What are “novice,” “reserve” and “champ” times?
The CCSL publishes a series of time standards for boys and girls by age groups that are used as a scale to gauge a swimmer’s level of achievement in each event. They are, from slowest to fastest, novice, reserve and champ time. Trying to reach the next level in a particular event can be very motivational to swimmers. If the swimmer has not swum fast enough to achieve a reserve time, then by default he has a novice time.
