only stroke that has a required “cycle” of a stroke and a kick. The swimmer has to take one pull followed by one kick in each cycle. The head has to break the surface in each cycle, and the elbows have to stay under water on the recovery (when the arms come forward). Arms and legs have to mirror each other and the feet have to turn out in the kick, in what’s often called a “frog kick.”

Butterfly: The arms recover over the water and be in unison both over and under water. Feet have to stay together is what’s called a “dolphin kick” or “fly kick”

Freestyle: As the name implies, the swimmer can pretty much do anything to get down the pool (aside from pushing off the bottom or pulling on the lane line). The stroke typically used is the “forward crawl” but it’s rarely ever called “forward crawl” and is just “freestyle.” There are rules about freestyle in the IM and the Medley Relay, but we don’t need to get into that now.

Dive Meets

Dive Meets consist of a series of dives for each of the 6 age/gender groups which are boy/girl 11 and under, 12 to 14, 15 and over.

Each week there are required and optional dives:

• 11 and under - 3 dives - 1 required and 2 optionals (from 2 groups)
• 12-14 - 4 dives - 1 required and 3 optionals (from 3 groups)
• 15 and over - 5 dives - 1 required and 4 optionals (from 4 groups)

There are 5 groups of dives:

1. Forward group: The diver faces the front of the board and rotates toward the water. Dives in this group vary from simple front dives to difficult forward, four and one half somersaults.
2. Backward group: Dives in the backward group begin with the diver on the end of the board, with his or her back to the water, so as to rotate away from the board.
3. Reverse group: Formerly called “gainers,” these dives begin with the diver facing the front of the board but then rotates toward the board.
4. Inward group: The diver stands on the end of the board with his or her back to the water and rotates toward the board.
5. Twisting group: Any dive that uses a twist (excluding armstands) is included in this group. There are four types of twists: forward, backward, reverse, and inward.

Required dive groups by age:

• 11 and under - Forward and Backward
• 12-14 - Forward, Backward and Inward
• 15 and over - Forward, Backward, Inward, and Reverse

The coach, with input from the diver, will determine which dives will be performed at each meet.

Score for this individual event is the same as swimming  - 1st place: 6-points, 2nd place: 4-points, 3rd place: 3-points, 4th Place: 2-points, 5th place: 1-point. These results factor into the overall swim total.

PVAC, SAL, and USA Swimming:

We are Perkiomen Valley Aquatic Club, better known as the PVAC Piranhas. Our colors are orange and black. Our home pool is at Perkiomen Valley High School. We also use Ursinus College’s pool for practice. PVAC offers a wide range of opportunity for swimmers at all levels.

PVAC is part of the Suburban Aquatic League, also known as “S-A-L” or “Sal” like the name. 

SAL was formed in the 1960s. It’s currently made up of around 20 teams from Bucks, Montgomery, and Delaware County. The teams are divided into divisions, depending how many teams are in the league.

Starting on the first Saturday in November, each Saturday teams will face another team from their division in “dual meets” (two teams going head-to-head) in what SAL calls “Regular Season Meets” After the regular season, which usually ends in mid-December, there are two weekends of team-championships (usually early January) based on win/loss records, and also championship meets (usually late January) based on individual times. Dive meets are generally held on Friday nights.

Due to size of teams and limited space on deck, boys and girls swim separately, are scored separately, and the win-loss record is kept separately.

In an SAL meet, coaches decide what events each swimmer will compete in. Swimmers will be notified of their events before the meet.

Each swimmer can compete in a maximum of four events, with at least one being a relay. That means a max of three individual events and one relay, or two individual events and two relays.

Each dual meet is head-to-head with points are awarded in the first heat of each event: