Ascending – Getting slower (i.e. the time taken increases).
BC – Backcrawl or Backstroke or Back
BR – Breaststroke sometimes also BS or Breast
Breast – Breaststroke
Catch-up – Drill where on FC one hand stays at full stretch ahead until the other meets it then it begins the stroke
Descending – Getting faster (i.e. the time taken reduces)
Dolphin Kick – Simultaneous leg kick used in Butterfly
DPS – Distance Per Stroke
Drag – Drill where on FC fingertips drag through the water on the recovery (also known as trickle)
Drill – A controlled form of stroke designed to draw attention to a particular aspect of that stroke: Catch-Up, Drag, Salute, Elbows High, Zip-up, Doggy Paddle, Duck, and many more
Easy – Usually swim down or warm-up, a slow easy stroke focusing on stretching out the stroke and warming up or down.
Elbows High – Drill where as it sounds on FC you keep the elbows bent and high out of the water on the recovery
Fly – Butterfly occasionally BF
FR – Freestyle or Free (normally Frontcrawl, but any stroke will do as long as you can maintain speed)
Freestyle – Normally Frontcrawl, but any stroke will do as long as you can maintain speed
IM – Individual Medley (all four strokes together in order Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Frontcrawl)
Kick – Legs only (no pulling)
Kickboard – A flat float used for doing kick
Long Course – 50m pool (term used for describing competitions)
Masters – Name used for our category of adult swimming at Meets
Medley – All four strokes swum in a specified order
Medley Order – Butterfly, Back, Breast, Free, Medley Relay Order is always Back, Breast, Fly, Free
Pull – Arms only (no kicking)
Pull Buoy – The figure of eight style float that goes between your legs for pull
Set – A self-contained part of the swimming session as ‘set’ by the coach e.g. a ‘main set’ might be 10 x 100m free
Short Course – 25m pool (a term used for describing competitions)
Sprint – All out as fast as you can go, breathing as little as you can
Steady – Swimming at a pace which is easily maintained (not easy or too hard, aiming for consistency of pace)
Streamline – Underwater body position after diving or pushing off the wall which maximizes swim speed and efficiency
Stroke – The stroke you are completing (usually not FC)
Stroke Count – Number of strokes per 25m or 50m (FC and BC every 2 arm pulls – a cycle – BR and Fly every stroke) abbreviated as SC
Stroke Rate – Number of strokes per minute (measured by stopwatch or calculation) abbreviated as SR
U/W – Underwater (usually refers to kicking, using Dolphin kick)
Yards – distance of the pool (25 yards)