PVS Officials

Minutes of PVS Officials Committee Meetings

Minutes of
PVS Officials Committee Meeting
October 20, 2010

Members present: Jack Neill, Boots Hall, Jim Garner, Steed Edwards, Mike Rubin, Dave DiNardo Dick Griffith, Tim Husson, Pam Starke-Reed, Elizabeth Jester, Donna Considine, Jack Schaeffer, Jim Thompson, Jim Van Erden and Rita Page.

The meeting convened at 7:05pm at Montgomery Aquatic Center.

Minutes: Minutes of the September 12, 2010 meeting were approved.

Update on Referee Candidates: Jack reported that of the 13 candidates that were invited 9 accepted and 6 of those attended the new referee clinic. Jack will hold another new referee clinic on November 14, 2010 for the remaining candidates. Those accepting are: Brian Baker, Jason Baltimore, Mohamed Chouikha, Bruce Hansen, Naomi Lynch, Al Meilus, David Merkin, Kevin Olson and Dan Seliskar.

Clinic Update: 14 Clinics have been held so far this season and all have been well attended. Tim Husson requested that Hy-tek and CTS operators be given an extended period of time to complete their certification. Due to the numbers of officials being certified the Committee agreed that there were limited number of opportunities for training and evaluations and the time frame should be extended to 18 months. The Committee agreed to add Pam Starke Reed, Dave DiNardo, Jack Schaeffer and Brian Pawlowicz to the list of final evaluators for Hy-Tek.

Tim reported that they are now teaching Meet Manager 3 and thanked Linda Raab for once again doing a wonderful job preparing the operation manual. Tim is now giving Hy-Tek clinic attendees a CD of the Hy-tek demo to use for practice prior to working a meet and to use for reference.

An additional S&T in Burke, VA will be added to the schedule. Boots will determine the date and time for this clinic.

Steed Edwards reported that the first ever Chief Judge Clinic was a success. Steed and Jim Thompson reported that 3 attendees have already taken and passed the Chief Judge test. Steed mentioned that there may be a need to make a couple of minor changes to the test. He is reviewing the test and will bring any recommendations back to the Committee.

It was noted that it is difficult to provide a realistic training environment for chief Judges at meets like the October Open, since radios are not used and CJs do not inform swimmers of DQs at these meets. One area that should be emphasized to CJs at these meets is that they need to discuss calls thoroughly with their S&T Judges.

Convention Report: Tim Husson sent a brief report to all members of the committee prior to the meeting. Items reviewed at the committee meeting were the "burning issues for Officials" such as being submerged prior to the finish in the backstroke. The guidance given to those at the convention were that the official must see the swimmer’s body completely submerged and that they are not touching the wall at the same time. There was a helpful suggestion for what to do if an official is making multiple calls for the same violation. It was suggested that the referee investigate and if necessary the official be moved to another position.

Tim announced to the committee that Boots Hall was awarded Lifetime Member in USA Swimming at the 2010 Convention. This is a tremendous honor that is only given to those that have served above and beyond. There was a very nice plaque given to Boots.

Updates from the Board of Directors: There is no definite plan yet from USA Swimming on how the criminal background checks will be handled. There is also no information on the way these will be implemented or the cost. Jack Neill reported that several members of the board are in support of PVS paying the fee for these. There will also be an education element to go along with the new sexual misconduct regulations but there are no details on that at this time.

The PVS Board passed a new rule that "deck changing" will no longer be allowed. Coaches and swimmers should be notified of this change and it will appear in all PVS meet announcements from this point forward. If a swimmer is observed changing on deck, they will be in violation of this PVS sportsmanship rule and could face disciplinary sanctions.

Officials Qualifying Meets: Boots announced that Frank Ching will be Chief Evaluator for the Tom Dolan Invitational, and that the meet will offer N2 and N3 (initial and final) evaluations in all positions. It was suggested that it may not be too early to start lining up evaluators for the Spring Junior and Senior Champ meets.

Situations at Recent Meets: Several situations involving officials and coaches at recent meets were discussed and possible resolutions were offered. One of these involved the use of the Referee Reseed Form. The Committee agreed that completing these forms is the responsibility of the referee, and that coaches should not be filling out the Referee Reseed Form.

Club Officials Chairs: Jack Neill distributed statistics regarding the numbers of officials in each PVS club in order to help identify which clubs could use help in recruiting officials and in developing leadership among officials. Jack asked for additional liaisons to assist club chairs in supporting their officials.

Order of Finish: The rule requiring a Place Judge becomes effective May 1, 2011. In preparation for this, Referees and starters should be instructed at this time to record the order of finish for all heats. Jim Thompson will devise guidelines for this procedure.

Shirts, Bells, and Other Give-Away Items: It was agreed that due to the large number of attendees at recent starter clinics, additional bells need to be ordered. Boots brought pens and luggage tags to give-away at clinics. The committee agreed to eliminate the charge for patches and pins for next year and to investigate the possibility of going through a vendor for official’s shirts.

Other Items: The Committee will consider whether S&T Judges should be "Checked out" at their final trainings session, similar to other positions. Donna Considine and Dick Griffith will work out some guidelines for this process. The general consensus of the committee was that a trainee should be assigned to a particular mentor during at least the final session so the referee could get a better picture of how well the trainee knew the rules and applied them fairly.

The meeting adjourned at 9:20pm

The next meeting is scheduled for November 16, 2010 at 7:00 pm at Overlee.

Respectfully submitted by,
Rita Page
Committee Member