USA Swimming sets the rules for swimming competition in the U.S.; conducts national championships; selects teams for international competition; offers a variety of training and developmental programs for swimmers, coaches, clubs, and officials; disseminates safety information; and provides its LSCs, clubs, and members with general liability insurance and its individual and nonathlete members with secondary accident medical insurance when participating in specified activities.

Pacific Swimming's territory includes the greater San Francisco Bay Area, the coastal counties of California from Monterey County north to the Oregon border, the Stockton-Modesto area in the state's Central Valley, and the Reno-Lake Tahoe area on the California-Nevada border. Within this area, Pacific Swimming sanctions and conducts swimming competition and offers a variety of programs in support of its athletes, coaches, officials, and clubs.

Pacific Swimming is made up of more than 16,000 registered athlete members and more than 120 member clubs. Each member club is required to have at least one individual who is a coach member of USA Swimming and who has completed CPR, first aid, and Coaches Safety Training. Coaches are also required to complete a background screen. Except for those undergoing initial tryouts with a team, all swimmers participating in sanctioned activities (including club practices and workouts, competitions and meets, etc.) must be registered athlete members in good standing of Pacific Swimming and USA Swimming.

Pacific Swimming is divided into five zones, whose territories are described at the top of our Club List page. The five zones, which have their own boards of directors, prepare their own meet schedules and conduct their own championships, all of which are sanctioned by Pacific Swimming and are included in its meet schedule.

Pacific Swimming is governed by a House of Delegates, which includes representation from all of Pacific's club members and which meets twice a year, and by a Board of Directors which meets most months. (Follow this link for a schedule of Board of Director and House of Delegates meetings.) In addition to maintaining this web site, Pacific Swimming publishes an annual digital swim guide. (Follow this link for a copy of the 2012 swim guide.

Other organizations -- including local summer rec leagues, YMCAs, high schools, colleges and universities, and U.S. Masters Swimming -- also conduct swimming competition in Pacific's territory under their own rules, which may differ from the rules of USA Swimming under which Pacific's meets are sanctioned. Certain conditions must be met for times from these meets to be used as qualifying times for Pacific Swimming/USA Swimming meets where proof of time is required.

First, the time standards. Pacific has established age group time standards for the following age groups: 8/under, 10/under, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, and 17-18 for individual events, and 15-18 for relays. The time standards are described below roughly from slowest to fastest.

C, B, and A: age group swimming is where virtually all swimmers begin, and the B and A standards are the basic developmental and meet entry time standards used in Pacific's age group program. B is the entry level standard (a C time is any time slower than the B time standard), and an A time is everyone's first big goal.

(Note: Pacific's B and A time standards are not the same as the B and A National Age Group motivational time standards published by USA Swimming and used on its website to classify age group times. The abbreviations PC-B and PC-A are used for Pacific's B and A standards.)

Junior Olympic meet standard: The Junior Olympic, or JO, meet standard is the qualifying time standard set by Pacific for the Junior Olympic meets that are offered in Pacific in March, July, and December. (There are no separate JO times for 8/unders -- they must qualify for JO meets at the 10/under standard.)

Far Western meet standard: The Far Western meet standard, also known as the Q time standard, is the qualifying time standard set by Pacific for the two Far Western Championship meets that Pacific hosts each year in early April and late July. (Again, there are no separate Far Western meet standards for 8/unders -- they must qualify for these meets at the 10/under standard.) The Far Western meet standard is currently the fastest time standard in Pacific used for meet entry purposes.

PRT (Pacific Recognition Time): PRTs are a motivation time standard set by Pacific.

Non-championship age group meets in Pacific are administered at the zone level, which is to say that each of the five geographic zones in Pacific sets its own year-round program of meets for age group swimmers at all levels. (There is, however, generally no limitation on swimmers entering meets hosted by clubs outside of their team's zone.) In addition, Pacific Swimming, through its member clubs, offers short course and long course championship meets, the Junior Olympic age group championship meets, the regional Far Westerns short course and long course championships, as well as a variety of pre-championship and special holiday weekend meets. Here are some common meet classifications, with an idea of what they mean:

• Events in a B meet or an A meet would be limited to swimmers who had made that standard in the events they want to enter but not the next one above it. Swimmers could enter an event in a B meet if they had achieved a B time but not an A time in that event. Since the Far Western meet standard is the highest meet qualifying standard currently used in Pacific, Far Westerns would be open to any swimmer who had made the Far Western meet standard.
  
• A plus sign next to a time standard means "or higher." For example, events in an A+ or JO+ meet would be open to any swimmer who had made the indicated standard or any higher standard in that event.
  
• Multiclass meets have separate results and awards for swimmers with different time standards. For example, a very common meet format used in Pacific is C/B/A+. Events in this meet would be open to any age group swimmer. C swimmers, B swimmers and all the swimmers in the meet who had achieved A times or higher would compete together, but separate results would be prepared for the three groups, and each group would receive separate awards.
  
• Age Group Open meets and Invitational meets do not have time standards. Invitational meets are limited to members of invited clubs, while Age Group Open meets are open to any age group swimmer registered with USA Swimming.
  
• Zone or league championship meets are open only to swimmers affiliated with teams in that zone or league. The time standards used in these meets vary.
  
• The Junior Olympic and Far Western meets, and other meets using these time standards, normally use a trials and finals format rather than a timed finals format.

It's important to understand the following about age group qualifying times:

• Qualifying times work on an event-by-event basis, and are keyed to the time level swimmers have achieved in a given event. If a swimmer has a JO time in one event, for example, that means that the swimmer could enter that event, and only that event, at a JO meet. If the swimmer's other times are a mix of A and B times, the swimmer can enter those other events at whatever level he or she has achieved.

  For example, if a swimmer has a JO time in one event but still has B times in other events, s/he could enter the events in which s/he has B times in a B meet. S/he could not, however, enter the events in which s/he has an A or JO time in a B meet. (Note: some higher-level meets may use a bonus event format in which a swimmer who has made one or more qualifying times for the meet may enter a certain number of additional events in which s/he has not achieved the qualifying time.)
  
  

• Pacific's Rules and Regulations specify that when you have achieved a specific class level (for example, B or A) in an event in one course, you are considered to be qualified at that same level in all courses. (Follow this link for more on the difference between long course and short course.) Accordingly, you must always enter a time which maintains the class for which you've qualified in an event.

  For example, in an everyday age group meet with multiple classes (let's say C/B/A+) where you do not have to prove your time to enter the meet, if you've achieved an A time in an event short course but have never swum the event or have never achieved at this level in the event long course, you must enter at least a minimum long course A time when you enter the event in a long course meet. For meets that require that entry times be proved (such as JOs, Far Westerns, and certain meets in the senior program), meet entry time standards will generally be provided in both short course and long course, and you may enter a qualifying time achieved in either course.

USA Swimming rules require that all non-championship age group meets involving swimmers ages 12 and under be planned so that events for 12/under swimmers should be completed within a four-hour period. This frequently results in entry caps being placed on meet sessions involving 12/under swimmers. If a session in a meet reaches its entry cap prior to the entry deadline, entries may be closed and subsequent entries may not be accepted. Since nearly all meets in Pacific use online entries, prospective entrants using online entries will be informed when entries for a session have closed. Entries by mail are still an option, and if a meet you've entered by mail fills up and your entry is not accepted, the host club will attempt to notify you prior to the meet and the check for your entry fee will be returned.

Section 4 of Pacific's Rules and Regulations spells out the regulations affecting age group competition in Pacific.

Pacific's senior program is designed to provide Pacific's older and faster athletes with the opportunity to swim the events offered at national championship meets, usually in a trials and finals format similar to national championships. Senior time standards, and senior competition, are not keyed to a swimmer's age -- for qualifying purposes, what matters are only the times the swimmer has achieved. Pacific's and USA Swimming's senior time standard categories follow, slowest to fastest:

Senior I: the entry-level standard for the senior program. To relate these standards to the age group standards described above, Senior I times are generally comparable to the A times for 13-14 year-old swimmers.

Senior II, Senior III, Senior IV: each level moves up a notch in terms of difficulty. As a point of reference, the Senior IV time standard -- the fastest of the senior time standards -- roughly approximates the Far Western meet standard for the 13-14 and 15-16 girls and the 15-16 boys age groups.

Sectional Championship: the qualifying time standard established for the Sectional Championships, which are open to senior swimmers from Pacific and other LSCs in California and Nevada. Sectional Championships are held in July and December.

Santa Clara International: the qualifying standard for the annual Santa Clara International Grand Prix meet, which is held in June.

Junior National Championship: the qualifying time standard established by USA Swimming for the USA Swimming Junior National Championships, which is open to swimmers age 18 and under. This meet is held in August and December.

National Championship: the qualifying time standard established by USA Swimming for National Championships, which are usually held in August and December.

Olympic Trials: the qualifying time standard established by USA Swimming for Olympic Trials.

The senior program is administered, and the senior meet schedule is established, by the Pacific Swimming board of directors. Some notes about senior meet classifications:

• Meets in the Senior program are open to any USA Swimming member swimmer regardless of age who has achieved the listed time standards in the events he or she wishes to enter. (Note however that in most Senior meets in Pacific, swimmers who have entered at least one event in which they have achieved the listed time standard may enter two additional bonus events in which they have not achieved the minimum time standard for the meet.)
• Proof of time is required for all swimmers entering Senior III and Senior IV meets. In Senior I and II meets, swimmers aged 13 and older are not required to prove their entry time, but swimmers aged 12 and under must prove their time.

Pacific's Rules and Regulations specify that when you have achieved a specific class level in an event in one course, you are considered to be qualified at that same level in all courses. (Follow this link for more on the difference between long course and short course.) Accordingly, swimmers must enter times which maintain the classes for which they have qualified. For meets that require that entry times be proved (as noted above), meet entry time standards will be provided in both short course and long course, and swimmers may enter a qualifying time achieved in either course.

Follow this link to Pacific Swimming's Rules and Regulations. Section 4 includes the regulations affecting senior competition, and Section 9 includes information on Pacific's travel assistance program, which helps defer the travel expenses of senior swimmers who compete at National Championships, National Disability Championships, Junior National Championships, Olympic team qualifying meets, and the U.S. Open, and of their coaches.

Swim meets in Pacific are scheduled on an annual basis, with both Pacific and its member zones going through a structured process of determining its meet calendar and offering its member clubs the opportunity to host the meets on the calendar through a formal bidding process.

Each spring, the Scheduling Committee of the Board of Directors, which includes representatives of the zones and the senior and age group programs, prepares a draft schedule of the major meets in Pacific for the upcoming calendar year. This schedule includes Pacific's senior meets and its major age group meets (for example, Far Westerns and Junior Olympics). The schedule takes into account the dates of important regional and national championship meets as well as holiday weekends. This draft meet schedule is then approved by the entire Board of Directors at its May meeting.

During the month of June, through a formal bidding process, clubs that are interested in hosting any of the major Pacific meets are required to submit a bid application for the meets on the calendar for the coming year that they are interested in hosting. In late June, the bids that have come in are reviewed and meet hosts are awarded by the Scheduling Committee. After the first round of bidding and awards is complete, a second round of bidding for any meets not awarded during the first round of bidding takes place during July and August. Additional meets are awarded as a result of this second round of bidding, and usually after the second round of awards, the hosts for Pacific's major meets for the upcoming year are pretty well set.

After the second round of bidding on the LSC level is complete and the dates and hosts of the major senior and age group meets for the upcoming year are known, Pacific's five zones each go through a similar process. They generally meet in the late summer or early fall and prepare the schedule for the age group meets that will be offered in their zone during the following year, and then go through a bidding and awarding process within their zone similar to the process already completed at the LSC level. By November, the full schedule for the upcoming year, including meets awarded both by Pacific and by the zones, is usually pretty well set. It is then published on the Pacific website and in Pacific's annual digital Swim Guide, which comes out in early January.

A short course pool is 25 yards (or, occasionally, 25 meters) long; a long course pool is 50 meters long. The majority of swimming competition in America, and the majority of the pools, are short course yards, while in other parts of the world, meter-length pools and long course competition are more prevalent. Most U.S. national and major international championships -- such as World Championships and the swimming competition at the Olympic Games -- are held at the long course distance, although short course meters competition is becoming increasingly popular on the international scene.

The annual swimming calendar in the U.S. is divided into two seasons. From September to March, virtually all competition is short course, building toward championship meets like Short Course National Championships, Junior National Championships, and Sectional Championships in December, Pacific's short course Far Western Championships in late March or early April, and, on the collegiate level, NCAA Division championship meets in March.

April through August is long course season. During this period, swimmers train at, and meets are offered at, the long course distance whenever possible. Long course season culminates with local, regional, and national long course championship meets in late July and early August.

Pacific's Rules and Regulations specify that when you have achieved a specific class level in an event in one course, you are considered to be qualified at that same level in all courses. Accordingly, you must always enter a time which maintains the class for which you've qualified in an event. Follow this link for more information on short course times and long course times.

Most swim meets in Pacific are timed finals. In a meet of this type, only heats are swum, and the final placing in an event is determined by the times achieved in these heats. Some meets, usually at a higher level of competition, are trials and finals. In these meets, trials are swum early in the day, and the fastest swimmers in trials qualify for finals, swum later in the day, in which the final placing for an event is determined. (Follow this link to Pacific Swimming's Rules and Regulations, Section 3.B.5.b.(3), for scratch rules for trials and finals meets.)

In case you missed it above, an LSC (short for Local Swimming Committee) is an administrative division of USA Swimming with responsibility for administering the sport of competitive swimming within a defined territory. Pacific Swimming is one of 59 LSCs nationwide. There are five LSCs with some or all of their territory in California:

• Pacific Swimming (which includes the San Francisco Bay Area, the coastal counties of California from Monterey County north to the Oregon border, the Stockton-Modesto area in California's Central Valley, and the Reno-Carson City-Lake Tahoe area on the California-Nevada border).
• Sierra Nevada Swimming (which includes the Sacramento area, the Central Valley from Lodi north to the Oregon border, the northern Sierra Nevada area, and much of Northern Nevada).
• Central California Swimming (which includes the Central Valley south of Modesto through Kern County).
• Southern California Swimming (which includes the central coast from San Luis Obispo County south; most of Southern California, including the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area; and Southern Nevada, including the Las Vegas area).
• San Diego-Imperial Swimming (which includes San Diego and Imperial counties in Southern California).

Follow this link to a list of USA Swimming LSCs which maintain web sites.

There are two answers to this question. First, as described above, Pacific Swimming is divided into five geographical zones, whose territories are described in detail on our Zones page. The five zones set their own meet schedules and conduct their own championships, all of which are sanctioned by Pacific Swimming. While swimmers may normally enter meets in any zone without restriction, zones may offer meets which are exclusively for swimmers affiliated with teams from their zone (such as zone championship meets), and may also choose to give preference in entries into zone meets to swimmers affiliated with teams from the zone.

The second answer is that USA Swimming divides its 59 LSCs into four zones: Eastern, Southern, Central, and Western (see map). Pacific is in the Western Zone, as are the 16 other LSCs in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and the states to the west of those four. Each August, the Western Zone holds a championship meet in which teams representing the LSCs in the zone compete vigorously against each other.

See our Historical Times page for a complete answer to this question.

That's because Pacific Swimming's time standards are different from the USA Swimming National Age Group Motivational time standard which USA Swimming uses to classify age group times on its web site. Pacific has its own B and A standards, which are usually abbreviated in meet information sheets as PC-B and PC-A and which are usually not as fast as the National Age Group Motivational B and A time standards. In other words, it's quite possible that your Pacific A time would only be a B time according to the National Age Group Motivational time standard.

To become an athlete member of Pacific Swimming, you need to complete a registration form for USA Swimming and Pacific Swimming and submit it to the address on the form. If you are joining a Pacific Swimming member club, they should have the form and will help you complete the process, or they may submit your registration electronically. If you are not affiliated with a Pacific member club, you can join USA Swimming and Pacific Swimming by submitting the registration form yourself, and swim unattached.

Pacific offers both year-round and seasonal athlete memberships. Follow this link to obtain the 2012 year-round athlete registration application. If you register as a year-round member, your registration will be valid from Sept. 1, 2011, through December 31, 2012. Follow this link to obtain the 2012 summer seasonal athlete registration form, which is valid from April 7 through September 3, 2012.

Before every meet, the registration status of all the swimmers entered in that meet is verified with Pacific's Registration Chairman. If your registration with Pacific Swimming cannot be verified at this time, you will have to register at the meet and pay a $10.00 surcharge in addition to the regular registration fee before you will be allowed to check in and swim. You are strongly urged to complete the registration process before attending your first meet.

If you have questions about registration, contact Laurie Benton, 1374 Lupine Court, Concord CA 94521. Any questions, call (925) 686-1286. You must renew your registration each year. If you register after Sept. 1, your registration will be good through the end of the following year.

Swimmers transferring representation from one club to another within Pacific, or tranferring into Pacific from another LSC, must apply in writing to Laurie Benton, 1374 Lupine Court, Concord CA 94521. Any questions, call (925) 686-1286.

Swimmers may transfer their representation or apply for transfer to unattached status by completing a Transfer Form or by providing the Registration Chairman with the swimmer's name, address, birth date, the name of the club from which the swimmer is transferring, and the date of last competition with that club.

If you transfer your club affiliation and wish to enter a meet, and if you have represented a previous club in competition within 120 days of the meet, you must enter your affiliation as "unattached" for that meet. Unattached status means you may swim in individual events, but you cannot score points for your new team nor can you swim on relays. Note that the 120-day period starts the day after the last day you competed in a meet for your previous club. Practice sessions with your previous club aren't taken into account.

Upon completion of the 120-day unattached period, swimmers may remain unattached, or may attach to a new team. If you wish to attach to a new team, you must submit a Transfer Form or letter to the Registration Chairman stating your name, address, birth date, and the name of club to which you wish to attach, and you should indicate that you are eligible to so attach in accordance with the Rules and Regulations of USA Swimming. Your old registration card should be returned if possible and a new card will be issued.

The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the governing body for high school sports in California, requires that California high school swimmers must compete unattached in any USA Swimming meets held during the high school season other than Sectional Championships and National Championships. (Note: this restriction does not apply to swimmers competing in Nevada high school competition.)

For Pacific registration purposes, swimmers swimming in high school competition do not need to change their registration status with the Pacific Registration Chairman. High school swimmers must, however, give their club affiliation as unattached when they enter USA Swimming meets (with the exception of Sectionals and Nationals) during their high school season. If a swimmer enters a meet (other than Nationals or Sectionals) as attached during the high school season, s/he must change his or her club affiliation to unattached with the clerk of course at the meet.

If you plan to change your club affiliation during this period and if you intend to use the high school season as part of your 120-day unattached period, you should complete a Transfer Form.

If you plan to travel to another country to compete, train, or demonstrate, or if you plan to invite foreign clubs or swimmers to train with your club or to compete in meets sanctioned by Pacific Swimming, you should contact Laurie Benton, 1374 Lupine Court, Concord CA 94521, phone (925) 686-1286.

To become a non-athlete member of Pacific Swimming, send a completed copy of the current USA Swimming/Pacific Swimming non-athlete registration application form to Laurie Benton, 1374 Lupine Court, Concord CA 94521. Any questions, call (925) 686-1286. You complete this single application form to join both USA Swimming and Pacific Swimming. Your membership must be renewed each year.

Coaches of Pacific Swimming clubs, deck officials past the trainee level, and meet directors at swim meets sanctioned by Pacific Swimming must be non-athlete members of USA Swimming and Pacific Swimming, and must use the form linked to above to register.

All Pacific/USA Swimming non-athlete members must complete a USA Swimming background check in order to join or to renew as non-athlete members of Pacific/USA Swimming. The following link will take you to a page on the USA Swimming website with details about the updated background check requirements and a link to initiate the background check process.

To become a coach member of USA Swimming and Pacific Swimming, you must also provide proof that you have completed CPR, first aid, and safety training classes. New coaches and those renewing their memberships can follow this link for the current Coaches Safety Curriculum. USA Swimming also provides a current listing of Requirements and Equivalents which identifies acceptable courses and training sources. Follow this link for a list of Safety Training for Coaches providers serving Pacific Swimming.

Individuals interested in becoming deck officials should contact their zone officials chairman for information on training programs. In order to continue past the trainee level, deck officials are required to join USA Swimming and Pacific Swimming as a non-athlete member, and must complete a USA Swimming background check (details here). Copies of the non-athlete membership application form are available by following the link in the first paragraph of this item.

If you are starting a new club, there are other forms you need to complete and a number of other issues you need to consider. You can find links to these forms and more information about the requirements for starting a club on the Starting a New Club page on the USA Swimming web site.

In addition to competing a club membership application, you will need a coach who is a member of USA Swimming and holds valid CPR, first aid, and safety training certifications, and you will need registered swimmers. Every coach (paid or volunteer) who is on the deck at a club workout or coaching at a meet must be a current coach member of USA Swimming.

Your club must renew its membership each calendar year, and as part of this renewal process, your coaches must submit proof of current CPR, first aid, and safety training certifications. Clubs may join as year-round or seasonal; see the club membership application form (linked to above) for detail on effective dates for each type of membership.

For general questions about your insurance coverage as an athlete member, non-athlete member, or club member of USA/Pacific Swimming, we suggest you refer to the resources on the Insurance and Risk Management page on the USA Swimming web site.

For more specific information concerning coverage and the processing of claims, contact Sandi Blumit, Risk Management Services, P.O. Box 32712, Phoenix AZ 85064, phone (800) 777-4930, fax (602) 274-9138.

In a sanctioned meet, all participants (including the meet director, athletes, coaches, officials, and clubs) must be members of USA Swimming, and the meet must be conducted under USA Swimming technical and administrative rules. All times achieved in a sanctioned meet will be recognized by USA Swimming for inclusion in the USA Swimming SWIMS times database.

In an approved meet, an athlete is not required to be a member of USA Swimming to participate in the meet. However, the meet is conducted under USA Swimming technical rules. Upon approval of the meet, all times will be recognized by USA Swimming, and the times for USA Swimming members are eligible for inclusion in the SWIMS database.

In an observed meet, there are no requirements for USA Swimming athlete membership, and the meet is conducted under technical rules other than those of USA Swimming (for example, high school, college, YMCA, or masters rules). A request for observation of swims for compliance with USA Swimming rules must be made to the host LSC who determines if observation can be facilitated. (Follow this link for more information on the process of arranging for observation of a meet.) Times from observed swims in compliance with USA Swimming technical rules are recognized, and times for USA Swimming members are eligible for inclusion in the SWIMS database. Examples of meets which may be observed are high school league and sectional championship meets and most college meets.