Swim Meet Officials      

Swim Meet Officials “officiate” swim meets, i.e. they ensure that swimmers swim according to the rules set by the league and state association.

An Official is expected to:

1) Dress in appropriate swimming official’s attire (white top and bottom).

2) Be punctual.

3) Attend pre-meet briefings.

4) Work any position assigned.

5) Work all sessions he/she has committed to.

6) Execute proper deck protocol.

7) Describe any rule infraction clearly and concisely.

8) Maintain a positive attitude. 

9) Be a “team” player.

Officials include head official, stroke and turn judges, and event starters.  All officials must attend one of the certification classes held by the Foothills Swimming Association at the beginning of the summer season.

All 2011 officials, new and returning must attend one of the dates below. If you are a new official it is VERY important to attend the water demonstration even if you attend one of the non demonstrations days. No need to go far - training is close by - right at the Golden Rec Center!

The 2011 Swim Meet Official Certification and Re-Certification Classes:

Sunday April 17, 5 – 6:30 pm Green Mountain Rec Center (no water instruction on this night)
Sunday May 22,  5 – 6:30 pm Green Mountain Rec Center (no water instruction on this night)
Wednesday June 1, 6 – 8:30 pm Golden Community Center and/or Splash (water instruction included)
 
All officials (new and returning) must attend one of the above classes.  New officials should attend water session even if they attended an earlier class room session.
 

For questions call Vivian Walker at 303-278-0192 or Jen Friedman 303-815-7582.

Duties of the Officials

Head Official: The head official coordinates and takes responsibility for all officials.   The head official’s jobs include:

• Contact returning officials to confirm their availability

• Recruit new officials

• Make sure all officials attend required training

• Schedule officials for meets

• Needs to be at all home meets to serve as meet referee in case of disputes or problems, side-line decisions or sudden changes in weather.

• Be a backup-official for meets in case of sudden problems with availability of other officials.

Stroke And Turn Judges: Judges must have successfully completed the certification class and be very familiar with the proper execution of all strokes and turns. At the end of each race it is his/her responsibility to write up any disqualifications on the swimmers card and to tell the disqualified swimmer the reason for the disqualification. All of the Judges need to be certified before they can participate at a meet.

Event Starters: Event starters are certified as stroke and turn judges and must have successfully completed the same certification class as the Stroke and Turn Judges.

• Year round: stores electronic starter.

• Before meet: charges electronic starter batteries (takes 24 hours).

• Before meet: makes sure all equipment is working.

• Morning before meet:  transports electronic starter to Splash

• During meet: announce the starts for the swimmers.

• During meet: operate the electronic starter.

• During meet: judge for false starts