Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Single age motivational times:

https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/timesdocuments/time-standards/2024/2021-2024-national-single-age-motivational-times.pdf

Thanks! These make much more sense.

Yes. It can make a big difference in the ability if the kid is getting say AA times at 11y1d vs 12y364d. You can see this also in MCSL where kids with odd ages 9,11,13 go to MCSL long course or the fast heat of individual all stars. These kids tend to be a combination of phenomenal athletes and BIG for their age. You can play with swim standards.com which allows you flip by meet and you can narrow down when they started posting times in the new age. Just like hockey (see freakonomics) it’s mostly birth month especially at the younger ages and then physical talent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, kids will work their way up the time standards over the course of two years in the age group. Where they begin and end varies widely, of course.

Most of the top swimmers are hitting some AAA+ by the middle of their age range. So like 11 turning 12. My kid and some others in his group had some 11-12 AA times before they turned 11 (around 10.5) and some 13-14 AA times around age 12 to 12.5.

I agree with this. My swimmer got to AA in their best events by the end of SC season when they were about to turn 12. This summer they have gotten some AAA LC times and I would expect they will start hitting AAAs once SC winter champs roll around, with a shot at AAAA in their best stroke. For girls the differences between the 11-12 standards and the 13-14 standards aren’t as steep as they are for the boys, so an 11-12 girl with AAA times already is knocking on the door of AA 13-14 times.

Yes, the gender difference here is enormous. If a 12 year old boy is hitting 13-14 AA times, they are extremely elite (especially if they have not yet hit puberty, which is why the time standards take such a huge jump at 13-14 compared to girls). For girls, the time standards don’t change much so it’s very common to hit those time standards ahead of age.

Anonymous wrote:Single age motivational times:

https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/timesdocuments/time-standards/2024/2021-2024-national-single-age-motivational-times.pdf

Thanks! These make much more sense.

Single age motivational times:

https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/timesdocuments/time-standards/2024/2021-2024-national-single-age-motivational-times.pdf

I get this. My 9yo is chasing A times right now but has time to climb before turning 11.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, kids will work their way up the time standards over the course of two years in the age group. Where they begin and end varies widely, of course.

Most of the top swimmers are hitting some AAA+ by the middle of their age range. So like 11 turning 12. My kid and some others in his group had some 11-12 AA times before they turned 11 (around 10.5) and some 13-14 AA times around age 12 to 12.5.

I agree with this. My swimmer got to AA in their best events by the end of SC season when they were about to turn 12. This summer they have gotten some AAA LC times and I would expect they will start hitting AAAs once SC winter champs roll around, with a shot at AAAA in their best stroke. For girls the differences between the 11-12 standards and the 13-14 standards aren’t as steep as they are for the boys, so an 11-12 girl with AAA times already is knocking on the door of AA 13-14 times.

Yes, kids will work their way up the time standards over the course of two years in the age group. Where they begin and end varies widely, of course.

Most of the top swimmers are hitting some AAA+ by the middle of their age range. So like 11 turning 12. My kid and some others in his group had some 11-12 AA times before they turned 11 (around 10.5) and some 13-14 AA times around age 12 to 12.5.

Trying to interpret the USA swimming motivations swimming standards. The standards are set up in two-year ranges, and kids obviously can make large gains in the course of two years. If a kid has AA/AAA times at 10, those will become BB times once they turn 11. Presumably they will then eventually get AAA again as they turn 12 and get close to 13. So when someone says that a kid is BB or AAA swimmer, it seems a lot of that has to do with where a kid falls within the age range, right? There can't be many, if any, kids who are AAA on the day they turn 11, right? But I bet there are lots on the day before their 13th birthday. Obviously if a kid is still a BB swimmer on the day before his 13th birthday, then he's probably not all that good a swimmer. But how do you think about the kid who just turned 11, was AAA and is now BB?