Summer, 2011
Dive
Into the Summer!
|
June 2011 |
|||
Date | Meet | Location | Officials Contact |
3-5 | 34th Maryland State LC Championships | MAC | Jim Garner |
3-5 | SNOW
LC Invitational |
Claude Moore | Mike Ryan |
12 | PVS Senior/Age Group I | Fairland
Lee District |
Brian
Baker Scott Robinson |
18-19 | FISH June Invitational | Fairland | Al Meilus |
18-19 | PVS LC Distance Meet | Wilson | Art Davis |
26 | PVS Senior/Age Group II | Fairland
Lee District |
Randy Bowman
Brian Baker |
July 2011 |
|||
Date | Meet | Location | Officials Contact |
14-17 | PVS LC Senior Championships | Univ. of Maryland | Jack Neill |
14-17 | PVS LC Junior Championships | Univ. of Maryland | Scott Witkin |
21-24 | PVS LC Age Group Championships | Fairland | Art Davis |
August 2011 |
|||
Date | Meet | Location | Officials Contact |
2-6 | ConocoPhillips National Championships | Palo Alto, CA | USA Swimming |
4-7 | Eastern Zone Super Sectional | Pittsburgh, PA | Eastern Zone |
8-12 | Speedo Junior Nationals | Palo Alto, CA | USA Swimming |
10-13 | Eastern Zone LC Championships | State College, PA | Eastern Zone |
Summer Championship Meets
Long
course season culminates with several championship meets in July. As
always, championship meets require championship officiating. While walk-ons
are always welcome, it is especially helpful to have the roster completed
before the meet. If you know if and when you can help, please go online
and submit an application to officiate.
PVS LC Senior Championships will be held July 14-17 at the University of Maryland. Officials wishing to work at this meet should submit the application found on the PVS website. You must apply no later than July 5 for specific deck positions. However, late applications and walk-ins are also welcome and will be assigned to available positions. This meet will be our only Officials Qualifying Meet of the season, offering the opportunity for formal evaluation at the N2 or N3 levels. Our lead evaluator for this meet will be Joel Black. Joel is a long-time official who has held many leadership positions in USA Swimming, including National Officials Chair. Any official interested in being evaluated at Senior Champs must apply in advance. Complete information regarding the National Certification program is available on the USA Swimming website.
Concurrent with Senior Champs, PVS LC Junior Championships will likewise be held July 14-17 at the University of Maryland. Officials wishing to work at this meet should submit the application found on the PVS website. You must apply no later than July 5 for assigned deck positions.
On the following weekend, July 21-24, PVS LC 14 & Under Championships will be held at Fairland Aquatic Center. The application to work at this meet can likewise be found on the PVS website. You must apply no later than March 10 for specific deck positions. Once again, late applications and walk-ins are welcome and will be assigned to available positions.
Did You Know . . .
This past March, at the men’s NCAA Swimming
and Diving Championships, a historical swim took place. Two African-American
swimmers, Brett Fraser and Dax Hill, finished 1-2, respectively, in
the 200-yard freestyle. This was the first time in U.S. history that
two black swimmers finished atop the medal podium at any national championship
event.
You
Make the Call
After swimming the 7th preliminary heat of a 100-yard backstroke event,
a coach approaches the referee and questions the placement of the far
end backstroke flags. Upon checking it is found that the flags are set
for short course yards. There have been three DQs for turn violations.
What do you do? Do you reset the flags for the remainder of the event?
What about the three DQs? What if a coach comes to you and asks for
a re-swim for a swimmer that did not DQ stating that the swimmer’s
time was affected by the erroneous flag placement?
See the answer at the bottom of this
newsletter.
Changes
USA Swimming’s Steering Committee has decided that the 2011 Short
Course National Championships, to be held December 1-3 in Atlanta, GA,
will now be a long course competition, in order to allow participants
an opportunity to achieve Olympic Trials qualifying standards.
Also, the 2011 Short Course Junior National Championships, December 8-10, have been moved to the University of Texas, Austin, TX, due to unexpected construction at the original venue, the University of Minnesota.
Camera Policy
In April, 2010, the PVS Board of Directors adopted a policy to help
protect the safety and privacy of our swimmers: “The use of equipment
capable of taking pictures (eg., cameras, cellular phones, PDAs, etc.)
will be banned behind the starting blocks during all meets sanctioned
by PVS. Use of these devices will not be permitted behind the blocks
during warm up or competition.” If a violation
is noted, the Referee directs the person to put the device away or leave
the deck area immediately behind the starting blocks. If an athlete
is involved, he/she will work through the coach for enforcement. Enforcement
of this restriction does not extend into raised spectator areas that
are directly behind starting blocks. However, officials shall continue
prohibiting the use of flash photography from any location during the
time swimmers are on the starting blocks.
The
Backstroke Turn
At the backstroke turn, three things can happen:
As the turn judge, you should stand over the lane looking down to at the swimmers to observe the turns. Once a swimmer passes vertical toward the breast, you should observe that all actions of the swimmer were associated with a continuous turning action and that the swimmer is past vertical toward the back when his/her feet leave the wall.
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.
Why
N2 or N3?
Why would you want to attain National certification as an N2
or N3 official?
Requirements for progression to N2 and N3 levels in the positions of Stroke and Turn Judge, Chief Judge, Starter, Deck Referee, and Administrative Referee can be found on the USA Swimming website.
Resolution to ‘You Make
the Call’
There’s not one single right answer for this situation. The referee
should evaluate the situation in view of keeping conditions fair for
all competitors. The specific solution will depend on the conditions
and the information gained through review. The solution could include
leaving the flags in place until the next session and then allowing
re-swims for those competitors affected by the flags. One thing to keep
in mind is that the swimmers warmed up using the misplaced flags.