November, 2011
| Where Do
New Officials Come From?
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Upcoming
Meets November 2011 |
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| Date | Meet | Location | Officials Contact |
| 31-1 | Fall Gator Mini Meet | Washington-Lee HS | Chris Palmer |
| 31-1 | SDS
Monster Mash |
South Run | Nora Burke |
| 4-6 | November Open | Cub
Run Mt. Vernon Takoma 1 Takoma 2 |
Alan Goldblatt
Dan Young Brian Baker Ed Dona |
| 4-6 | RMSC November Invitational | MLK Swim Center | Donna Considine |
| 12-13 | National Age Group Challenge Meet | Germantown | Scott Witkin |
| 12-13 | DCPR Distance Meet | Takoma | Rodger McCoy |
| 13 | YORK Friendship Mini Meet | Madeira | Ben Holly |
| 18-20 | Swim & Rock | Oak Marr | Mike Rubin |
| 19-20 | Odd Ball Challenge | Fairland | Randy Bowman |
| 20 | Go the Distance | Oak Marr | |
| 20 | Pilgrim Mini Meet | ||
Officials Qualifying Meet
The Tom Dolan Invitational Meet (December 8-11) has been approved by
USA Swimming as an Officials Qualifying Meet for N2 and N3 certification.
It is anticipated that the meet will include opportunities to be observed
for N2 certification in all positions as well as N3 evaluations in all
positions except Administrative Referee. More information about the
meet is available in the meet
announcement. More information about the National certification
program for officials can be found on the USA
Swimming website.
Updating OTS
Is your email address correct in OTS, the Officials Tracking
System? Find out, and make any necessary changes by signing-in to your
account on the USA Swimming website, and then clicking “My Account”
in the upper right-hand corner.
How
to Improve as a Swim Official
- Work regularly – There is no substitute for experience.
- Know the rules – Review the rulebook on a regular basis; listen carefully to the pre-meet briefing, no matter how many times you’ve heard it previously.
- Have a protective (rather than punitive) attitude – A DQ is not considered a penalty against a swimmer, but rather a protection of all the other swimmers who went to the effort to swim properly in accordance with USA Swimming Rules & Regulations.
- Be consistent – The rules are the same for 6-year olds and for Olympic medalists.
- Work at a high profile meet – You’ll work with many experienced, knowledgeable officials in championship conditions. You’ll be amazed at how much you’ll learn.
- Evaluate your performance after every session – Did I do my part to provide safe, fair, and equitable conditions of competition?
“10-4, Mr. Referee!”
The Officials Committee has committed to making radios available at
more meets this year—you may have seen them at the October Open.
There are three reasons for this: 1) To make on-deck communications
more efficient, especially when it comes to communicating disqualifications
in a timely manner; 2) To increase our familiarity with radio procedures
and protocols; and 3) To get our meet procedures in-line with those
of nearby LSCs who use radios at many of their meets. Additional radios
will be purchased this year, and a process is being devised for maintaining
and deploying this equipment. Of course, a plan only works if it’s
implemented consistently. If radios are assigned to your meet, please
make sure they’re used and “cared for” at all sessions.
You Make the Call
In a backstroke event, a swimmer stands up in the middle of the course.
He does not walk or spring off from the pool bottom, but rests and then
resumes swimming. Is there a disqualification?
See the answer at the bottom of this
newsletter.
Did You Know?
The first goggles were made by divers in the 14th Century from polished,
clear tortoise shell. The first rubber goggles, which had heavy glass
lenses, were invented in the 1930s.
New
Officials / Advancing Officials
We’d like to welcome these new officials—and congratulate
advancing officials—who have recently completed the requirements
for first-time PVS certification in the following positions.
| Stroke & Turn Judge: | Starter: |
| Sangeeta
Bhargava |
Jayne
Biafore |
| Mary
Carter |
Walter
Chen |
| Joe
Chirico |
Doug
David |
| Melissa
Donati |
Ken
Moore |
| Arthur
Ellis (Transfer) |
Marcia
Smith |
| Michael
Garvey |
|
| Ilona
Grant |
HyTek: |
| Richard
Gupton |
Stewart
Gordon |
| Shawn
Guth |
Lee
Huynh |
| Andrew
Hurst |
Cathy
Nabulsi |
| Jennifer
Nagle |
Karen
Rosenblatt |
| Ann
Repczynski |
Randy
Verbrugge |
| Eric
Ruttenburg |
|
| Lu
Ryan |
Timing Operator: |
| Nancy
Stuck |
Andy
Anderson |
| Izumi
Horikawa |
|
| Chief Judge: | |
| Charles
Lundy |
|
Questions? Suggestions?
Do you have a question about officiating or a tip you’d like to
share? Is there a rule that you’d like to have clarified? Do you
have a suggestion for a future item in this newsletter? If so, please
send your questions/comments to the newsletter editor, Jack
Neill.
College
Swimming
The Washington, D.C. area is a hotbed of collegiate swimming. At the
crossroads of the ACC, Big East, CAA, Atlantic 10, Patriot League, and
several other conferences, our region boasts some of the East Coast’s
most competitive NCAA swimming. Who are the deck officials for these
meets? Many of the same folks you see on deck at a PVS meet.
The NCAA does not certify officials for swimming. The College Swimming Officials Association (CSOA - http://www.csoaofficials.com) maintains a registration process and a certification/testing procedure for officials interested in working at the collegiate level. The organization also disseminates news and other relevant information to its members. For those interested in working college meets, joining CSOA is the first step. After paying the registration fee, you take the online rules test. Just like USA Swimming it’s an open-book test, only with a lot more questions; unlike USA Swimming, it includes questions about diving. While the rulebooks are getting closer to agreement, there are still significant differences between USA Swimming and NCAA rules.
After passing the test, you’d contact the people who assign the officials for the individual colleges to express your interest in working. That’s where it’s different again—for regular season meets, all officials are hired by the home team, and there are no volunteer walk-ons. Steed Edwards does the hiring for several D.C. colleges (American, Catholic, Georgetown, Howard), Carrie Tupper does it for Maryland, Mike Rubin for Marymount, Jack Schaeffer for Mary Washington, and Jack Neill for George Mason. Conference championships are a bit different—the conference approves and hires the officials. The NCAA itself does this for national championships. For local area meets, there can be as few as two officials on deck to as many as ten. Officials typically serve in multiple roles: Starter/S&T Judge/Relay Judge, Referee/ S&T Judge/Relay Judge, etc. Collegiate swimming is exclusively short course and the season runs from October to February, with separate national championships for Division 1, 2, and 3 schools in March.
College swimming is exciting. The athletes are fast and there’s
a lot of spirit and noise on the deck. It can be a bit more stressful
at times, since coaches’ jobs are often dependent on the won-loss
record. But I highly recommend checking it out, either as an official
or as a spectator. Schedules are posted on each school’s website.
Resolution to ‘You Make
the Call’
Yes, it is a disqualification. Once the swimmer stands, he is no longer
on his back. The rulebook states “The swimmer shall push off on
his back and continue swimming on the back throughout the race.”
Moreover, a swimmer is not permitted to stand on the bottom during any
stroke other than freestyle.
For all that
you do for Potomac Valley Swimming: