WAVE honors the achievement of USA Swimming's Motivational Time Standards with special, distinctively colored caps that can be proudly worn in practice (not meets).  The times are set by USA Swimming and are based on swimmers across the entire United States.  A swimmer only needs to achieve a motivational time in one event to earn a cap.  The times are specific to the pool size: JAC is a 25-yard pool which is 'Short Course Yards' or SCY, which are on the last two pages of time standards.  Some pools are 50 meters long (like KCAC), so they are called 'Long Course Meters' or LCM.  The times standards are also specific to each age group (10&under, 11-12, 13-14...) and gender (girls or boys).  The first level is called a 'B time'.  The BB time is faster than B.  Then A, AA, AAA, and AAAA which is the hardest to achieve!  

 Achieving a ‘B time’ is a great accomplishment.  Only about 30% of white Group has achieved a B time, in competition.   Swimmers with BB times are an even smaller club in White Group- usually 3-6!   Of the ~ 300+ swimmers on the whole Wave Swim Team, 9 have achieved an AAA time, and only 3 legends have achieved an AAAA time! 

Achieving any of these times is a worthy goal, but not the only standard of progress by far.  Many of our most technically proficient swimmers haven’t landed a B time, but they have far better prospects for the long run. 

If you're keen to track motivational time achievements,  you can get a bag tag for your age group and mark off times as achieved

Get a motivational time bag tag