Parent's Guide to USA Swimming 10 and Under 2026

USA Swimming's daily limits on individual events (Article 102.2) are:

Relays don't count toward these limits. The meet announcement can set lower limits, and many age group meets do.

If your child is entered in too many events, the extra events are scratched in the order they're swum. If they actually swim extra events, those swims are disqualified.

Except at championship and open water meets, age group meets must be planned so that events for swimmers 12 and under finish in 4 hours or less per session (Article 205.3.1F).

The same 12 and under swimmers are limited to one session per day. The exception is a prelims/finals meet, where they can swim one prelim session plus the related finals.

Development meets (for 12 and under swimmers, with shorter events such as 25s) have sessions of no more than 2 hours, and each athlete swims in only one session per meet (205.11).

Meets for any group should finish within 8 hours of competition a day, with meal and rest breaks (102.1).

Under Article 102.21:

• Only the official responsible for that part of the race (Referee, Stroke Judge, Turn Judge or Relay Take-off Judge) can disqualify a swimmer. They must raise one hand overhead when they see the infraction. If they don't, there's no disqualification.
• The Referee confirms the disqualification. The official must make every reasonable effort to find the swimmer or their coach and explain why. Not being told doesn't cancel the disqualification.
• A disqualified swim gets no time or place in the results.

Questioning a call: judgment decisions by starters and stroke, turn, place and take-off judges can be reviewed only by the Referee, and the Referee's decision is final (102.22.1). Other protests must be made to the Referee in writing within 30 minutes of the race (102.22.4). The usual first step is to ask your child's coach to talk to the Referee.

These are the rules young swimmers most often break (Article 101):

In every stroke, swimmers must finish in the lane they started in, and pulling on the lane ropes isn't allowed. Standing on the bottom in any stroke other than freestyle is a disqualification.

No. In fact 12 and under athletes may not wear a technical suit at any sanctioned, approved or observed meet (Article 102.8.1F). The only exceptions are Junior Nationals, the U.S. Open, National Championships and Olympic Trials.

A technical suit is:

• any suit with bonded or taped seams, whatever the fabric or shape, or
• any suit with woven fabric that extends past the hips.

Allowed: a woven-fabric suit with sewn seams that doesn't go below the hips, or a knit-fabric suit with sewn seams that doesn't go below the knees. USA Swimming publishes a list of approved 12 and under suits.

Other swimwear rules: one suit only, no more than two caps, and goggles are allowed. For modesty or privacy, age group swimmers may wear one set of garments under their suit (205.10).

Racing starts are taught under strict water-depth rules (Article 103.2):

• Learning to dive: until a USA Swimming member coach certifies your child as proficient at racing starts, all racing starts must be from in the water, whatever the pool depth, and the backstroke ledge can't be used.
• Teaching racing starts (and later changes to technique) must happen in water at least 6 feet deep from 1 to 5 meters out from the wall, under the direct supervision of a member coach.
• After certification, your child can practice racing starts in water at least 4 feet deep.
• Shallow pools: where the water at the starting end is less than 4 feet deep, every swimmer must start in the water, and backstroke ledges aren't allowed.

State or local laws may set stricter depth limits.

No to both. Under the MAAPP:

• Deck changing is prohibited. Anyone changing into or out of a swimsuit, when wearing only one suit, must use the designated locker room or changing area. Clubs must provide a private or semi-private space for minor athletes who need to change.
• No recording in locker rooms. Using any device's recording function (photos, video or voice), including a phone's, in a locker room or changing area is prohibited for athletes and adults.
• Adults in the program must not shower with minor athletes, except for a rinse while wearing a swimsuit or under the close-in-age exception. You can ask in writing that your child not change or shower alongside adults, and the club must follow that request.

Recommended: if you go into a locker room, use one for your own competition category and tell a coach first.

Only within strict limits set by the MAAPP:

• Copy a parent. If a coach or other adult in the program messages your child one-on-one, a parent, guardian or another adult family member must be copied. If your child messages the coach first, the reply must include you.
• Team messages to several athletes must copy another adult in the program.
• Hours: messages only between 5:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. (athlete's local time), except in an emergency or during competition travel.
• Social media: no private social media connections with minor athletes, and no private or direct messages through social media.
• Content must always be professional.

You can ask in writing that your child not be contacted electronically or included in social media posts, and the club must follow that request except in an emergency.

The copy-a-parent and social media limits don't apply when there's a dual relationship (such as a relative) or the close-in-age exception applies.

Not usually. Under the MAAPP, during team travel an adult must not transport a minor athlete one-on-one. They must always have at least two minor athletes (each at least 8 years old) or another adult in the program in the car.

The exceptions are:

• an emergency
• a dual relationship (for example, the adult is a relative)
• the close-in-age exception (the adult is no more than four years older and has no authority over the athlete)
• you've given written consent, at least once a year, for that adult to transport your child one-on-one. You can withdraw it at any time.

Recommended: in a carpool, parents should pick up their own child first and drop them off last.

At a USA Swimming sanctioned meet, every athlete member must be supervised by a USA Swimming member coach during warm-up, competition and warm-down (Article 202.5.3). If your club coach can't attend, it's the swimmer's (in practice, the family's) responsibility to arrange another member coach before the meet starts. The Meet Director or Referee can help.

Other rules for the deck:

• Anyone acting as a coach must be a USA Swimming coach member.
• Anyone banned, suspended or ineligible for membership can't be on deck in any role, including timer or marshal (202.5.2).
• Marshals enforce warm-up procedures and can remove anyone behaving unsafely or abusively, with the Referee's agreement (102.18).

Under Article 102.7.4:

• Before the meet starts, the meet committee can cancel or postpone it if weather makes it unsafe.
• Once it has started, the Referee alone decides whether to suspend the meet or an event until conditions improve. If it can't continue, the Referee can cancel it or postpone it with the meet committee's approval. The decision is final.
• Times already swum count. Times recorded up to the point of cancellation are official, but incomplete events are not awarded or scored.
• Ages: if the meet resumes within 14 days, your child's age for the meet doesn't change.
• Refunds of entry fees are up to the meet committee.

Events pushed to a later day because of weather don't count against the daily event limit (102.2.4).

USA Swimming's Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy (MAAPP, effective January 1, 2025) requires:

• The MAAPP itself: every athlete, parent or legal guardian, coach and other non-athlete member of a club must review it and agree to it in writing every year. The club keeps the signed agreement.
• Travel consent: you must give written consent, at least once a year, for all team travel and lodging. You can withdraw it at any time.
• Optional consents, also at least yearly and in writing, if you want them:
  • one-on-one transport of your child by an adult in the program
  • individual training sessions outside regular practice (and you must be allowed to watch them)

Clubs must also adopt an anti-bullying policy and a photography policy, which athletes and parents review and agree to every year.

Under USA Swimming rules (Article 306.1), every member must report any incident of child abuse, including physical or sexual abuse, immediately (within 24 hours) to both:

• Law enforcement, and
• The U.S. Center for SafeSport: phone 720-531-0340, or online at https://uscenterforsafesport.org/report-a-concern

A report is required when you have firsthand knowledge, or when you've received specific and credible information from the victim or a knowledgeable third party. State laws may also require a report to a child protection agency.

Making a knowingly false allegation is prohibited and can lead to USA Swimming discipline.