Dual Meets:

During dual meets, swimmers are NOT disqualified. Instead, coaches observe swimmers and take detailed notes. Coaches then use these notes to work on techniques during practice.

Preliminaries:

Disqualification only occurs during prelims and finals. Each team provides 1 stroke judge to watch all heats of certain strokes. During the race, they communicate with each other and provide an official stroke judge form for swimmers who are disqualified.

The 5/6 age group do not have stroke judges and are not disqualified.

The 7/8 and 9/10 age groups only have stroke judges for breaststroke and butterfly. They are not judged on freestyle or backstroke.

Historically, 50% of 7/8s and 9/10s get disqualified in breaststroke and butterfly during preliminaries. Also, 7/8s and 9/10s compose the largest percentage of swimmers in the league. To help prelims run smoother and avoid the high frequency of DQs that occur in these highly technical strokes, all 7/8 and 9/10s must pre-qualify for the breaststroke and butterfly. This is a new change for the 2024 season and will be required for all teams.

Prior to prelims, coaches will judge 7/8s and 9/10s compliance in only breaststroke and butterfly. If a swimmer does NOT qualify in breaststroke or butterfly, parents will be contacted by a coach prior to prelims. Please note they can still compete in freestyle and backstroke.

The 11+ age groups have stroke judges for all strokes and may be disqualified if a swimmer makes any error during a swim (see attachment for details).

Finals:

The same prelim stroke judges attend finals to judge all heats. Historically, DQs during finals are very rare.