Officials News
Officials News, by Carol Hammond:
Welcome and congratulations to our new officials:
Stroke & Turn:
Tanya Sajous – TG
Timothy Jones – TG
Dane Smith – TG
Tracy Barnhart – TG
Tannis Brown – RAYS
(well done TG!)
As we begin the new year I would like to take a moment and thank every official for the time, energy and money you devote to the task of being an official in the South Carolina LSC. Each of you deserve a pat on the back for all of the “hoops” you have had to jump through to either become an official or maintain your certification. Our LSC has seen some growth, but more importantly we have been working behind the scenes on creating some superb training and educational tools we will be sharing in this new year. We are a large organization and each of us has our own opinions on how tasks should be completed. Please share your ideas on how we can continue to improve as officials. Thank you, thank you for your efforts and lets continue to grow and work together as a whole.
Important News to Share:
·I have reviewed and recertified everyone qualifying for recertification. Check your account history on USA Swimming’s Officials Tracking System if you have an expired certification. More than likely you either did not work the required number of sessions for renewal AND your test date has expired. A quick fix is to retake the written test for your highest level of certification. Please contact me.
·Our Short Course State Championship meet is just over a month away, February 15 – 18th. As in the past, you can advance sign up online with your session intentions. Please note if you do not advance sign up you can still work and will be a welcome addition to our sessions. Anyone signing up in advance and working a minimum of 2 sessions will be eligible to receive an official’s shirt courtesy of our very generous LSC. We ask you please be honorable and work a minimum of 2 sessions before walking away with a shirt, J. I am attaching the State Meet Entry information for your review. It appears we will be using two pools for all morning sessions, one for afternoon and finals. The advance sign up link will also be posted on the SC Swimming website, but here it is for your immediate link:
·- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey= dHNBdGk4bmlLYXgybm1maE00cnVHM1E6MQ
·This year’s State SC meet officiating format includes me as Meet Referee, with the assistance of Mike Bennett, Mark Posey and Paul Schammel as meet CJ’s. Mike Bennett is the Head Meet CJ. Meet CJ’s are a bit different than session CJ’s. Each of the meet CJ’s have specific areas of responsibility and may be calling upon some of you for your assistance. I appreciate their help and am confident all i’s will dotted and t’s crossed! I look forward to an extraordinary meet experience and know Team Greenville’s hospitality will continue to be exemplary.
·The State SC meet will be a National Qualifying meet. Kent Easty will be this year’s evaluator. Please, please consider this opportunity to receive or advance your national certification levels for Stroke and Turn (up to N3) and Starter (up to N2) levels. For evaluation, officials must submit an application to Kent Easty by the first day of the meet at the officials meeting (advance notice would be much appreciated). The application form is attached and can also be found on the SC Swimming website. All officials should plan to attend the pre-meet meetings held one hour prior to the start of each session. Applicants must attend a minimum of three (3) SESSIONS for N2 evaluation and four (4) SESSIONS for N3 evaluation. Please check with Kent Easty regarding specifics for your advancement. (Kent Easty email eastys@islc.net)
·The official uniform for this meet is navy pants/shorts/skirts (prelims), and white shirts for prelims and finals. No shorts for finals is encouraged.
WHAT’S NEW FOR 2013 PER USA SWIMMING:
·2013 USA Swimming Rule Books are in the mail. Technical Rules are effective May 1, 2013. All non-athlete official members of USA Swimming should receive a rule book. It is now available for review on the USA Swimming website.
·MAJOR LEGISLATION AND RULE CHANGES FOR 2013
oThe Code of Conduct has been updated.
oApplications for sanction or approval must include a statement regarding deck changing. (prohibited or discouraged)
oAdministrative officials must be non-athlete members and must be certified in their position. (see Section 102.14.1 and 102.14.2 for specifics regarding this position)
oRequired LSC Bylaws have been revised to include the Safe Sport Chair and Safe Sport
Committee.
oAge is as of the first day of the meet with no exceptions.
oAthlete Protection Policies contain new requirements for clubs.
·Administrative Official position – USA Swimming will be releasing, within 30 days, certification guidelines for this position. Each meet must now have a person serving in this capacity at every meet so the minimum number of officials per meet is now 4. This person cannot perform any other official’s duties at a meet. USA Swimming is strongly encouraging all LSC’s to adopt similar certification requirements for this position. They are suggesting this individual take the following written tests as part of the certification requirements: Administrative Ref, Clerk of Course, Timer and Timer Judges tests. (whew!) Most clubs intend for one of their console or meet computer operators to become certified in this position. So, these folks will have to become a non-athlete member, get a Level II background check and take the APT course. Stay tuned for future publications on our LSC’s requirements. This position is required by 09/01/13.
·Athlete Protection Course renewals – the first wave of expiration dates of this test is September, 2013. USA Swimming indicates it will be addressing the renewal process. I know some folks just retook the test to get all of their testing expiration dates to align. Per USA Swimming, sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t. They are working on helping official’s get all of their testing aligned so one does not have to reprint their certification cards more than once a year. Again, stay tuned for the “official” procedure to follow to renew your APT course.
·USA Swimming asks the LSC Chair’s to qualify who is responsible for various components of the certification and registration process.
oLSC Official Chairs (or their representatives) review each official’s certification record for renewal of the OFFICIAL’S CERTIFICATION CARD. In SC you are responsible for printing your Official’s certification card once you receive an email from USA Swimming (initiated by the Official’s Chair) that a new certification card is available to be printed. You can also print your OFFICIAL’S card any time by going to the website, log in, go to Members Resources, Official’s tab, Official’s Tracking System tab and then you will see “My Certification Card”. Click on this and follow instructions regarding printing a pdf file of your card.
oSC LSC office is responsible for processing your non-athlete membership form. Again, you must, or your club, complete a non-athlete form for 2013, mail to the SC office with a check for $59 to get your membership renewed. Bobette Sweezer is the SC administrative assistant. Email her if you have not received your new blue card in the mail. This is your NON-ATHLETE USA Swimming membership card. Official’s Chairs do not have any control or awareness of your membership card process. I can only see whether you are a current member, the expiration dates of your background check and APT courses. Bobette can be contacted as scswimminglsc@gmail.com. She is very attentive and helpful if you have questions, confusions or concerns. She does not have anything to do with your official’s certification, but we work together very well and try to steer folks in the right direction, but your cooperation would be appreciated. Also, do not contact USA Swimming regarding your membership or certification. Start with Bobette (if question is regarding USA Swimming membership) or myself (if question is regarding your official’s certification.)
·USA Swimming has indicated it will not be redoing the Stroke & Turn clinic video. They do promise to create webinars and vignettes for official’s training.
No doubt this is way too much information at once – but thank you for your attention and please provide feedback with some positive suggestions for improvement or if you have an announcement you would like to make to our membership.
Welcome to 2013 and thank you for your involvement.
