Swimmers live by the clock. Ask one about their 100 free and you'll get the time to the hundredth, the meet where they swam it and how far it sits from the next cut. That makes swimmers easy to shop for once you understand the numbers, and a little confusing if you don't. This guide explains time standards in plain terms, shows how to keep track of best times, and suggests gifts built around the times they worked for.
What the time standards mean
In club swimming, a time standard is a target time for one event, set by age group and gender. Swim faster than the standard and you have made it. Swimmers and coaches call these cuts.
The motivational standards run in letters. B is the first rung, the one newer swimmers aim for first. BB is faster, then A, then AA, AAA and AAAA at the top. Each letter is quicker than the one before, so a swimmer who moves from a B to a BB in the 50 back has dropped real time. The standards are revised every few years, so a cut an older sibling made may not match the current sheet.
Championship meets have their own qualifying times. In many areas there is one championship meet for swimmers with B times and another for swimmers with A times, and above those sit regional and sectional meets with faster cuts still. When a swimmer says they made a sectional cut, they mean their time qualifies them to swim at that level of meet.
High school swimming works a little differently. The state association sets the qualifying times, and swimmers usually reach the state meet by swimming under a state cut or by placing high enough at a sectional or regional meet. The rules vary by state, so ask your swimmer or the coach how it works where you live.
One more thing to know: a time always belongs to a course. Short course yards, short course meters and long course meters are swum in different pools, and a 100 free in a 25-yard pool is not the same swim as one in a 50-meter pool. When you write down a best time, write the course next to it.
How swimmers keep track of best times
Most swimmers can find their times in the club's team app or on the meet results site, sorted by event. That is the easiest place to pull a list of personal bests. If your swimmer keeps a notebook or a note on their phone, even better: those usually have the meet name and the story behind the swim.
For each event, gather the best time, the course, the meet and the date, and the standard the time made. If you plan to give a gift at the end of the season, save a screenshot of the best times page right after the championship meet, before the next season starts and the list begins to change.
Best Times, a board for every event
Best Times puts a swimmer's best time in every event on one board. Each time is set big, with the meet and date it was swum and the standard it made, from B up to AAAA, sectional or state, in brass. It suits high school, club and masters swimmers, and it can carry a diver's best scores too. A swimmer who chased a BB in the 200 IM all winter will look at that brass line for years. From $45.
It also works as a yearly habit. Order one after each championship season, and the stack of boards tells the story of how the times came down.
State Qualifier, for the swim that made the cut
When a season ends with a trip to the state meet, the State Qualifier Print shows how it happened: the event set big, every meet of the season as a point on a line closing in on the state standard, the season best huge and the finish, whether State Qualifier, State Finalist or State Champion. You'll need the event, each meet's time and the qualifying standard. From $45.
Record Breaker, for a new team or school record
If your swimmer took down a team or school record, the Record Breaker Print sets the new mark huge beside the old one struck through, with who held it and since when, and the moment it fell. Ask the coach for the old record and the year it was set. From $45.
Everyday gifts for the pool deck
Swimmers haul a lot of gear to practice. The Team Drawstring Bag holds a towel, cap, goggles and a water bottle, with their number big and their name, school and sport printed edge to edge, from $34. The Team Water Bottle is 17 ounces of stainless steel with their number and name on both sides, from $42. Both make good season-opener or holiday gifts, and if you're ordering for the whole team, the listings note teams get 30% off.
Swim teams don't wear numbers, so use something that means a number to your swimmer: their graduation year, their lane in a championship final or the year they started swimming. It reads just as well.
For the senior swimmer
For a high school senior, the Senior Night Career Record sets four seasons on one print like the back of a premium trading card: name, school and class year, every season's line, honors, and where they signed if they're swimming in college. For a swimmer, the season line can be best times in their main events. From $45.
Shop this guide
Best TimesFrom $45
State Qualifier PrintFrom $45
Record Breaker PrintFrom $45
Team Drawstring BagFrom $36
Team Water BottleFrom $54
Senior Night Career RecordFrom $45
Ordering
Personalize each piece on its product page. Every order is checked by hand, and you'll see a proof to approve before anything prints. Allow about two weeks from order to delivery. Have the times, courses, meets and standards in hand when you sit down to personalize, and the rest takes a few minutes.